yesterday's tennessee

INTERESTING REVELATIONS

DCTS/CHS REUNION 1994

THE HISTORY OF DECATUR COUNTY TRAINING SCHOOL
CROWDER HIGH SCHOOL
CONTAINS SOME INTERESTING REVELATIONS AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE TEACHERS, STUDENTS, AND
GRADUATES.

By Mrs. Novella Yarbro Tole

• Decatur County Training School was the first black high school in Decatur County.
• The first principal was Professor David C. Crowder who was the first agricultural instructor and veterinarian and a graduate of Roger Williams University.
• Miss Mabel McKay of Nashville was the first Home Maker instructor at DCTS. She taught cooking/crafts.
• The first Home Economics teacher was Miss Ethel May Meeks.
• The first primary teachers were Mrs. Gretchen Craig and Mrs. A.B. Crowder.
• The first music teacher was Mrs. Velna Holt Hayes.
• The first coach (1927) was Prof. Alvin T. Sharpe.
• The first woman to coach girls basketball team was Miss Lorraine May.
• The first New Farmers of America (NFA) advisor of CHS was advisor C.P. Boyd.
• The first New Homemakers of America (NHA) advisor of CHS was Mrs. Pauline Phelps.
• First CHS student to win Miss Betty Crocker Award was Marva Tole Bredendick who is a graduate of AlvernoCollege with a B.S. in Education.
• First licensed beautician was Mary Ella Yarbro Bailey (DCTS).
• First graduate of DCTS to retire from the United States Air Force was Staff Sgt. Gary Smith Yarbro, who also designed an emblem for the 4750th supply Sq at Vincent A.F.B, Ariz. It was approved by the USAF and accepted by Capt. Jack Kennedy in Washington.
• Mary Lois Welch was the first black Isolationist Technician to serve in an Indianapolis hospital.
• First CHS graduate to retire from A T and T Comm. in Indianapolis, Indiana was Ida Walker Rype.
• The first student of CHS to own and operate a TV station is Larry Tinsley, owner and operator of Tinco Communications and Tinsley Advertising which produces and markets America's Spotlight and Gospel USA. Larry is a graduate of Riverside HS and hold a B.S. degree from Lambuth College Jackson.
• Margaret H. Beach is the first graduate of CHS to author and publish a book, titled "Creative Poems." She also operates a service called Request A Poem (RAP), teaches Black History and holds a B.S. from TSU as well as a Masters.
• Willie Floyd Brewer of CHS won first place in a speaking contest at the District MFA Meeting and placed third in the State NFA Convention.
• Dover T. Scott, Pettigrew Anders, Raymond J. Bolt, Roosevelt Hughes, and Ira Harding were members of the first DCTS basketball team.
• Author Kirtly Welch (Junior Welch) is the first graduate of CHS to be president and CEO of the Welch Group Inc. Construction Management and General Construction. He is a graduate of West Kentucky Vocation College, Paducah Ky.
• CHS graduate Jasper Walker is the operator of PRW Bail Bond Service. He is a licensed bondsman.
• Wilma Jean Welch, CHS graduate and graduate of Lane College and West Tennessee Business College, worked at Lane College in the purchasing department and is Sector Coordinator of Jackson Housing Authority.
• Eric Jerome Welch, graduate of CHS, owns and operates Welch's Soil and Demolition Contractors. He graduated from Mississippi Vocational College/Mississippi Valley State College in Itta Bend, Mississippi. Eric is also a teacher.
• First DCTS graduates to earn degrees were Raymond J. Holt and Novella Yarbro Tole. He has a B.S from Florida AM University and is a retired postal worker. She holds a BA from Lane College and a Masters from Fisk University. Tole is a retired school teacher of 39 years and also holds a certificate from the noted Childrens' Institute of Literature in writing books for children and teenagers.
• Roy Willard Pettigrew, first DCTS/CHS graduate to earn a Ph.D. He hold a B.A. from Lane College and a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. Willard is the Director of Industrial Training Technology for the Dawson Technical Institute, Chicago.
• Hazel B. Tole is an electrician assembly line assistant at Allen Bradley Company, Milwaukee.
• First graduates and students of DCTS/CHS to run for public office; Peggy Duckett Scruggs sought Tennessee State Representative of the 58th District in Nash, TN. David C. Tole for State Assembly in the 13th Dist. He has risen from engineer to analyst-consultant, information systems-data systems division to manager of the Heavy Trucks of A.D. Smith Corp. A graduate of Lane College, he was selected Outstanding Black Achiever in business by the Metropolitan Milwaukee YMCA. Toulanda Pettigrev Tharps (Bony) CHS was the first black woman elected to serve on the Board of Alderman in Decaturville. During her tenure, Housing for black families were rehabilitated and improved.
