Q: What area of Isle of Wight did you grow up in?
A: I grew up in the Rushmere area of Isle of Wight County and that’s up near Surry; it’s adjacent to Surry County, joins Surry County.
Q: Did you have sisters and brothers?
A: Yes, I have, yes; I do have sisters and brothers.
Q: What school did you attend?
A: I attended Lawnes Elementary School in Rushmere, Virginia.
Q: Did your sisters and brothers attend the same school?
A: Some of them attended that school. All of them did not attend that school.
Q: What grades were taught?
A: The grades that were taught at Lawnes Elementary School were grades one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.
Q: How many classrooms?
A: We had three classrooms at Lawnes Elementary School.
Q: How many teachers?
A: We had three teachers at that school.
Q: Do you remember their names?
A: I remember their names. First and second grade, Mrs. Keith, third, fourth, first and second grade, Miss Keith, third, fourth and fifth grade, Mrs. Davis, and sixth and seventh grade, Mr. Turner.
Q: Do you have any information about the history of your school, when it was built, when it opened, and when it closed?
A: I do not know that information at this time. I just moved to Isle of Wight County. I was living in another area so when I got there, I just went to the schools, do not know the history of the school.
Q: How did you get to and from school?
A: We walked to school. I lived about four-tenths of a mile from school, so we walked.
Q: What jobs did you have to do before and after school?
A: You talking about at home and class?
Q: At home.
A: Well, at home we had to get up and feed the hogs and the chickens and water the hogs and get in the eggs, different things. And when we got home, we did the same thing. We had to make sure wood was in the house, or we had coal, we had to make sure coal was in the house. My dad was a farmer, so we farmed. And during the two-week period of all the years that we farmed, especially at harvest time, I had to be away from school to help get up the crop.
Q: Did you have any chores to do once you got to school?
A: Well, when we got to school, we were outside and we had to go inside, we helped make the fire during the day, kept the fire going. We had what we called a pot-belly stove, so we had to make sure the stove was, put wood on it and make the fire, kept the fire going during the day. We cleaned the floors. We cleaned the school. We had our jobs. We did the cleaning. The children did the cleaning at that time.
Q: Did you burn wood or coal?
A: We burned, if my memory serves me right, it was wood most of the time.
Q: How did your school day begin?
A: We began at approximately nine o’clock in the morning and we were out about three-thirty, when I went to school.
Q: Before actually starting your school lessons, did you have any devotions or anything?
A: Yes, we had devotions. We had prayer, we sung songs and we had to say Bible verses before we did any lessons. That was the first thing we did.
Q: What subjects were taught during the school day?
A: Subjects taught during the school day were your math, science, English, social studies, history. I don’t remember any music at that, at that time. We had basic, a basic curriculum that we use now, core areas.
Q: Any specific text books that you remember that you enjoyed more than others?
A: In high school, I loved math. I wasn’t good in history, but I, I loved math. The books that I had, that we had to purchase books from the people in the community, children that already been to school or had that grade. And we would go out in the community, or find other people who had children who were of the same grade that we are, that last year and we purchased their books. That’s how we got our books.
Q: Do you remember the names of any of your readers in elementary school?
A: I really don’t. Dick and Jane, Sue, I don’t remember, but I remember Dick and Jane and Sue and The Three Bad Wolves and those kinds of books. I remember them some.
Q: How long was your school year?
A: We went from September until June.
Q: How many recesses did you have during the day?
A: If my memory serves me, we had basically one recess during the school day and that was, that was, I guess, our exercise time. In our school, because there were two or three classes in the same room, the teacher would work one class and then we would be doing something else or we may do a recess at that time, but we stayed in the room. But we did at least have one recess during the day which was considered as, I assume, health and P.E.
Q: Where did you eat lunch?
A: We ate lunch right in the classroom at our desks.
Q: How long was your lunch period?
A: No more than thirty minutes. No more than thirty minutes.
Q: Did you play any games during your lunch period?
A: Not really. We talked. We communicated with one another. We sat there and talked to our friends.
