When I originally found this picture, I immediately forwarded it to my friend and former schoolmate, Dr. David Huneycutt (RSH ’63). Yes, Betsy Huneycutt’s (RHS (’63) twin brother or little brother to Jimmy (RHS ?), and son of J. E. & Ida Hunneycutt, Superintendent of Richmond County Schools and 4th grade teacher respectively for many years. This little school is chocked full of memories for myself and David both. Every one of my grammar school teachers are pictured here except for my 6th grade teacher, Miss Janet Tomlinson, and she was probably graduating from high school in Hendersonville, North Carolina about this time.

People through the years have asked me if I can still recall the names of all my grammar school teachers. The answer would be a resounding - YES, I can! Here we go!  Fannie Dabbs (1st); Bonnie Gibson (2nd); Mary Belle Herring (3rd); Claude Gore (4th); Julia McGregor (5th); Janet Tomlinson (6th). My Mama (Theo Smith) taught me band. I even started playing an instrument when I was in the 4th grade. Normally Mom required students to be rising 5th graders but she started me early. I guess she thought having me occupied practicing an instrument would allow her more time to keep a watchful eye on me; therefore, I would have less time to get into trouble or mischief. It’s probably a good thing that she did. I have spent my life working with high school bands and as a minister of music; therefore, she prepared me well. As I remember, Mrs. Genevra Beaver Kelly was my chorus teacher.

Following are just a few of the many fond memories that David and I shared. I thought they might be a good fit for “Ken’s Korner”.

As you can readily tell, this was a picture of the 1952-1953 faculty at L. J. Bell Elementary School in Rockingham, NC. I discovered this photo one day while surfing and clicking through the many memories and pictures that I had discovered on this website. What a great website! The picture originally caught my attention because within this picture I discovered my Mama (Theo Smith) as well as David's Dad and Mom (J. E. & Ida Huneycutt). As David said, “Oh my, how young they all look”!

My Mom and Dad as well as Mr. and Mrs. Huneycutt had both moved to Rockingham about the same time in 1946. Both men were coming to Rockingham with their young families having returned from their service in World War II. Rockingham would become the city that both men and their families would establish residency and undertake new employment. David’s Dad was to become the new Superintendent of Schools for Richmond County. My Dad became the manager for the Employment Security Commission, and both David’s Mom and my Mom were to become and admirably serve as school teachers for the Richmond County School System.  Little did they all realize that Rockingham, North Carolina would remain their residence for all their working days. L. J. Bell Elementary School would also prove to become and remain an integral part of all our lives.

The day this picture was taken was my first day of school. Miss Fannie Dabbs was to become my first grade teacher. This shot was taken immediately following the completion of a march that consisted of students and faculty from the old Rockingham Grammar (Graded) School, which was located across from the A&P (that Mr. Tom Infinger managed) on the corners of E. Washington Street, S. Lawrence Street and E. Franklin Street. This parade of students and faculty was to terminate at the brand new elementary school building on Hawthorne Street.  The name of the school was designated as L.J. Bell Elementary. It was a brand spanking new elementary school, and this photo, per David, was to prove to become one of only a few photographs (maybe even the only one) ever taken of this first faculty.

Before continuing, let’s identify this entire original faculty of L. J. Bell Elementary pictured in this photo:
First Row: Katie Crouch, Louise Guthrie, Sallie McCown, Maude Moore, Bessie Terry, Jane Carter, Mary Belle Herring, Thelma Nicholson.
Second Row:  Theo Smith, Julia McGregor, Nancy Haywood, Mary Yarborough Cagle, Genevra Beaver Kelly, Bonnie Gibson, Fannie Dabbs, Nina DeBerry.
Third Row:  J. E. Huneycutt, Ida Huneycutt, Clyde Gore, Sara Rogers, Rosa Little, Bobbie Long, Virginia Buie Black, Martha Finch, Ruth Blalock, Ruth McFarland Bynum.

In the middle on the first row you will notice Miss Bessie Terry. Miss Bessie was still principal at L. J. Bell at this time. As David recounts to me, “Miss Bessie could hardly see. Due to her poor eyesight, Miss Bessie would frequently get lost in the new school, and Donnie Watkins, the custodian, would have to escort Miss Bessie back to her office to prevent her from falling or running into something that may injure her.” Miss Bessie was to retire at the completion of this first year, and one of the football coaches, J. C. Mulkey, was transferred from the high school to become the new Principal at L. J. Bell Elementary. Mr. Mulkey later returned to RHS to become it's Principal.

