GREENSBORO – The Greensboro Historical Society held its winter meeting last Sunday afternoon in the Fellowship Hall of the United Church of Christ with a fine turnout. The engaging topic was the history of the Greensboro High School, with over a dozen alumni participating.
photo by Paul Fixx
Erika Karp then gave a brief overview of the history of the high school.
Originally Greensboro was divided into a number of separate districts, each with a one-room school house serving grades one through eight. (Lewis Hill gives a vivid picture of these schools in his book, “Fetched Up Yankee”).
B.J. Gray, opening the meeting with both a gavel and by ringing a bell, gave a short introduction, thanking Patsy Mercier, Jane Johns, Jacquie Molleur, Janet Long, Jan Terwiesch and others for help in organizing the event. Relevant items from the historical society’s collections were on display by Leslie Rowell, including a sizable wooden rolling pin she called a mace with class dates from 1938 to 1968, that was handed down from class to class. [Editor’s note: The Cambridge Dictionary defices mace as a decorated rod that is carried by or put in front of particular public officials as a symbol of their authority]
Those students who wanted to go on to high school would attend at Craftsbury Academy or other neighboring schools. Only in 1913 was the present building constructed, with four classrooms on the main ground floor and a meeting hall, stage and half-size basketball court on the upper level. This continued for 51 years until 1968, when, due to low student numbers and problems finding teachers during the planning for, and construction of, Hazen Union School (as well as a state-wide trend for high school consolidations), Greensboro pupils then had to attend high school in Hardwick at Hazen Union after a gap of several years.
Much more information can be found in the large history of Greensboro book and in a smaller pamphlet about the “Greensboro High School Alumni, History and Directory, and their School of Yesterday, Bicentennial Issue, 1976,” both available at the historical society. In the former publication, Jacquie Molleur (a 1961 alumna) described her experiences at the Hazen Road school house, with Mrs. Harrison (Mary) Wilson, a great teacher, who played the piano to reward children for their good behavior.
Erika Karp then asked a series of some three dozen questions, to which the alumni could raise their hand if it applied to them. Examples were: did they live in the village or the Bend, on a farm, do chores before school and after, have a garden, do sugaring, have horses, heat with wood, have an icebox, have an outhouse, record player, radio, T.V., did they like high school, make friends for life, play basketball, run cross country, have plays, go to dances, go to movies in Hardwick, like certain popular singers, play in a band, work on the year book or newspaper.
Next, individuals told some of their memories, starting with Janet Long (1953), who took French classes and recounts a biology test with the principal. She was the class valedictorian her senior year and, somewhat inexplicably, gave her impromptu speech about Zurich, Switzerland.
George Young (1958) went to school for the full 12 years in Greensboro and never missed a day. He later mentioned a memorable moment of the classic trick of getting someone to put his tongue on a frozen pipe, promptly getting stuck, only to be detached with hot water.
Another person remembered the crude school van affectionately called the “hog box” by which he got to school, as well as the dances and proms in the upstairs gym, with square dances at local barns in the summer. Inez Willa Lumsden (1956) recalled there used to be a soda fountain at the Willey’s Store. Narcissa Boyd Gomes (1961) observed that the discreet way of going to the bathroom in the high school was to ask to go to the “basement” where it was located (along with the chemistry classroom). Jane Johns (1965) singled out Horace Strong (from Craftsbury) as one of the best teachers, as well as Ray Brooks. George Hussey (1956) also mentioned horace Strong as the person who developed his interest in chemistry. He displayed his original basketball jacket he has kept all these years. Phillip Rochette (1956) remembered going steady with girls and then later marrying his wife of 57 years, Bett.
photo by Paul Fixx
Ernest Lapierre (1967) was an honor student at Greensboro High School, but he told an amusing story about one time being a “bad boy” and buying a bottle of beer and a carton of cigarettes at the Willey’s Store, hiding them in his heavy winter coat when he went back to school, but forgetting to put out his cigarette. He later went on to get a college degree, masters and Ph.D., with a very successful career in public health and the Army National Guard.
Linda Mae Clow (1968) was the last baby to be born in the Greensboro Hospital, which was located where the present Free Library is situated. Russell Hislop (1955) was a cross country runner whose team ranked high in the state, as well as a basketball player. His grandfather built part of the original high school and his mother helped get it started. David Allen (1969, but he graduated from another high school after Greensboro closed in 1968) went through the whole school system and had nice memories of Laura Atkinson as a teacher. Two summer people spent brief times at the high school in the fall (before going back to Cambridge where their fahter taught at Harvard), Clive Gray in 1941 and Hal Gray c.1951.
As a finale, everyone sang along, following a handout of the Greensboro High School anthem.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
