40 attend annual Stecoah School reunion
Stecoah -- Stecoah Union School alumni and family members gathered for their annual reunion Saturday at their old school, now known as the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center.
The annual celebration brought together former students, their families and a couple of former faculty members. This year’s edition of the annual reunion was included in Graham County sesquicentennial events.
The Stecoah Union School was built in the late 1920s, but destroyed in a fire in 1930. The current building was constructed on the same site around 1931. It closed in 1994 when Graham County consolidated its schools.
The youngest alumni from the school would be about 46 years old. Around 40 people attended Saturday’s reunion, but the majority were family members of alumni.
The dwindling number of living alumni was punctuated by a solemn reciting of the names of seven alumni who have passed away since last year’s reunion. One white rose for each of them was added to a bouquet at the event, held in the old school’s auditorium.
The distinction of “oldest attendees” went to 91-year-old Valorie Taylor Farley and 88-year-old Bobby Edwards.
Almost all in attendance still live in the region, with just one alumni traveling more than 200 miles for the event. In a show of hands, no one raised a hand among 1970s-era classmates, two raised their hands for 1960s, and five raised their hands for 1950s.
Alumni were overheard reminiscing about their time at the school. One alumni looked inside the office of the Stecoah Center’s executive director and said the space was his home room.
The daughter of an alumna recalled her mother telling her she could pay for her lunch with a can of food or a glass jar.
There were three former teachers — including Rick Davis, a retired Graham County Schools Superintendent who taught at Stecoah School for nine years and served as principal for one year, before moving up to the main office in Robbinsville.
Davis taught science at the all-grades school and expressed remorse for any students who he paddled during his time in Stecoah.
Davis collected the $1 entry fee for a cake walk, and there was also a silent auction for items including a framed photo, jewelry, and hand-made Stecoah School-themed corn hole boards. He said around $300 was raised to help pay for next year’s reunion.