Miss Julia McGregor, also in this photograph, was to become my 5th grade teacher. Per David, she also later served as the first Curriculum Director for the Richmond County School System, and thus became one of the first to serve in this position in the state of North Carolina.

Also notice that Mrs. Louise Guthrie was one of the original faculty. She later was transferred to the high school to become the French teacher. David said he had taken French under her tutelage. Not me! I was not that lucky. I was to be introduced to Miss Katherine Crosland. I now tell my kids and grandkids that I finished Rockingham High School with more foreign language than most, and that I had indeed graduated with three years of Latin (more than most doctors). The kids ask, “How did you do that, Daddy (or Papa)?” Well, it’s simple, I took Latin I, Latin II, and Latin II. Nuf’ said!

My Mom, Theo Smith, also was later transferred to the high school to teach band. After my sister was born, Mom left Rockingham High for a few years and accepted a position as Principal as well as 7th & 8th Grade teacher at Roberdel Elementary.  After her stint at Roberdel, Mom would return to Rockingham High School to teach 8th grade history, and this would be where she retired after many more years teaching. After 42 years, Mama and Daddy had planned to retire together and travel. This dream was never to be realized. Mama died of a heart attack two days after school was out the last year of her employment. To those who read this, it may sound as if I’m prejudiced. Well, I am, but to me my Mom was the epitome of and the very definition of everything a teacher can and should be. I am still moved, amazed and swell with pride as I continue to hear former students share with me all that Theo taught them, what she had meant to each of them, and how much fun she was, and oh what a character she was.

She’s not pictured, but I also very vividly remember Mrs. Mary Louise Ellwanger, Mama’s ‘BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD’. Mary Louise was our dietician in the cafeteria at L. J. Bell and was the person solely responsible for orchestrating the cooking of the yummy cornbread and vegetable soup that I have previously referred to in another of my stories. Mama even took Mary Louise and part of the cooks at L. J. Bell to Band Camp with her every summer. To this day, I have never, ever been to any school cafeteria where the food was as good and nutritious day in and day out.

David also tells me that when L. J. Bell was first built, it was considered to be "State-Of-The-Art" construction and was, at that time, a design and template for other schools which were to be built later in North Carolina and the southeast. Much of it's construction and features were way ahead of their time. Heating was in the floor with circulating hot water grids in each room. Hallway floors were terrazzo. The building had an all purpose room for indoor physical education (adjacent to the cafeteria). There was also a music wing complete with practice rooms and offices for both instrumental and choral music. I also remember that the school was heated with coal and the big double-door coal chute was located at the back of the school underneath the concrete deck that came from out the auditorium’s back stage door. And don't forget the full auditorium with its stage and permanent seating.

There was also a health room (complete with a shower). The health room would be staffed by one of the Richmond County Health Nurses. I can vividly remember fakin’ being sick just to be sent to the health room. If it was diagnosed by the nurse that you needed to rest a while, you would be allowed to lie down and rest on a cot with springs, a mattress with sheets, a blanket, and a pillow. That was pretty neat being this was at school.  I couldn’t be sick for long, because if I didn’t get to feeling better pretty quick so I could return to class, W. G. Walker’s Mama, Ollie (one of the Richmond County Health Nurses), would go get Mama (who taught in the same school). Had this occurred, this would definitely not have proved to be conducive to my recovery. I learned very quickly that I would not be able to fake my sickness too often and for too long.

I also remember that outside the cafeteria door was a bicycle rack which was provided for those of us who rode our bicycles to school. We never had to lock them in the racks. They were never stolen. In fact, it never occurred to any of us that anyone would steal them. I remember very vividly that I anxiously looked forward to the days Mom would allow me to ride my bike to school. I was required to go “The Back Way”. I was not allowed to travel on US1. My journey would take me down Surginor Road, turning right on Deweese,  then to the top of the hill past Buddy Webster’s house, left on Sunset Belt near Knob Hill, down the bottom of the hill, turning left on Richmond Road and then pedaling feverishly down Richmond Road until it ran into Ann Street, take the right fork off Richmond Road on to Ann Street, past David’s house on Foushee Street, past the High School on Wall Street, then take a right one block past Wall Street on Hawthorne Street, and finally this journey would terminate at the bicycle rack at the bottom of the hill in the back of L. J. Bell Elementary School (the entire trip was probably a total of 2 whole miles). But it was “COOL” becuz’ I got to ride my new red Schwinn bicycle, complete with wire saddle-bag baskets bolted to the back wheel with red handlebar grips and red streamers flapping out of the grips, and she had to have a bell and light that would shine brighter the faster you peddled. She was as beautiful as our new elementary school. Even though Mama worked in the same school and drove to work, she doubled up at the high school; therefore, I was allowed to ride my bike to school a couple of days a week. I also remember that not being allowed to ride to school on my bike would serve as a punishment that I could receive for not doing as I was told.

