Over the past several months I have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a fine gentleman, Mr. Ted Green. He came to the Union County Board of Education offices to find information on Plainview School. He and I have examined the registers from teachers who taught at that school from 1932 until the school’s closing in 1970.
I am including below the body of an email Mr. Green sent to me regarding a planned gathering for anyone connected with Plainview School. This email is intact (with minor editing) as sent to me.
“Hello, my name is Ted Greene and my older brother Sherrell and I previously attended Plainview Elementary School from the years 1960 through 1968. We thoroughly enjoyed our years and the great education we received there. He and I have been discussing for several months now how wonderful it would be to reunite with old classmates and relive old stories of a time that has now passed for students of today’s school systems, to catch up with our lives today and brag on our children and grandchildren.
“If you are an ex-student, teacher, cook, volunteer, bus driver or County Agent of Plainview Elementary School you are invited to come to the Plainview Elementary School Gathering at the Plainview Community Building on November 25 (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) to bring and share finger foods, to keep it simple. Soft drinks, tea, water and paper goods will be provided. Please bring any photos or mementos you may have. The gathering will begin at 10 a.m. and last until whenever (or the food runs out). With most reunions, when the food runs out the crowd has pretty much disappeared.
“Please R.S.V.P. to me (Ted Green) at 865-405-3247 by November 18 so we’ll have a good idea of attendance.”
Sadly, there used to be two photo albums that seem to have disappeared, that belonged to the Community Club. These albums contained several photos of the school and its students and the women’s Home Demonstration Club. I saw these albums several years ago displayed at a festival there at Plainview, and I’ve been told that not long after that was the last time they were seen in a box in storage there at city hall. I was hoping to display them at this gathering, but I can’t locate them.
If anyone should know their location or anything about them, please contact me at 865-405-3247, or call or take them to Plainview City Hall at 865-992-5941 on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
We just passed the 52nd anniversary of Plainview School’s closing, and as far as we know, nothing like this has ever been done. We’re looking forward to a good turnout and fun time. Come on out and let’s have a good time! We look forward to seeing you. I am so hopeful that there will be a fine turnout for the Gathering at Plainview.
Following is a list of the teachers and their dates of service from 1932 to the school’s closing.
F. E. (Fonzy Emerson) Donahue 1932-1933
Frances A. Skeen Waller 1932-1933; 1954-1966
Jessie Wolfe 1932-1933; 1939-1948; 1949-1968
Leah Elizabeth Monroe Wolfe 1933-1935; 1936-1938
Robert Donahue 1933-1935
Boyd L. Nicely 1935-1937
William C. Wolfe 1935-1936
L. H. (Lawrence) Harless 1937-1939
Mabel Nicely 1938-1939
Edward Lee Collette 1939-1941; 1948-1954
Polly Walker 1941-1942
Allie Vaughn 1942-1943
Martin L. Peters 1943-1947
Lucy Peters 1947-1948
C. E. Donahue 1947-1948
Claudine Gentry 1948-1949
Rozella DeVault 1948-1949
Mary Elizabeth Skeen 1966-1970
Judye Virginia Smith 1968-1970