Mary Stearns (Tuley)

Thanks for your kindness, Archie!

Mary Lou McCormick (Hughes)

Excellent speech Mary K.  In my opinion it was probably better received now.  It was with me anyway.  You proved once again why you are our Valedictorian.  Thank you.

Mary Stearns (Tuley)

Thanks so much, Mary Lou! It was fun to write, especially after such a lovely and meaningful evening together.

Louise White

How do you pull up the pictures from the reunion?

John Neal

Mary, I enjoyed the release of your  " time capsule speech". Very entertaining!                                                        

John Neal

Mary Stearns (Tuley)

Aren't you nice, John! Thanks so much. My funny bone started telling me that really, really late was better than never. 😊

Larry Morgan

Hello, Classmates!!  I haven't seen a message on our site in several months, so I do hope that this is STILL a source of communication for us!!

Hurricane Helene has left an incredible path of destruction, and we have many classmates, family, and friends that are in that path!!  For any classmates "in this path", it would be wonderful to hear from you and know that you are safe and well.

Glenda and I are still trying to contact family/friends in the affected areas, with minimal success.  We remain positive that our lack of success is simply that the lines of communication are not yet fully restored!!

Classmates, please share all the news you can, and let's all get back to using our Classmate site to share any communication.

Take care, All!!

Larry Morgan

Jane Marie Fultz (Pagura)

We are in Greenville,SC and our area looks like a war zone. Power has been  out since Helene came knocking. Widespread outages all over the area. Earliest restoration is this FRIDAY by 11:45 pm. Luckier than everyone in  the western part of NC. Always something to be thankful for. Houses on either side of us had trees down and many houses have major damage. We had minor damage, hoping to get started with some work today. Hope everyone else is doing ok. Thanks for asking.  Jane Marie

Mary Stearns (Tuley)

I'm so sad for Jane and for everyone else who has suffered during this latest hurricane.  My parents would say, "There's always something," but today's somethings are particularly heartbreaking.

Larry Morgan

Jane Marie, in the midst of all the devastation left behind by Helene, thanks for sharing a bit of positive that y'all are at least physically unharmed!!  Prayers that all of our classmates that were in harm's way were blessed as well.

Mary, you are correct......so, so heartbreaking!!

Archie Paul

Jane I am happy you are OK. That was a nasty one up here because of so much rain. I went thru several in 
Florida but never one as bad as this hurricane. I read there was 40 trillion gallons of rain water dropped by Helene. I have no clue how that was determined but we know it was a bunch.
I pray for the survivors and wish I could help but this old man just can't.
Hope your power is back on by now.
Archie

Larry Morgan

Good afternoon, Classmates:

Because some of us could not figure out how to copy and paste, I am going to type an email from Dan and Ellen.  PLEASE.....if anyone has info about the safety of any of our classmates during these horriffic storms, share it on this site!!

(Dan sent this email on October 5th)

Hey, Larry,

It was great to hear from you!  Thanks for reaching out.  Sorry not to respond sooner or post something to the class website, but Montreat (where we live) has had no power, no water, no Internet, and no cell service since Thursday night (Sept. 26), when Helene struck.  That's what 20" of rain in 18 hours will do!  And that followed 10" of rain a day or so earlier.  Really amazing!  Bridges were out all over town, including the one at the end of our road, so we were locked in.

One of the hardest parts of it all was not having any contact with the outside world.  We had no idea what was happening outside of our neighborhood!  As you can imagine, our family was very concerned until we were able to make contact with them.

Thankfully, Ellen and I were and are fine, as is our house.  We had a small generator and enough drinking water and food for awhile.  But we got tired of "camping out" and hauling water from creeks to flush toilets!  But, compared to so many others, we were merely inconvenienced.  Therefore, no complaints from us.

This past Wednesday they got some temporary bridges installed and we were able to "escape" and drive to Raleigh where we now are with our daughter and her family.  We plan to stay here until services are restored in Montreat.  We have learned today (Oct 5) that some services have been restored to a few parts of town.  We are very impressed and grateful for the amazing efforts by so many people to help in so many ways.

Montreat has been devestated, and is unrecognizable in places.  It will take a long time to get back to any semblance of normal.  But we had no loss of life and we now know and have seen that other areas and towns around us suffered so much more than we did, so we are counting our blessings, not complaining.  Keep in your prayers all of those in the path of this devastating storm.  There is lots of suffering.