• Corena Anders West served as pianist for the Lawndale Interracial Baptist Church from 1985 until she became
• ill. She was a 1933 graduate of DCTS.
• Beulah Mae Tole Allen gave 35 years of service to the Columbus Medical Center of Chicago. She was a DCTS student and a member of the girls basketball team.
• Hugh Earl (Joe boy) Tole and graduate of CHS is an industrial engineer, process cost valuator, employee of Customer and Heavy Truck Division of A.O. Smith Corp. He is also a plant consultant at Satellite Industries and vender for Rockwell Intern. Chrysler Corp.
• Dale Anthony Scott, CHS student, was the first to retire from the U.S. Air Force with a degree in Electronic Engineering. He is a graduate of Riverside HS.
• Buruah Ray Pettigrev McClain is the first CHS student to earn and operate a beauty salon, and is a licensed beautician.
• Sandra Bailey Peterson, CHS graduate, is engineering clerk for South Central Bell Telephone Company in Knoxville, TN.
• John Ouida Bailey Cothrine, CHS graduate, in network clerk for South Central Bell Telephone Company in Knoxville, TN.
• Kathryn Russell Hardin has work in Home Health Care, nursing homes and private homes. Her talents are in flower arrangements and fancy pillow marketing.
• Laculah Tole, DCTS graduate has worked in a sports wear factory. She is in home nursing care of an elderly patient.
• Emma Crawford Holt, DSTS/CHS operates a beauty salon in Milwaukee and is a licensed beautician.
• H. C. Pettigrew is FHA Housing director in Alamo, TN. He is a graduate of DCTS and has a BS degree in agriculture from Tennessee A and I State College-now TSU.
• Geogia Brasher and Sophia Brasher, both students of CHS are now registered nurses and both married.
• Franklin Brasher CHS received recognition for his continuous service at Kaddis Manufacturing Plant.
• Margaret Ruth Vaughns White is a veteran employee at Kaddis Manufactoring Company and student of CHS.
• Jerry F. Yarbro DCTS graduate is security guard for Johnsons Control, Lexington.
• William Grant Bumpus graduate of DCTS served on the police force in Kansas City, MO.
• Flora H McElrath CHS student has a B.S. in Psychology and Secondary Education from Union university and a Masters of Social Work degree from UT School of Social Work Memphis.
• Lula Bingham Vaughn CHS engaged in the field of Human Services in Ferndale, MI.
• Elizabeth M. Bingham Thompson is book warehouse super visor for Penguin USA.
• Mary L. Bingham Shavers is clerk of the Circuit Court in Cook County IL.
• Mamie Bingham Cherry engaged in domestic services.
• Johnnie H. Bingham works with a company that manufactures refrigerators.
• Willie M. Bingham engaged in domestic services.
• Sarah H. Bingham Nance works with the R.R Donnelly Book Company.
• Jenny Opal Walker Haney CHS graduate and graduate of Lane College is now a laboratory technician.
• Jacqueline Pettigrew CHS holds a Masters from Wayne State University and now teaches school in the city of Detroit, MI.
• DCTS/CHS graduates and students who were teachers or subs:
  Novella Louise Montgomery Williams
  Barbara Ann Montgomery
  Pauline Phelps
  Geneva McElrath Menzies
  Roland McElrath
  Novella Yarbro Tole
  Eric Welch
  Lois Jones
  Emaline Holt Brewer
  Mary Ella Yarbro Bailey
  Jacqieline Pettigrew
  Willard Pettigrew
  Dovie Holt
  James Tole
  Lucille White
  Joe Fisher Sr.
  Clara Montgomery Harden
  Marva Tole Bredendick
  Margaret M. Beach
  Carolyn Craig Briggs

The Nation is grateful to the students of DCTS/CHS for the time they served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and other Branches of Service. Some of the families to serve were: Booty, Dixon, Funderburk, Garrett, Johnson, Mays, Menzies, McElrath, Parham, Pettigrew, Scott, Tole, Vaugbns, Walker, Webster, White, and Yarbro. We regret we do not have all the names of the families who served graciously in the armed services and to those individuals of DCTS/CHS who's names h2ve been omitted; however, thier deeds and contributions are greatly appreciated and no less honored.

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