The Gordon school reunion

I walked into my office back in 1994 and noticed a 1944 Gordon School photograph on the wall. I stopped to look at the familiar faces, from fifty years earlier, and wondered where the kids were.




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We all went to the country school at Gordon. The official school name was Nealeigh #1 but we called it “Gordon.” It was located west of town on State Route #722 and is still there. Miss Beatrice Brown was my teacher and the teacher of several generations of 'Kids From Gordon.' She taught all eight grades in one room. You can see her picture with her students, from all eight grades, in this 1944 school photograph.



I began to look for the kids in the school picture. Using the telephone, the computer, and lots of letters led to my finding the 23 kids in the school photograph. Miss Brown was deceased as was Gerald Fisher and Dick Harleman. And then I began to search for “all” who ever went to school at Gordon, and finally I searched for those who once lived in Gordon between the early 1800s and when I left town in the 1960s. I found 146, scattered all over the country, and I found their numerous relatives. The oldest 'kid' was then Alma Barklow who was 104 years of age in 1994 — she had attended the our school.

I suggested that we have a school reunion and we did and it was held in 1995 at the school. About 100 people came from as far away as California and Louisiana and Florida. I saw kids in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, with tears in their eyes. I saw girls who saw their boyfriends from 50 years ago and cried. It was a fantastic event. Of all the things I have done, this was the one thing I am so proud of doing–the Gordon school reunion. [submitted by A. Lincoln]