Healthy, Happy Friends – December 2013
By Joan Sewell
Shoveling snow off the walkway to our front door was a difficult task but everyone in the family took a turn. We grew cold, weary and in need of warm food. Just as we stored the shovels, we realized our neighbors, an elderly couple, might not be physically able to clear their walk.
The 80’s: Times to remember!
By Mandy Snell Harris
How did we ever make it growing up without cell phones and computers ? Answer… Just fine.
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I will forever think of fall 2013 as the time when I realized that for all the blessings I was born with: great family, an unforgettable singing voice and the ability to NEVER sun burn, I was ripped off by having short legs.
Ring a ling make those local business cash registers ring! It was as if the forks barely hit our plates from the last bite of Thanksgiving and many people were out the doors to go shopping in those big box stores and those big discounts.
Reflecting on family and home – 70’s in Snellville
By Mandy Snell Harris
Before I get started on the ‘rest’ of the 70’s, I would like to apologize to my cousins Burton Slade and Curtis Jones for not listing them in 1970 graduates. My oversight 🙂
The 70’s were a special decade, especially for those of us who were born in the 60’s. (just my personal opinion, haha). However….. WOW!!
THINKERS
• “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” Winston Churchill
• “When you become senile, you won’t know it.” Bill Cosby
• “When childhood dies its corpses are called adults.” Brian Aldiss
• “Above all teach a boy to tell the truth. Truth telling I have found is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common. Every single one was a liar.” J. Edgar Hoover in the article “What I Would Tell a Son.”
• “Tax reform means ‘Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree.” Russell B. Long, US Senator
• “Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?” Samuel Goldwyn
• A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
NEWS FROM THE PAST• The Lawrenceville News November 5, 1897, “James Langley who resides on Hurricane Shoals Road about 4 miles from Lawrenceville was united in marriage to Miss Zilla McDaniel who lives near here.”
• The Gwinnett Herald was established in 1871 and The Lawrenceville News was established in 1893; the papers were consolidated on January 1, 1898 and became The News-Herald.
• The Gwinnett Journal November 12, 1910, “The automobile is here to stay. They are getting cheaper and will continue to do so and soon most everybody will have on
• The News-Herald November 18, 1915, “The girls of the Lawrenceville High School have organized a good basketball team and it is sure to be a success.”
• The Gwinnett Journal November 2, 1937, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Oakes announce the birth of a daughter on Sunday.
• The Lawrenceville City Election will be held Tuesday, November 5 at the Lawrenceville City Hall on South Clayton Street. Candidates for Lawrenceville City Council: Renita Hamilton, Rory Johnson, Keith Roche, Larry Troutman.
• The first day of the 2014 school year will be August 6, 2014; the last day of the 2014/15 school year will be May 20, 2015. Plan your vacations… LAWRENCEVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GOLDEN CELEBRATION
The public school system of Lawrenceville was created by an act of the General Assembly in 1893 and a new building was erected with classes beginning in 1895. The first school was at the corner of Oak and Perry Streets in Lawrenceville and it housed grades one through seven. The schools began moving off the hill in 1957 when Central Gwinnett opened. In 1962 some grammar school grades were moved to the newly constructed building on Gwinnett Drive which was then called Fair Street.
Lawrenceville Elementary School will celebrate 50 years of existence on Sunday November 17, 2013 when parents, educators and friends of the school gather in the school cafeteria to celebrate this significant milestone. Lawrenceville Elementary School was built in stages with the first wing opening at 122 Gwinnett Drive in Lawrenceville in December 1962 and it was called Lawrenceville Primary until 1964 when the sixth grade was added.
When the first wing of the school opened in 1962 there were 12 classrooms housing grades one and two; there was no lunchroom at the school and students were bused back to the hill for lunch. In 1963 and 64 students from Lawrenceville Elementary went to Central Gwinnett for lunch.
The second wing of the school was added in 1965 and a third wing was added in 1971. In 1993 there were significant additions to the school.
The first principal was J.N. Timms who led the school for eighteen years.
Other principals were Larry Smith, Virginia Moore, Freddie H. Williams, Jane Robertson, Dorothy Hines; the present principal is Lisa Johnson.
The school had 730 students and 93 staff members in October 2013. Karen Davidson, Receptionist/Secretary at Lawrenceville Elementary School; Karen has worked at the school for 16 years.
• MEMORIES FROM GLORIA JAMES, LAWRENCEVILLE ELEMENTARY FOCUS TEACHER Lawrenceville native Gloria Gunter James was a student at Lawrenceville Elementary and Central Gwinnett; her father was a graduate of Lawrenceville High School. Gloria graduated from the University of Georgia; she taught at Lawrenceville Elementary School from January 1989 until 2006. Gloria was the Focus Teacher and she remembers that the school celebrated Heritage Days in 1993 with lots of activities planned in cooperation with students and parents. In 1996 the school had an Olympic Celebration with activities at Central Gwinnett and special T shirts to mark the event. Another activity that impressed Gloria was the 100 books celebration planned by a first grade teacher. The 100 books celebration gave recognition to first graders who read 100 books. Gloria remembers that Lawrenceville Elementary was a School of Excellence in the late 1990’s.
