Saturday, November 19, 2022

Hazelwood School

 I spent the first six years of my educational life at Hazelwood Elementary School. Hazelwood was a very small mill town on the outskirts of WAYNESVILLE…the separate town no longer exists as it has been incorporated into WAYNESVILLE itself.  There is now a new elementary school and the old building has been repurposed as the headquarters for FOLKMOOT, a world wide folk arts organization.

But…the old auditorium has been restored as a wonderful performance space.  This week I got to tell stories there, right in my old school auditorium!


It was a sold out house and many of my old school mates were there. It was really fun for me to look out into the audience as I told stories that actually happened in that space.


Special guests in the audience included my cousin, Nancy Carol, and her husband, Gordon.  They brought Nancy Carol’s mother, my Aunt Nancy, from where she now lives in Asheville.  She is my mother’s last surviving sister and is about to turn ninety-five years old. She is bright and fun! The next day we visited her at her home at the Brooks-Howell Retirement Home.


I also got to take Trish around the old school and show her memory places.  Here I am standing right by the door of the room where my mother taught second grade. She taught at Hazelwood for 38 years.  When she started, Mr. Lawrence Leatherwood was the principal and his little boy, Larry, was in her room. When she finished teaching there, Larry himself was her principal! Lots of memories!



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