As I remember it, L. J. Bell also possessed the biggest playground in the world. There were always several games going on of marbles, hopscotch, jack rocks (and the ground was hard enough for the little red rubber ball to bounce on), jump rope (every teacher I had at L. J. Bell could jump rope really well), kickball, dodge ball, basketball goals for basketball,  softball, and football. All this and you would still have room to walk around and just talk to your friends. I vividly remember several of our teachers playing all these games with us. Yes, even football. With all this going on, you could even sneak down the hill into the woods and play as long as it was not raining. Then the hills leading to the woods became slickly, slimy, red clay. You could slide down it real good, but once you got to the bottom there was no way back to the top without being pulled up by your friends with a long limb or one of the girl’s jump ropes.

I would also be amiss for not sharing what I remember being taught by each of my teachers.

1st Grade: Miss Fannie Dabbs - She taught me to print on that big ol’ first grade writing paper, and I honestly think she was probably the teacher that, besides, my Mama, first displayed to me each and every day that she truly cared and was interested in everything I did as well as all my classmates. Miss Dabbs loved us all. She was a teacher personified.

2nd Grade: Mrs. Bonnie Gibson - Without a doubt she was the teacher that I attribute teaching me how to read and giving me the love of books, pronunciation and vocabulary that I have today. I still fondly remember her daily “Reading Circles”. I loved to be chosen to read out loud. She was also the teacher that made spelling fun to me.

3rd Grade: Miss Mary Belle Herring - Again, without a doubt, she was responsible for me learning multiplication tables. She was also definitely responsible for my love for reading and books in general. She also taught me to comprehend what I read. Everyone remembers the Book Club. I used to think that Miss Herring was
the teacher solely responsible for founding all Book Clubs in the entire free world. Oh yes, and what about the Weekly Reader? We got one new every week. She would even let me bring my Boy’s Life (the Boy Scout Magazine - which I was too young to be a member of) to school and read from it. Ga-leee, it sure was fun to read.

4th Grade: Mrs. Clyde Gore - And again, without a doubt, Mrs. Gore was the first teacher that instilled a love of history and geography in me. It was to become one of my majors. She would also continue to nurture my love of reading. She was responsible for introducing me to the 921-928 section of the Dewey Decimal System in the library which was for biographies. I loved biographies. I still do. Check this Dewey Decimal System number if you don’t believe me. The 921-928 range is reserved as an optional location for biographies, which are shelved alphabetically by subject's last name.

5th Grade: Miss Julia McGregor - Without any doubt, this is the lady that completely instilled within my heart my love of American History. I was the leader of the Explorer’s Club. I even remember that Lonnie McCaskill was the leader of the Indian Club. Because of Miss McGregor, characters like Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Hernando de Soto, Vasquez de Coronado, Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Francis Drake, Marco Polo, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Juan Ponce de Leon, and many more became as big as life on the pages of my history book, and the ‘dress-up-like-explorer-day’ that we shared with our classmates made it all become real. She took our class on trips to Raleigh to see our capital and other historical buildings. We visited Town Creek Indian Mound to explore the Indian history of the area. We even learned how to make a piece of pottery at the pottery barn near Morrow Mountain. Miss McGregor was able to take just plain old boring junk and make the information just jump off the pages of our books and straight in to our young minds. She made everything she taught real and alive.

6th Grade: Miss Janet Tomlinson - I remember Miss Tomlinson teaching me math, which I hated, but somehow she grabbed my attention because she would let some of us who were interested help read her daily newspaper, and check and track how her stock options were doing. I can still remember that she had stock in the Kodak Company, Coca-Cola, and Bethlehem Steel. Miss Tomlinson was a very large lady, but she came from the mountains of North Carolina, and she could flat out play some football. She could also catch barehanded and slap knock the cover off a softball.

