Singing School Class, about 1907, Cedar Bluff
The only person I can identify for certain is Guy Rambin, Back
Row, Right end (Born 1895)
This picture was made at the house, owned by Mr. Wright, where School was held
until the construction, in 1911, of the present day Cedar Bluff School.
This house was across the road from the Cedar Bluff School.-Picture Courtesy
James & Lavene Brewer-Can anyone identify any of the other people in this
photo? If so, please call James Brewer @ 564-7051
Singing School Teacher,
CA 1907, Name
Unknown
The building, below, was built in 1911, and was restored several years ago by the people of the Cedar Bluff Community, former students, and other interested parties. Some of these people spent hundreds of hours on this restoration project; the families of Irby, Stanaland, Wright, Brewer, just to name a few.
Pictures taken Sept. 14, 2001-C. H. Sparks, Jr
Top Picture, E/S of Bldg.
Bottom, Inside view of Cedar Bluff School Classroom & Stage
These seats are more modern than the originals.
This stage is used by a group of musicians, some from the Cedar Bluff Community,
who entertain the public First & Third Saturday nights of ea. month.
Thomas E. "Gene" Sparks is one of the band members
The School had their own garden, where they grew their own vegetables, located on E/S of the school., between the S/S of the lunch room and the girl's outhouse, which the men of the Community worked for the benefit of the students. Harold recalls his father, J. T. Sparks & Bro. Virgil Stanaland, as well as others, working the school garden.
At some time between 1937-1943, the School instituted a
Hot Lunch Program.
Prior to that, the children carried lunch pails, or brown bag lunches. A lunch
pail to some
students was a syrup bucket, and the lunch was a biscuit with a pork sausage, or
a piece of ham, if you were lucky. Sometimes the lunch was soda crackers,
with potted meat between, which was soggy by lunch time.
There was some kind of State/Federal Assistance program, which furnished canned goods. Harold well remembers canned squash, which he was not fond of, until he was grown.
The old School Lunch room, where food was prepared and served to the students of Cedar Bluff School, top Outside View, Bottom, Inside view. The lunch room had only 2 tables, which would seat only about 16 people @ a time. There were about 35 students, and they ate in shifts.
The male students would carry stove wood in from the wood pile, which was furnished by the men of the Community for use at the school.
Some of the ladies who cooked at this school, as recalled by Harold Sparks, were:
Mrs. George Hart
Mrs. Rip Strahan
Mrs. Tot (A. V.) Broach
Harold recalls Mrs. Hart jumping on top of the stove, when a mouse ran out of the wood pile inside the cook house, and she invented a new dance.
Top-remains of girls' outhouse, on E/S of School. Boy's was located on W/S of
School.
Below: some old bricks, from original brick foundation piers. "Standard
Brick Co., Palmer, Texas"
Some of Harold's Classmates: (1937-1943)
At this time there were only 8 grades @Cedar Bluff, while the older children
went to Garrison.
(Some may have been a grade ahead)
Raymond Stanaland, Vera Strahan, Franklin Rambin, Billie Jean
Irby, Laverne Newman
Elma Ray Gillis, Allen Stanaland's younger sister, Norma Redmond, Geraldine
Childress (1 yr)
Billie Jean Hart, James Ivan Langford, Beamon Scogin
Some of the older students, Harold recalls
Rufus Rambin, Erline Rambin, Dorothy Nell Rambin, Kenneth Rambin, Wilma Stanaland, Robert Stanaland, John Graves, Allen Stanaland, Fulton Irby, Ernest Wright, Kenneth Lawson, Jacqueline Strahan, Barham Strahan, Buddy Hart, Helen Ruth Hart, Eugene Childress, Robert Lee Frederick, Martha Nell Brewer, Thomas E. "Gene" Sparks, (Brother) Maureen Tindall, Marnell Tindall, P J Stanaland, Wesley Scogin, Mildred Scogin, Thomas Redmond
Some of the Younger children, Harold recalls:
Sidney Rambin, Kenneth Newman, L. C. Frederick, Langston Frederick, Melvin
Langford, Doyle Rambin, Jimmy Strahan, Brothers, Jerry Sparks, &
Shirrell Sparks, Steve Hart, Estherline Stanaland, Marnice Irby, Betty Lou
Hancock, Edward Tindall
All these children walked to school; later Mr. D. L. Hancock had a school bus, made from a pickup with a homemade wooden bed on it, with a bench on each side. He picked up the children in the mornings, and the children walked home after school.
Some of the Teachers Harold recalls:
Mrs. Nipper, Mrs. Emmitt Pack, Mrs. Clyde Lock Foote, Miss Jessie Scogin,
(Earlier, Mr. C. C. Bane taught @ Cedar Bluff-Mr. Bane was later Harold's
supervisor @ Nacogdoches Post Office)
One of the physicians who came to the school to provide inoculations, and to provide general health care to the students, was Dr. Fuller, from Garrison. Harold remembers hiding in the cloak room, when he saw the other students getting their shots.