Q: How would you describe your classroom?
A: Our classroom basically, if it was a two-room, if it was two classes in a room, we had something like two or three rows and then certain classrooms had three classes, so they had two rows for each class. Fifth grade was here, sixth grade was here. Seventh grade was on the other end. And if you were a seventh grader, and while you were a seventh grader, you were somebody as a seventh grader. ‘Cause you knew you would be going to the high school.
Q: How would you describe your teacher’s desk?
A: Most of the times the teacher’s desk was work cluttered, they had a lot of things on their desk. _______ All the books, all the subjects they that taught, it was kind of full from the day before.
Q: Describe the students’ desks.
A: We had the desks that, those are the ones; we had the desk and the chair all combinations. And we had a place to place our books in, in that desk, the way it was set. There was, there was a place for your books under the seat, that area. So we used a combination desk/seat at that time.
Q: Were the desktops smooth, or had it been cut up with knives and so forth?
A: No, our desks, to my memory, were smooth desks. They were nice desks.
Q: Were in good shape?
A: I didn’t see, I’m sure some scars were on there, but not, they were pretty nice.
Q: Were chalkboards used, or blackboards?
A: Yes. We used blackboards at that time. Yes. That’s what they called them.
Q: What type water supply did you have?
A: In the room where the first and second grade was, there was a faucet and what-have-you. There’s where all the water was. Other than that, we didn’t have no water at the school.
Q: So the water came from a well?
A: It came from, yeah, it came from a well…and basically the water was in the first and second grades’ classroom. They had like a little kitchen in that area and that’s where it came from. Originally came from the well.
Q: Were there any teaching aids on the walls?
A: Yes, teachers had, especially in the first and second grade. I didn’t see too much of that in the other grades.
Q: What was your lighting like; did you have electricity, lamplight or just natural light through the windows?
A: We had electricity when I was in school.
Q: Did you have a cloakroom or somewhere to hang your coats?
A: Yes, we did. We had a place we could hang our coats and that was used for more than coats that, um…
Q: More like a school trunk?
A: More like a school trunk, teachers used for discipline, too. You know, if you acted up in class, they would put you in the storage room.
Q: That brings me to my next question (laughter), along with the discipline and punishment line.
A: That was one of the things that teachers at that time would have a ruler, and they would pop your knuckles and they would put you in a closet, set you in a closet space; that’s how they would discipline.
Q: What were your positive memories of your school days, of your teachers, and your fellow students?
A: Well, let me take the teachers first. I had some teachers whom I thought were mean, but they were really not mean, they were just trying to help me. I had another teacher who was very helpful. He would listen to everything that you basically said and tried to give us a positive outlook on things. And what we would do when we left Lawnes Elementary School and go to the high school and what you do when you finish high school. He was very, very positive. Other things I remember, we were a family within those grades. We were like a family, you weren’t like you’re separate, you know, like this. We were all together. And then we used to have ice cream. We used to freeze ice cream. That was fascinating. We just, we’d freeze ice cream and we would just eat. We would have a ball during that time. I remember when I was in the seventh grade play and I remember that until today. We had a play and I was proud of that play and I will never forget that.
Q: Do you have any negative memories of your school days, teachers or students?
A: Well, we didn’t have some facilities that we felt were, should have been there for our use. That was one of the things that, and I guess one of the other things that bothered me a little bit for us. We had, walk, we walked to school and my other counterparts, they, they rode by us and they followed us. And I always wondered, why are they riding the bus and I’m walking. But then I finally found out. So that was one of the disappointing things. But I didn’t let that stop me from what I was trying to do.
Q: Are there any additional school experiences that you would like to tell us about?
A: Well, the school that I attended before I went to Lawnes Elementary School was in Surry…and it was up on, it was called Claremont Elementary School and I was there for two years. And this school _______ set up that I had at Lawnes Elementary School. Of course when I left Lawnes Elementary School and I went to Isle of Wight County Training School and I finished there. I had some good experiences there.
Q: You mentioned about school plays. Are there any other extracurricular activities that you had that bring back memories?