Mrs. Theo Smith (Everything) - It was tough being the son of a teacher that taught in the same school, but I had the best Mom in the world. It was even tougher being Theo Smith’s son. Bob McDonald, a former student of Mama’s at Roberdel and ’66 graduate of Rockingham High School quoted in one of his stories “I am sure her character molding philosophy did not cut off when she cut the office light off to go home.  Mrs. Smith kept Ken's head on straight and made a good guy out of him.” I did get in a lot of mischief, but for sure she kept my head on straight, and she definitely instilled in me my love for music and history. Though I was never a teacher by trade, I have spent my life utilizing that love of music that she instilled in me by teaching in high school bands as well as privately and also as a minister of music for many, many, enjoyable years. Mom was a very strict disciplinarian, and I thought she wrote the book on “What You Can’t Do”. I knew the rod was not to be spared by Theo Smith if I did not obey.  I never became an introvert either. Mama’s punishment was also never prefaced by a multitude of warnings. There was one and only one ‘DON’T’, ‘STOP’, or ‘YOU BETTER QUIT’!, and if Anne or I ‘DID’, then the result was always ‘THEO’!  Mama’s punishment was not what I called ‘CORPORAL’ is was more like ‘CAUSE & EFFECT’. I recall once she walked up behind me at school and swatted me really hard in the butt with one of those wide Sam Browne belts (similar to what General John J. Pershing wore over his military coat in WWI). She had plenty of these because this was the style belt we wore over our band uniforms coats. When I covered my seat with my hands, I turned to Mama and said, “What did you do that for, I haven’t done anything.” Her response, “Well, that’s just in case you do.” My sister and I were never, ever were made to feel unloved, stupid or like anything else that Dr. Benjamin Spock could come up with. At the beginning of each school year, in front of me, she told each of my teachers (who just happened to be all her friends) that if I misbehaved they were to give me a spanking or punish me, and when I got home, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was gonna’ get another. By the way, this never affected me mentally or caused low self esteem! She was indeed a super Mom. I only wish I could see her just one more time! One day I will. In the meantime, OH THE STORIES I CAN TELL!

Mr. J. C. Mulkey (Principal) - Mr. Mulkey was always know as a very strict disciplinarian. If you strayed from the line of rules he had drawn at L. J. Bell, you were sure that it didn’t matter who your parents were, you would suffer his consequences, but Mr. Mulkey was always fair. The main thing I remember about Mr. Mulkey was his athletic prowess and the fact that he could attend a dinner anywhere, have fried chicken, and with the use of his knife and fork eat all the meat on that chicken leaving nothing but the bone with the chicken never touching his fingers. Mama used to say it was because Mr. Mulkey had majored in biology in college and that he could dissect anything, including fried chicken.

Mr. J. E. Huneycutt (Superintendent) - This aggregate of educators would be incomplete without the inclusion this man. I shared with David that that his Dad had always been one of my heroes. He was indeed a man that I looked up to and wanted to emulate. The 6th grade students use to hold elections for different town and county offices. If elected by our fellow classmates, we were allowed to serve in that position for a day and spend a day in the office and under the leadership of the individual that held that office. There was never a doubt what position I desired to run for, and that would be Superintendent of Schools for Richmond County. I proudly won the election for this office when I was in the 6th grade. I do not know if anyone else elected was allowed to actually make any decisions on their own, but I vividly remember coming to Mr. Huneycutt’s office at L. J. Bell and the first task he gave me was to read something and give him my suggestions as to how to solve the problem. I do know one thing for sure. In my opinion, everything that was good about the schools in Richmond County are due to the efforts of this man.

L. J. Bell, you were and still are a grand old elementary school, and for certain we who have walked your halls were privileged to share the best teachers, Principal, and Superintendent that any elementary school has ever had. I was recently encouraged by one of my former graduating classmates and recently retired school teacher at L. J. Bell, Becky McDonald Brewer (RHS ’64), to drive by and check the old elementary school out. I took Becky’s advice the last time I came through Rockingham and discovered that the my old school had been ‘doctored’ a little, but had not changed enough that I was not able to recall many memories with my wife and show her that my old elementary school still stood proud and was continuing to serve the community and county very, very well. We that trod your halls, classrooms, and grounds love you L. J. Bell. Many of the choices we’ve made, the professions we’ve chosen, the lives we lead, and especially the memories that we now continue to share as senior citizens are largely due to the lessons we were initially taught in your hallowed halls and by this original faculty.