http://nnhs65.com/jackson-school-postcard.html

From Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 02/14/03:

Ahhhhhhh, Stonewall Jackson School. 

My uncle attended (ca. 1924-30); my mother attended (ca. 1927-33); my auntie attended (ca. 1933-1939).  The family name was Linkous.  Heck, even I attended for about 3 months in 1952 (First grade).  My teacher was a Miss Harmon, who had also taught my mother and auntie. 

My grandparents home was on 47th Street, very near the school. I taught myself to catch baseball grounders by bouncing a baseball off the brick wall and chasing it down.

Have a look at the attached photo (scroll halfway down), probably taken in 1947 or 1948* in my Granny's front yard. Yes, that is little Davey, and that is Jackson School in the distance. 

Both the home and the school are gone, except in my fond memories of a simpler time.
 

   Thanks, Dave!

* I'm thinking you're younger than one or two in this photo, so I'm back-dating it....

From Pauline Collins Shofner of NN, VA - 02/16/03:

I just looked at the baby photo of Dave Spriggs ('64). I guess we lived near each other.  Before moving to 62nd Street, I lived at 47th Street in the "brick row".  We just sold (2/13/03) my mother's home on 62nd Street. Sarah, your comment regarding Mrs. Brockwell was true - she did have an over abundance of saliva.  I have a photo of my second grade class (Mrs. Davis) and David Trevathan ('65) and Shirley Elder ('65) are in it.  I think that Sarah and Wayne had Miss Rountree.  Sarah, I remember our road trip to Yoder Dairy too.  Good grief, I thought that it was another country away from Jackson School.  Anyway, thank you, Wayne and Sarah, for going back in time with me.  I loved living on 47th Street; however, moving to 62nd Street was not nearly as fun as 47th.

From Pauline Collins Shofner of NN, VA - 02/20/03:

You are very kind to let us communicate with everyone through you!  Wayne, I do remember Creasy's and Joe Milan's.  Like Sarah I went to Joe's prior to church so that we could eat during the service.  Do you remember Mr. McGhee's?  He had a daughter named Connie that also attended Jackson and NNHS.  I think Connie graduated from NNHS in '63.  I can't remember Ms. Smith's first name.  I guess I thought that some of those teachers didn't have a first name except for Miss or Mrs. 

I see Patty off and on at Riverside or the Riverside Diagnostic Center. Patty is an x-ray tech. @ RRMC.  She is such a nice person. 

Okay, I have another question.  I used to skate at the Hygeia on Saturdays and also attended one of Russell's (to me and Rip to the others)  (Collins - '65 - of TN) birthday parties.  Did anyone else skate there?
 

From Jean Poole Burton ('64) of RI - 02/20/03:

Creasy's was across the street from the NN City Pool on Wickham Avenue.  We used to go there after swimming lessons and buy soft serve ice cream from Mrs. Midkiff (Lanny's mother).  I always thought she was so pretty.  Lanny is now my brother in law!  Mr. Nuttycombe taught me my first swimming lessons...I was terrified of the water and did not learn to swim until I was 19 years old...but he tried!  I would not put my head under the water or take my feet off the bottom!

My parents were married in Calvary Baptist Church on 17 September 1944.

Note the residence just to the upper right of the school on 46th Street.  NN City Directories show my grandfather was a boarder in that home 1907 - 1910. 

My mother reports that this house was moved to 47th Street and was next door to my grandparents home at 337, which had also been moved from a lower numbered street. 

The famous "swing set" from my previous "extended recess" story was located on the old site of this home. 

Now, that IS spooky. Maybe I was hearing spirits that day.

Note the structure just to the lower right of the school. You can't tell from the photo, but I happen to know that it was a fire station. My grandfather was a volunteer fireman there for many years.

It gives me pause to consider that several very significant events affecting my life took place within the borders of this photograph. I always get a strange feeling when I drive or walk down 47th St., like it is some sort of hallowed ground.

Notwithstanding that it looks completely different today, when I am there I can see it all so vividly as if were still 1955.

Ahh, what memories!!
 

The image of Jackson School was taken from the corner of Huntington Avenue and 46th Street, looking diagonally toward 47th Street. See the swing set in the image of Jackson School?  It plays a role in one of my Jackson School stories:

When I attended briefly in the Spring of 1953, my first grade class was at lunch recess. The Administration was smart enough to let us small kids out a few times a day to burn off some energy. Anyway, there was a bell which rang on the outside of the school to notify all of us little Pavlov dogs that recess was over and to return to our classroom. On one day for some reason, my "selective" hearing was active, and I must have either not heard or ignored the bell. Some time later, my teacher, Miss Harmon, had to come outside to find me swinging on THAT swing set and issue a personal invitation to return to class. 

While she may have been amused at my extended recess, my Mother was decidedly less forgiving. After all, Miss Harmon had been her and my Aunt's and Uncle's teacher as well, so I was carrying the full weight of the Linkous Family reputation on my little shoulders. She could never understand (and still can't) how I could have remained on the playground when everybody else had returned to class. 

"Davey, didn't you see that everyone else had gone inside and that you were all alone out there? Didn't you think that something was wrong?" 

Well, at that age, I really hadn't noticed that I was all alone. I was engaged in some particularly wonderful swinging ... almost "zoned" to coin a current colloquialism. When a man is really enjoying himself and focusing on his recreation, well, he tends to tune out distractions like bells. In retrospect, this was invaluable early training on how, later in life, to tune out a wife ... but that is another story for another time.
 

Have a look at the attached photo, probably taken
in 1947 or 1948* in my Granny's front yard. Yes, that is
little Davey, and that is Jackson School in the distance. 

Both the home and the school are gone,
except in my fond memories of a simpler time.
 

* I'm thinking you're younger than one or two in this photo, so I'm back-dating it....

Thursday, May 24, 1956

- Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 07/23/08
OHHHH! Thanks so much, Dave!

After 50+ years, the four began making contact with each other through       Carol Buckley Harty's ('65 - of IL) NNHS web-site, followed by direct e-mail.  Don was visiting his brother who lives near Buena Vista, VA and suggested that the four get together and since Ed lives in Roanoke, Al lives in Fredericksburg, and David lives in Lynchburg, it was agreed that a 50's themed restaurant in Staunton named Wright's was fairly central to the four and would be the perfect setting. 

- Don Jett (NNHS / Warwick HS - '60) of FL - 03/22/09
WOWZERONI-RINI! Thank you so very much, Don!