Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994 TAG: 9404190140
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DEVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
"In those days, if you were sick, Dr. C.H. Phippins, who was the principal, would initial your note," he said. "Well, I could make my initials exactly like his - exactly. A lot of the kids would get me to initial their notes for them. Well, I messed up one day. It was the day me and my friend Tom Hutcheson had to show a note to Miss Mae."
Hutcheson had written the note for Price, who was absent from school the previous day, and Price had added the initials - C.H.P.
"I handed her that note, and she looked at it, then she looked at me, and she said, 'Bob, did Tom write that note?' That's all she had to do was look at you. Well, I asked her could we go out in the hall, and I apologized. She didn't do nothing; she just looked at me," Price said.
Memories like these are embedded in the minds of countless New River Valley residents. They will never forget the Kipps sisters, Mae and Florence, who taught at the old Blacksburg High School for more than 75 years combined.
That's why a grass-roots campaign has started to name the new Blacksburg Elementary School after the sisters, whose homeplace is located just south of the new school on Prices Fork Road. Letters have been written, calls have been made, and those who knew the Kippses personally are trying their best to see that their names live on as part of Montgomery County's history. As far as local government goes, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has not taken a stand on the issue, but the Blacksburg Town Council passed a resolution at its April 12 meeting in support of naming the school after the two sisters.
Florence "Pat" Kipps, who taught government to generations of Blacksburg students, is dead now, but her sister, Mae, who taught sophomore English, is still living in a Blacksburg nursing home.
For many local teen-agers, their first - and sometimes only - acquaintance with Shakespeare came from Mae Kipps. One of the highlights of sophomore year was watching Miss Mae launch herself across the front of her classroom to fall on an imaginary sword in one of the more dramatic moments in "Julius Caesar.".
"I think it would be appropriate to name the new school after two people who have contributed so much to the county," said Larry Linkous, who now lives in the Kipps' old home. "This is one of the few opportunities we have to name a school after someone."
The current School Board policy is to name any new school after the street on which it is located, but since there already is a Prices Fork Elementary School on the same road, officials must come up with another name.
Curtis Gray, retired deputy superintendent of Montgomery County Schools, was a student of the Kippses' at Blacksburg High School, then wound up as their principal many years later.
``Miss Mae invited me to her class one day, and I said, `No, thank you, I've done my time in your class,''' he said, laughing. ``They were thought of as the best teachers in the school.''
In fact, there is an award given occasionally to the teacher of the year at the high school. Price received that award in 1990; Gray received it back in the '70s.
So far, Linkous said he has not heard any other names suggested for the new school.
However, Ray VanDyke, who will be principal of the new school next year and who is serving as facilitator for the school-naming committee, said many other names have been suggested.
"We've seen a lot in the press about the Kipps sisters, but that's not the only name we've received," said VanDyke, currently co-principal of Gilbert Linkous Elementary School. "It's just that those names haven't been publicized. You get into a problem when choosing to name something after people in the community. You end up making a judgment more or less on who is more deserving, and that gets a little tricky. That's going to be tricky for the School Board, too.
"Very honestly, I don't have any opinion [on what they name the school],'' VanDyke said. ``As principal of the school, I'll be very content to even have a name." VanDyke is waiting for the decision so he can start ordering the essentials - stationery with letterhead, a phone listing and a school sign.
VanDyke said as part of the school-naming process all fifth-grade classes were allowed to submit three names each, giving them 30 suggestions. Private citizens sent in 13 or 14 suggestions, he said.
Some people suggested naming the school after a person, some after the area where the school is located, and some suggested giving the school a descriptive name, such as Mountain View Elementary.
The School Naming Committee will submit three names to the School Board, which will make the final decision on May 3, two days after Mae Kipps' 92nd birthday.
``Miss Mae and Miss Florence both retired in 1965,'' Gray said. ``They said, `Lee surrendered in 1865, and we're surrendering in 1965 - what's good enough for Lee is good enough for us.' Naming the school for them would be good, too.''
Price, who said the Kippses were as close to him as his own mother, sees no better way of honoring the two women than by naming the school for them.
"When I was in World War II, we were stationed on the island of Saipan," he said. "We all thought we were about to be bombed, and I wrote two letters: one to my mother, and one to Miss Mae and Miss Florence. I told them I was sorry for all the trouble I ever caused them. Well, we made it and they wrote back, and I've been close to them ever since."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***