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Pearl Stephens Students and Teachers Reunite

Posted on: Sunday, 11 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Liz Fabian, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Jun. 11--WARNER ROBINS -- Annie Abrams remembers what it was like as an 11-year-old girl to walk into a brand new, concrete block, two-room school building in Houston County.

In 1949, black students had to settle for used books and old furniture, but Abrams' grandmother, Pearl Stephens, successfully fought for a school of their own.

After Stephens petitioned the school board, she donated the land for the new school that would bear her name. Her granddaughter would no longer learn her lessons in a church building.

"I was so happy, so excited and just praising the Lord," Abrams said of that first day at the new school.

The memories are all coming back now that Abrams and dozens of other Pearl Stephens students and teachers are gathering this weekend for a three-day reunion to celebrate the first 20 years of the school.

But before court-ordered desegregation closed the all-black school in 1969, a new building was built in 1953 and a high school was added in 1960.

Franklin Green was a member of the first high school graduating class to spend all 12 years at Pearl Stephens.

"I remember the structure, the discipline, the sense of being and purpose the teachers tried to instill in us," Green said Saturday night during a reunion banquet at First Baptist Church of Garmon Street.

If students didn't come to class, teachers would go looking for them.

In the banquet program, former teacher Rosalee Granville Lee shared her story about catching one of her students picking cotton across from Robins Air Force Base.

"I pulled off my shoes and chased him down, and then took him to school," Lee wrote for the program.

Young Willie Lee Talton didn't really appreciate his paddle-wielding teachers, but the state representative and retired chief deputy of the Houston County Sheriff's Office does now, said Talton, the featured speaker at the banquet.

Growing up in the segregated South, Talton couldn't even imagine what the future could hold for him.

"Being what I am today, that wasn't even a dream then," Talton said. "But the teachers taught you to be the best. I just hoped to make it, but God is so good."

Alton Mattox taught in the segregated school in the 1960s. After a renovated Pearl Stephens Elementary reopened in 1991, Mattox returned as principal in 1994. Beginning and ending his career at Pearl Stephens was truly rewarding, said Mattox, who retired in 2002. A few years later, the school was named a School of Excellence for work that began during his tenure, Mattox said.

It was a continuation of Pearl Stephens' legacy that lives on today.

"The family is still here and they're keeping it alive," Mattox said. "They're always making contributions to education."

And at Pearl Stephens school, everyone seemed like family, reunion attendees said.

When math teacher William Turner walked into the social Friday night at the NCO Club of Robins Air Force Base, the 82-year-old felt like he was walking into a family reunion, he said.

The school was a haven for him during the racially turbulent times of the 1960s.

"If you had been on a hot stove and walked into an air-conditioned place, the contrast of those two would give you some idea of what it was like to teach at Pearl Stephens," said Turner, who said he often wore red socks to aggravate the students.

One of Turner's most mischievous students, Jerome Stephens, lifted up Turner's pants leg Saturday night to check his socks, but they weren't red.

"I always check every time I see him," said Stephens, now president of the reunion committee and a grandson of Pearl Stephens.

He remembers coming home from the Marine Corps and sitting with his grandmother in church. She tapped him on the shoulder, pointed to the deacons and said, "See those old men, they've gotten old. You're going to have to carry on."

The words sank deep within the 26-year-old.

Now the family and reunion committee continue his grandmother's work by offering scholarships to outstanding seniors, such as Cody Lynch. Lynch, who is attending the University of Georgia in the fall, received a $500 Pearl Stephens scholarship at the banquet.

Jerome Stephens said it was fantastic growing up as Pearl Stephens' grandson.

"She was a warrior for education," he said. "She loved to see people strive to master life."

To contact Liz Fabian, call 744-4303 or e-mail lfabian@macontel.com [mailto:lfabian@macontel.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.)

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