A: You’re talking about just Lawnes or just…
Q: Just Lawnes.
A: Lawnes only. I can’t really think, we had a chance to socialize with another school, we always…
Q: May Days?
A: Yes, we did have May Days, wrapped a May Pole. We used to, we played a game that was called “Mud Cake”. A lot of people don’t know what that is. It would rain and we’d get wet, you know. So we’d have a home plate on each end of the, the building there. And we would run and if you got caught you were called Mud Cake. But if you didn’t get caught, you would win the game, so we, we played that game. We played marbles…and we would always want to have that, some people, all mechanics, you know, used to get those ball bearings, used to get those silver marbles. And everybody wanted one of those marbles. We used to play marbles with those. And we used to play “Hop Scot,” things like that. We used to play basketball occasionally. I remember one of my teachers, Mr. Turner, he’s not with us anymore, he played basketball with us. I thought that was exciting. He was a man who was much older than we are, he used to get in on our level, I thought that was the greatest thing that could happen. And then I remember we had a little problem with one guy who played basketball, somebody hit him and his tooth broke and when he, when it first broke, he didn’t say anything. All of a sudden that air hit that tooth and he started screaming. And we felt so sorry for him. But we did have a lot of fun, lot of fun in school.
Q: Did you have Christmas Programs and graduation exercises?
A: I don’t remember Christmas Programs. I just don’t remember that, at that time.
Q: Is there any early childhood memories that you recall that was connected with the school?
A: Childhood memories connected with the school?
Q: It could be the school in Surry or Lawnes, either one.
A: A lot of things we used to do is occasionally go and visit schools and I guess, as young men, when we saw the ladies, we felt they were better than the ladies at our school (laughter), so it was exciting to go to the other school. To me that was one of the good things. It was good to get to see other people also.
Q: After attending school, what jobs, changes, or other experiences do you recall in that county?
A: That was after Lawnes, or just high school?
Q: Well, after attending school.
A: After attending high school?
Q: Yes, it would be after attending high school, yes.
A: Okay. Well, what happened to me when I finished high school, my main thing was to, we used to _____, my thing was to go in the shipyard and go to work. College at that time, to me, was, my aspirations was to go to college, but I didn’t, my father, since it was ten children, we didn’t have the funds, so I said I’ll go in the shipyard, I’ll work. That’s what everyone else was doing and then Uncle Sam called me and I went in the army. And when I got out of the military, I said to myself, I’m going to school. And I came out, they paid for it, I was working in the shipyard, they paid for every course that I took that was related to technology in the shipyard. And I got my degree from Norfolk State University…and once I did that, they called me and said, do you want to go to grad school? I said go to grad school where? All the way in Ohio…and me leave Virginia and go to Ohio? And I said yes. So my wife, we left and went to Ohio. I got my masters and I came back, going back home and work in the area and go in the shipyard and be in administration, go in administration. When I got back out to the shipyard, they did not have a job for me in administration, so I said, forget the shipyard …and then they called me about the school system, because my degree was in education. And they called me to go to work in Williamsburg, Virginia. I said, Williamsburg, I’d never want to go there. I don’t know much about Williamsburg, because when we were in school, you didn’t hear much about Williamsburg, the history of it, you know. We had people working there, but we didn’t know a lot about the history. I did not know a lot about the history of Williamsburg. I don’t go into Williamsburg. Where, really, is this place? So I ended up getting a job in Williamsburg, working for one of the high schools, Lafayette High School. And I worked as a training coordinator. That means we had a program in school where students worked part of the day and they went to school part of the day. It was for eleventh and twelfth graders. So I was, I had a chance to teach them about life and just things that related to the ______ of life. And that was right down my line. And I did that for about nine years.
I had a chance to talk with a lot of employers in the community and I used to leave school and we would go and have lunch and we would just always visit among our jobs and we would talk about a lot of things. When I left the classroom, I got in class one time and I had so much to tell them. ‘Cause those people were telling me. Then I left. I did that for about nine years and I had been involved in administration for about eighteen or nineteen years. I have been involved in education for thirty years and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Q: You are a minister, correct?
