i'""'""'" * ? numpson , jrom left, of Winston-Salem, with Syvera Hardy of San Diego,
Calif., and Artelia Robinson of Washington , D.C.
A
Billie Matthews greets a former student. Beside her is Clara Games.
almost Like Y esterd ay
Q
Photo* by Kevin Walker
Robert and
Annetta Wells,
who came from
Alaska to
attend the
reunion, sing
the Atkins alma
mater during
Saturday ' s
reunion ban
quet.
Teachers and many members of the class received a special throw featuring an image of the
school and the alma mater.
Ernes^oodmatTuft. and Foster Lassiter pay tribute to their deceased c lax % mates. *
Class reunites 50 years after their high school graduation
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
It happened more than SO
years ago, but it may as well
have beefl yesterday as vividly
as it still lives in Leon
Witherspoon's mind.
"I was running my mouth,
and I did not have my French
homework done," he told a
trio of stately ladies Saturday.
"So, Mrs. Hayes told me to
pick up my desk 'and take it
into the. hallway. And that
when I was prepared for class ;
I conld come back in."
But Withexipoon never gdf
the chance to rttan* to tlass
that day. John Carter - the leg
endary former Atkibs High
School principal who was as
caring as a parent and but as
tough as a drill sergeant - saw
him sitting in the halfway and
dealt with him in ttie princi
pal's office.
You coold say that
Witherspooh waited half a
century to recount that story to
the woman who played a Cen
tral role in fa Clara Gafnes, a
former Atkins teacher. Gaines
was one of the womm? who
chuckled a4 ' Witftcrspoon
shared the tafe; the Others
were Gaines' former Atkins
teaching cblleagues Velma
Friende and Maiidfcrlint
Scales (Billie Matthews would
later join her former cowork
ers). The 50th Anniversary
Reunion of the Class of 1938
was the occasion that brought
the teachers and dozens of;
their fanner students together
at the Downtown Marriott.
For three days, members of
the class laughed, reminisced'
and basked in the memories of
the good 'ol days - a time
when school mates were like
members and education was
cherished.
"I would not have missed
this for the world!" said
Annetta Wells, who, along
with her husband Robert,
travelled from Alaska so that
she could attend her reunion
"This was a very special
class."
"Special" is also the term
she dsed to describe the band
of educators and administra
tors that molded her aad her
classmates. After graduating
from Atkins, Wells earned a
teaching degree from
Winston-Salem State
University and taught in the
local school system fpr four
years. Then she decided to try
something new.
"I saw this ad in an educa
tional journal that said
'Teachers Needed in Alaska,'
and I applied," said Wells,
who taught school in the
nation's 49th state for several
decades. She and her husband,
who is also an Atkins gradu
ate, love tKe state so much that
they have chosen to spend
their retirement years there.
It took some rhoxie for a
young woman to move alone
(John did not join her until
several ninths later) to an
?unchartered state thousands of
miles away* But Wells said she
and* other students were taught
at Atkms to be bold.
"They pushed us and told
us that we could do anything
that we wanted to do," she
said.
Bill Be)l got that same
Mayor Bill Bell takes pictures during the reunion.
G
Clara Gaines
Manderline Scales
Velma Friende
advice, and took it to heart.
After receiving his Atkins
diploma in 1958, he went off
to study electrical engineering
at Howard University (where
he earned a B.S.) and New
York University (where he
earned a master's degree). In
the late 1960s, he started
working for IBM in Durham;
his side job was community
activism. Bell was elected to
Durham County Board of
Commissioners in 1972. He
was continuously re-elected to
the board until 2001, when he
became Durham's mayor, a
title he has held ever since.
Mayor Bell said he does
not know that exact formula
that was used at Atkins that
made he and his classmates so
successful in life, but he
believes it contained elements
of discipline, strength and
love.
"They cared about us, and
we knew they cared," he said
of the Atkins faculty and staff.
Like most of the classes
that came through Atkins, the
Class of '58 was schooled
under segregation, a system
that many today view as duel .
But looking back. Bell thinks
it had its advantages. The
black community, he said, was
more unified and stronger. As
a child. Bell said his early
influences were the profes
sional black men who lived in
his neighborhood - men
whom he saw go to work each
day and come home in the
evening. In this post segrega
tion era, successful black pro
fessionals in black communi
ties are harder to find, as is
joint cooperation.
"We lost a sense of com
munity in a certain sense,"
said Bell.
Even Atkins didn't survive
integration. The high school
was closed in the early 1970s
and re-opened as a middle
school. Today, the old Atkins
High is known as the Winston
Salem Preparatory Academy.
The school system has given a
new multi-million dollar high
school the name Atkins, but
alumni find it hard to draw a
correlation between the old
and new.
The class of 1958 left
Atkins High as bright-eyed
17-and-18-year-olds. Those
on hand for the reunion were
just as bright-eyed, despite
being nearly 70-years-old
now. The class holds reunions
regularly, but each time they
gather, fewer and fewer show
up. Of course some choose not
to attend, but many have
passed on. Deceased members
of the Class were remembered
during a candle-lighting cere
mony during Saturday night's
banquet. Photos of departed
classmates were also shown as
part of a slideshow.
"We owe it to them to be
here to celebrate this 50th
year reunion," said James
Rousseau, the head of the
reunion committee.
James Lomax - who took
part in a tribute for Hayes,
Friende, Matthews and Scales
during the banquet - had a
special request for his class
mates.
"Don't you dare leave
Winston-Salem without giving
me a hug or a handshake.
Don't you dare!" he said.
"This could be my last
(reunion)"
i ?