Thanks again for your concern and good thoughts.  Feel free to post this message to the classmate website if you want to and can figure out how to do so.  Otherwise, we will post something when we can.

Hope you and your family are well. 

Best regards to everyone,

Dan and Ellen

Mary Stearns (Tuley)

Oh, my goodness, Dan and Ellen!  I hardly have the words to respond to such an overwhelming story.  Like you, I'm eternally grateful that you're all right, but I will weep for the beautiful Montreat. Our parents would not believe this upside-down world.

Love and hugs --

Mary

Archie Paul

Glad to hear from Dan and Ellen. Thanks Larry.
Good to hear they escaped the destruction that so many endured from that once in 500 year storm. Never imagined that happening in the Smokey Mountains. Also I could never imagine such dismal response from FEMA and the feds.  I own two properties in Burnsville but have never seen them and probably never will now that the roads have been destroyed.
My daughter's home in Florida was hit by a tornado from Milton but thankfully her damage was light compared to her neighbors who had homes destroyed.
As they say "Be prepared" we never know what tomorrow will bring.
I thank GOD my friends in the mountains were spared.
Archie
 

Larry Morgan

Archie, so sorry to hear about your daughter, but at the same time, glad to hear from you that she was spared from substantial damage!  

Ellen Gaw (Dean)

Larry Morgan

Ellen, what a beautiful post!!  It's great to hear that Dan and you have made it back home, and are surrounded by such love.  You're right....the outpouring of support is so heartwarming.  The collections here in the Hilton Head/Bluffton area have been incredible, as the stream of trucks, helicopters, and airplanes going to NC and FL have been nonstop.  Recovery is going to be a long, long process, but all the love and compassion will sure provide added comfort along the way.

Jane Marie Fultz (Pagura)

So glad to hear that things are getting better for you. Helene was a beast. We are close by here in Greenville and have been able to monitor the progress in NC. Again, glad you are safe. Be well. Jane Marie

Janice Myers (Gibson)

Dan and Ellen, what an amazing and beautiful story, I thank God for keeping you both safe, I pray for your home and Montreat and all the mountain people, I'm sure words cannot describe the horribleness destruction in our beautiful mountains!  But, it's a blessing to see neighbors helping one another, showing love, strength and faith during this time, I pray daily for the devestation to subside with the help of our country, May God Bless You🙏🙏❤️

Larry Morgan

Hello, Classmates!!

WHO KNEW?  For us Central School "graduates", the school was listed in 2005 on the Register of Historic Places!!!

Archie Paul

Larry
Naturally Central School should be a the registry since so many fine citizens were educated there. Never forget Miss Kate McIntyre and her super team of teachers.
Larry you might also be interested in an upcoming article in the Wall Street Journal about Scotland County and it's shift from a blue county to a RED county in the last few years. We now have a majority republican county commission which hopefully will open new doors here.
Archie

Peggy Wyatt (Wallace)

I remember Central School as a beautiful building in the late fifties when we attanded it.  I went there for the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.  I understand that was the ony eighth grade the school ever had.  They weren't sure what to do with us so we got extra privileges including being excused from classes to tutor in the lower grades.  I was saddened to read years ago that it was ruled unsafe and its use as a school was discontinued.  However, I am glad it is still a functioning part of Laurinburg through the Housing Authority rather than being torn down as was once considered.  It is a part of Laurinburg history.

Larry Morgan

  My hands are still stinging from all the "whackings" Mrs. Cook gave me with her ruler (because I was talking in class!)  Also, the day Miss Graham (Bible Teacher) made us promise to not tell anyone until we were 21 that she wore one black and one blue shoe to our class!! 

Mitchell Simmons

Yes, Ms. Cook was fond of swinging a ruler, but she wasn't always accurate...I recall on one occasion leaving my seat without "asking for permission" to go sharpen my pencil.  Ms. Cook took a shot at my rear end as I was sitting back down, but she hit the back of my desk instead.  It certainly startled me, but she never touched me.  Never had much affection for her after that little episode!

Peggy Wyatt (Wallace)

Do you all remember Ms. Graham and her throwing arm used with erasers?  One day she threw the eraser at the person in front of me who ducked causing the eraser to hit me.  I quickly hid it under the edge of my skirt and looked up innocently.  When she looked away, I threw the eraser back at her calling out "catch."  She was startled by the eraser, but said "she did say 'catch,' " and started laughing.  However, she didn't throw any more eraser in my classes.