Gloria’s three children attended Lawrenceville Elementary and Central Gwinnett High, becoming third generation family members to attend Lawrenceville public schools.
FOURTH GRADE TEACHER JOYCE REED’S MEMORIES
Lawrenceville native, Joyce Jones Reed, taught fourth grade at Lawrenceville Elementary School for 26 years and her enthusiastic attitude about her years as a teacher is apparent as she relates fond memories of the years that she spent there. Joyce taught for one year at the school on the hill before going to the new elementary school on Gwinnett Drive.
After graduating from UGA in 1953 Joyce began her 30 year career as an educator in the Atlanta School System before moving back to her hometown and teaching at the school where she had been a student and where she knew families of her students. Joyce remembers that she was inspired to teach by Omie Jackson and Louise Cooper who were her teachers at Lawrenceville.
Joyce remembers that when she went to see her room at the new school Mr. Timms took her to her room which was painted yellow, her favorite color. Joyce said that Mr. Timms was a great principal and her years at the school were happy years; her twin sons also attended Lawrenceville Elementary and rode to school with Joyce every morning. One of Joyce’s not so pleasant memories was when she was supervising students who were playing ball at recess, a student fell when trying to get to third base and broke his wrist. Joyce was more upset about the accident than the student.
Joyce Reed taught 26 years at Lawrenceville Elementary and never lost her enthusiasm for teaching or for the Georgia Bulldawgs.
Bobbie Turnage graduated from O’Keefe High School in Atlanta and the University of Georgia before coming to teach school in Lawrenceville. She is the mother of three daughters who attended Lawrenceville Elementary and all three graduated from Central Gwinnett High School and from college.
Bobbie taught third for one year when Lawrenceville Elementary School was housed in a row of buildings called the “Chicken Coop” on the hill near the corner of Oak and North Perry Streets in Lawrenceville. Bobbie said that Mrs. Rebecca Baggett often sent sweet snacks for teachers and how delicious those treats were. Bobbie also said that she covered her bulletin boards with paper towels before putting pictures on them.
Bobbie moved to Lawrenceville Elementary on Gwinnett Drive in 1965 and retired in 2001 after teaching for 29 years; she taught third grade except for one year when she taught fifth grade. Bobbie said that she and her family were blessed with good health so she did not miss many days at school except for the time when her mother was very ill and hospitalized in Franklin, N.C. Bobbie said that Larry Smith was principal when her mother was sick and he understood her situation and supported her as she tried to teach and to care for her mother. Bobbie said that she lived near the school so commuting was not a time consuming event; she went to school early and stayed late. Her children rode with her in the mornings.
Bobbie remembered that when Lawrenceville Elementary was being renovated classes were moved to Simonton Elementary and she enjoyed being in a new building there.
While Bobbie taught the school principals were Neal Timms, Larry Smith, Freddie Williams, Jane Robertson and Dorothy Hines. Bobbie has many good memories about her school teaching years and she enjoys seeing her former students as they become adults.
Jimmie Mae Sosebee taught 24 of her 30 years as an educator at Lawrenceville Elementary School, she spent a year and a half teaching first grade at the school on the hill where she had been a student.
Jimmie Mae was a student at Lawrenceville High school then she transferred to Washington Seminary to take advantage of the music program there. She graduated from the University of Georgia.
Jimmie Mae taught first grade at the Gwinnett Drive School and during the first six weeks of school for several years first grade students were dismissed at 1 p.m.; older students stayed until school was dismissed at 3.
Jimmie Mae remembered that she had bus duty and also was responsible for many chapel programs presented by her young students; her background in music was very important as she planned special programs and activities. She said that for several years her classroom was next to the one taught by Maxie Lord who was a great teacher and good friend to Jimmie Mae.
Jimmie Mae said that students who misbehaved were sometimes paddled by the principal.
Jimmie Mae’s two sons and two grandsons were students at Lawrenceville Elementary School; the family business, Sosebee Auto Supply, has been in operation in Downtown Lawrenceville for over 50 years.
You can tag yourself or relatives on our facebook photo to share!
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I may never know the “rest of the story” but there was a “Magic Moment” at Central Gwinnett Cross Country that still makes me smile.
Healthy, Happy Friends – November 2013
By Joan Sewell
What with the government shutdown and the continuing debate on raising the debt limit, I have decided that we need a few laughs in this month’s column. So I solicited some funny stories fromH2U members and at their requests I will refrain from revealing names in the stories they insist are true. So here goes and I hope you get a laugh or two!
107 W Crogan St, Lawrenceville Ga 30046 | (770) 963-3699
