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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