Willacoochee School

Photo Courtesy Robert Deen

Robert Deen recently sent me this old photograph, which I would guess was made in the mid-to-late-1950s. The school appears to have been built in the late 1920s or early 1930s and was destroyed by arson in the early 1960s. Though it’s long gone, it still has many active alumni who gather in Willacoochee each year for a reunion, the weekend after July 4th. Mr. Deen’s mother, Ruth, taught first grade here in the 1950s. Many thanks to him for sharing this image.

12 thoughts on “Willacoochee School

  1. Pat Greene Albert

    Wow. That’s a blast from the past. I attended all the 10th grade and half of the 11th there. Many, many good memories. Played on the girl’s basketball team ( i wasn’t very good), rode my horse in one of the parades, learned to drive in an old truck with no brakes, and
    my very best friend was Glenda.

    Reply
    1. Susan Futch

      Would your friend have been Glenda Futch Yawn? She played on the basketball team also. I am her niece and seem to recall hearing stories of a friend named Pat.

      Reply
    1. Velma

      Yes it was it is all gone except to old gym and it is falling. I live just past the church my back yard joins the church yard, I was raised in Willacoochee and married one of the Russ twins

      Reply
  2. Dawn

    My Grandfather is buried in the old cemetery. This was about 1910. have they cleaned up the cemetery recently? Nicholas Henry Propes. Pretty town.

    Reply
  3. Jud McCranie

    The Willacoochee school was built somewhere in 1905-1909, I believe. It was destroyed by fire in July or August 1970 (not sure if it was arson, but it was suspected to be).

    Reply
  4. Patricia Toliver Hilton

    This brings back soooo many memories. But I think it must have burnt after 1965 because, I remember going as far as the 8th grade. It saddened me when it burnt as I love history now. I gues as you get older, you appreciate all that you hated as a child. Patricia Toliver Sills Hilton

    Reply
  5. Glenn Hodges

    Ms. Deen was my 1st grade teacher, I still remember how much I loved her for her kindness and love she showed us. On the first day of school we received a Coke pencil, writing tablet, and a ruler. She taught us to read using the Alice and Jerry Readers, opening a whole new world to us farm children. Some of my memories are of the other friendships I made, the downtown Christmas Tree, Halloween Carnival at the gym, how I would go to sleep every day on the long bus ride home, getting vaccination shots from the visiting nurse, and the fear we soon learned about the electric paddle in the Principal’s office. One day the baseball team came back from playing Lax, and they carried an injured player off the bus. They said he went after a fly ball and ran into a sycamore tree. I can still remember the smell of those floors on the first day of school, I regret someone burned this school, but they will never replace the great memories we have of it.

    Reply
    1. Robert Deen

      There was also another wing. It was to the left of and behind the auditorium and was a one story unit that housed the lower grades.

      Reply

Leave a reply to Betty Anne Smith Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.