Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407030058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
The 84-year-old McCoy native graduated from the New River Valley's only black high school in 1939. She joined about 40 other former students from the area for a reunion in Blacksburg on Saturday.
Jones lived too far from the school to walk, so she stayed in a dormitory. She learned to abide by a strict set of rules - especially when it came to boys.
Her memories of the institute's Sunday socials still bring her joy.
After chapel, boys wrote their name and a girl's name on a slip of paper and handed it to the dorm matron. If the matron approved of the match, she would summon the girl from her dorm room and allow the couple to talk in the parlor.
However, the invitations weren't always accepted because some girls got asked by more than one boy. Jones said that happened to her on more than one occasion.
But when things went right, the evening social calls were enjoyable and innocent by today's standards.
Couples couldn't hold hands and officially weren't allowed to kiss. But, Jones said, the head of the boys' dorm stretched the rules sometimes.
At the end of the socials, he'd turn off the lights and count to five, long enough for a quick peck on the lips, she said. Those brief moments of affection weren't always given.
"That depended on his mood, not ours," Jones said with a devilish grin.
Boys found ways around the rules; some climbed the fire escapes to see girls.
Francis Calfee, who graduated in 1947, counts sneaking into the girls' dorm as one of his fondest memories. He and his friends were lucky they never got caught, he said.
Calfee, a Radford native, also appreciates the education he received.
"Christiansburg Institute provided a well-rounded education for male and female students," he said. "We had some of the best teachers who gave us a good education and a background for living."
Calfee, who now lives in Colonial Heights, later graduated from what is now Virginia State University and worked with the school's residence life programs until he retired. VSU inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame on June 4 in recognition of his collegiate wrestling career.
The jovial Calfee, who played quarterback for his high school, pointed out a former classmate's struggle to make the Christiansburg Institute football team.
Archie Rollins, who weighed about 98 pounds when he graduated in 1953, longed to play football, but the coach discouraged him.
Finally, the coach issued him a uniform (hand-me-downs from Virginia Tech) and gave him a chance.
The coach told the players to chase the biggest guy on the team, who weighed 250 pounds. The player dragged Rollins, the last one to give up, half way down the field. After that, he quit and agreed to manage the team.
Many students chose to move away from the New River Valley area after high school.
Fred Thomas Jr. said he left town in a hurry after graduating in 1945.
"Mother didn't raise anyone to stay home," Thomas said. "There weren't a lot of choices or chances for the black male or female."
Thomas moved to New York and received his master's and doctorate in science education from New York University. Thinking about the science equipment they used at Christiansburg Institute almost makes Thomas and his former classmate, Carl Williams, angry.
Williams, who graduated in 1943, said the school's science lab had only one microscope. Students had to stand in line to see anything.
Ann Turner couldn't believe the difference in textbooks at two schools in the same town: Christiansburg Institute and Christiansburg High School. She transferred to Christiansburg High in 1965, a year before the institute closed.
The chemistry books used at the institute were much older than those at Christiansburg High. She was advised to drop several courses because she would be behind.
Other than having to catch up with the school work, Turner said she adjusted to the integrated school well.
Cora Pack, a 1943 graduate and the school's historian, easily recounts the 100 years of the Christiansburg Institute, which closed in 1966 after schools were integrated.
Charles Schaeffer, a Union Army officer, Baptist minister and member of the Freedmen's Bureau, founded the Hill School in 1866.
With support from the Friends Society, a group of Pennsylvania Quakers, additional buildings were added to establish the Christiansburg Normal Industrial Institute.
The institute was a self-sufficient farm with livestock and crops.
In 1895, Booker T. Washington became the school's advisor and served until his death in 1915, Pack said.
Students from all over the New River Valley attended the school as well as students from other states.
Alumni built a museum in Christiansburg in the 1980s, which is open to the public on the second Sunday of each month from 1-2 p.m. For more
information about the alumni association's activities, contact Johnson at (703) 552-9641 or send letters to P.O. Box 433, Christiansburg, Va. 24073.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***