TALCOTT W.Va. (Hinton News) – Editor’s Note: Each week, local history collector William Jones discusses items from his collection and their historical significance. In this edition, his item of the week is a photo from the original Talcott School Gym.
This week is about a photo of students in the gymnasium at Talcott School was recently renamed the Dallas “Bud” Mann Gymnasium after it was fully restored to its 1930s state. It is of the 1st through 6th grades 1938 -1939. The Talcott School newspaper “The Areopagus” discussed a play the elementary grades put on called “Fairies Are Really True” on March 31, 1939.
My grandfather Bernard Thompson, “granddad,” as I called him, quit school the following year in 1940 to work in his father’s garage and service station in Talcott, Thompson’s Garage. Since Granddad quit school early on, Mom doesn’t have much from his school days. She has the pieces discussed in this article, his 1938 yearbook, and his “Pupils Reading Circle,” also from 1939. I recently happened across and purchased on eBay a 1939 and 1940 The Tal-K-Talian yearbooks he is in and added them to our collection.
First, we will discuss the photo of students. The gym was relatively new at this point, having only been completed in 1936. As I have already stated, the photograph depicts the 1st through the 6th grades. Granddad is in the center of the photo. He is wearing a dark sweater with a big white collar over it. The only other student I know for sure is his brother, my Great Uncle Leonard Thompson, who is seated on the first row, second from the right. Betty Lou Boyd, who would later become his wife, is also in this photo.
Now, as for the play, I do not have a copy of it, but John Kessler had a large framed photo of this play in the Talcott Area Memorabilia Room he had in the back of Dillon’s Superette prior to it becoming the John Henry Museum. As I recall in this photo the woodwork around the stage was not yet completed. I remember Granddad was wearing a large flower around his head. After reading this article, I found out why, he was a “Dewdron Fairy.”
Turns out my Uncle Leonard was in this production as well as an “Evening Breeze.” Several other names stick out in my head regarding these students who became prominent members of the community. Even though I can not identify the others in this photograph, I am going to name the students in the play, who are coincidentally the other students in this photograph even though it was not taken of the play itself.
“Dotty” was played by Anna Mae Rudisill, “Teddy” by Edwin Cales, “Fairy Queen” by India Allen, “Runaway Fairy” by Wilma Gill and the “Queen’s Attendant” was Basil Hudge. Rainbow Fairies were Nancy Eades, Jean Boyd, Pauline Meadows, Virginia Lowry, Virginia Ballengee, Janie Wyant, Ida Raines and Kathryn Woodrum.
“Sunshine Fairies” were Patty Jo Chattin, Betty Lou Boyd, Dorthy Rudisill, Helen Snead, Dora Lee Jones, Nadine Gadd, Peggy Lou Huffman and Zula Godd. “Dewdron Fairies” were Russell Gadd, Morris Reed, Robert Gadd, Jimmie Jones, Jimmie Spence, Harold Dillon, Bernard Thompson and Denns Surber. “Dream Fairies” were Joyce Bragg, Vada Gadd, June Chattin, Exrea Taylor, Alice Holloran, Betty Jo Hutchison, Eva Jane Spence and Louise Rudisill.
“Evening Breezes” were Joan Dillon, Jerolee Taylor, Helen Snead and Dora Lee Jones (unrecognizable name, Ralph Jones, Sonny Chattin, George Dillon, Joan Dillon, Tommy Bostic, Mary Carol Bostic, Jennie Sims, Chubby Halloran, Jimmy Chattin, Libby Jo Miller, Jane Miller, Gary Jones, Billy Mann, Polly Mann and Leonard Thompson.
The write-up about this play concluded with it saying, “The operetta is directed by Mrs. W. R. Boyd, Mrs. Melvina Miller, Miss Blanch Sims and Miss Mary McNiel.” Until gathering the history and pieces for this article, I had never put two and two together, and the students in this photograph are the students that are in this play that was put on at virtually the same time.