A: I am a minister too, Holiness Church.
Q: Would you like to tell us about that? Your rise to…
A: Yeah, I can talk about that too. I had a calling. I, I’ve always been the type of person who was church oriented, personally. My dad was very, he oriented us to church. I’ve always worked in the church. No one had to tell me to do things. I always volunteered my time…Sunday school teacher, secretary. I was like a little child. I played the music, I played guitar, I played piano, I was in the choir…. just a little church person. We used to go to church and stay all day. We wouldn’t go home from church. We stayed all day. It was fabulous. Had a chance to meet a lot of people, did a lot of things together. And I stayed in church and the inspiration came and my father was a minister. So he opened up a church in Surry and I just helped him as much as I could. And I got involved in church. And when he passed, they, I began to preach and they made me a pastor of the church, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been there for, ever since ’84. I was a principal in high school in Williamsburg, Jamestown High School. So I’m a people person. I go to jails and old folks homes; that’s my calling. I want to help people. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what life is about anyway, helping people.
Q: You know, I had a question for you to give me the highlights of your life, but I think you have already done that. (Laughter)
A: Well, I enjoy, enjoy what I do. I love school. There are a lot of challenges in school. Young people need to grow. Someone needs to help them. I have to say this for many of my parents. They prefer us doing it than them doing it and it bothers me and I hear it all the time from parents. You know, you talk, tell me to tell the child. You’re the parent, why don’t you tell them? I hear that all the time…and I tell them why. One of the things that has changed in education is this: once upon a time you would tell a child what to do and they did it. Now you tell them, but you have to tell them why. And most of the time they will do it. There’s another thing that you have to do now to children. You not only have to tell them why, you have to say please do this…and nine times out of ten they will do it. But you have to change based on the time, especially in the upper grade children. It’s just a part of life. You have to use so many different approaches, so many different strategies. Young people go through so much. They have so much baggage when they come to school. And if we don’t show them a hopeful heart none of them see them _____, they’re going to be lost. So we have to give up so much to help them to bridge the gap so they can be successful. But that’s what we’re here for.
Q: You know, I had another question and you’ve probably answered it. Do you think there’s a difference between the teachers when you were in school and the teachers today? I think you told me why, but was there a difference?
A: I think most of the, we have a lot of good teachers today. Most of the teachers in our time were like our parents. You know, they look at us like we are the parents as far as the court is concerned, but back in those days every teacher, you felt that they were like a parent to the child. And they did what they could do to help a child, whatever it was. It just was. It was more of a family. It was a closeness…and, and, and parents had confidence in teachers, so teachers felt they had the freedom to do the things that they wanted to. Now a days it’s the lawyers, it’s the court system…and if you don’t do what they want to do, they sue you, they take you to court. So you don’t feel the, you don’t feel like being, you don’t feel like being relaxed and help in the many different other strategies and approaches in the school like you used to. You can’t do things like you used to do. ‘Cause you’re always thinking about you’re going to be sued. You have a mission, you cross every “T” and dot every “I”. And you have to be consistent, if, if you don’t, they will get back at you, as will, I’ve had parents say some things to me that were very inappropriate. They will threaten you all the time. They do it all the time. They don’t worry about if you’re the teacher or if you’re the administrator, but you have to know in yourself what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. And I’m the type of person who stands up for what I believe; what I believe is right…and people tell me you’re the principal of the school; you can do what you want to do. No, I’m, I’m governed by morals and principles. And just because who you are, that doesn’t bother me. Your child does something inappropriate, I deal with him like I do any other little child. And sometimes that, inadvertent saying that the law was made for certain people, huh; you’ve heard that. The law was made for us; when it comes to other people, your money, what-have-you, it’s a different story.
Q: Reverend Cypress, we certainly thank you for your interview. This is one interview that I hope that everyone goes to the Schoolhouse Museum and listens to.
A: I hope so.
Q: Thank you very much.
A: Thank you.