North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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In 1927 I came to Main Building. Miss Mauzy was my first teacher. When the Industrial Building was built in 1927, the first trade, I tried to learn, was car- pentry but I didn’t get along well with it, so I was put in the printing department. I am am- bitious to be a printer when I finish school. RUSSELL HERRING Born in Rocky Mount in Edgecombe County, where I now live October 3, 1916. When I was one and a half years old, I took pneumonia and when I recovered, I was found to be deaf. I entered school at the age of eight years. My first teacher was Mrs. Clodfelter, who is now the supervising teacher of the primary depart- ment. My health was bad. I had pneumonia after entering school. That was my third attack. This caused me to lose much time from school. I entered Main Building in 1926. I began to be interested in sports and the exercise improved my health. I love out-door life and-enjoy all kinds of sports. I have been playing football on the varsity for four years and basketball for two years. I was elected 1933 All-Star Fullback of the Western Conference. I have been an active member of the Boy Scouts of America for seven years and I became an Eagle Scout on April 12th. I have often gone camping with the Scouts at my home and at White Lake, and this has given me much pleasure. I have had seven years work in the printing office. | want to attend the Apprentice School in Nashville, Tenn. My ambition is to be a lino- typist or an athletic director. Bt HELEN HEGE I was born in Winston-Salem on Feb. 28, 1917 I was a baby during the World War. My father went to Newport News, Va., to work in a ship yard. There he found an apartment for us to live in. We lived there three years and then came back to North Carolina. When I was two and one half years old, I lost my hearing from blood poison caused by bad tonsils. I have no deaf relatives. I was sent to many hospitals to have the doctors examine my hearing and see if it could be restored but they found it hopeless. At the age of five and a half years, I was sent to school here in the fall of 1922. Mrs. Kennedy was my first teacher. I could talk a little but I learned lip-reading and other things. Lyon Dick- son was in my class that year. In 1927 I entered Main Building and have been promoted every year. I have been taught to sew and cook and am much interested in housework. I love out-door sports and I have been playing basketball for six years and have been captain of the team for two years. When I finish school, I will help my mother with the housework and perhaps I shall get a position. Hy FORREST SMITH I was born at Dunn in Sampson County, Octo- ber 24, 1913. It is supposed that I was born totally deaf. At the age of one I had measles. As I had not begun to talk when I was two years old, my parents sent for a doctor. He examined me and told them that I was deaf. In 1921, when I was eight years old, I entered school here. Miss Lynn was my first teacher. She was very young and pretty. When I first came here, I did not know where I was or why I was here. Many of the pupils talked to me, but of course, I didn’t understand them. After the first year in school my parents were pleased with me for I had learned to read and write. : I had a great deal of trouble with my eyes. I could not see well. About six years ago Miss Mauzy took me to Dr. Palmer to have him examine my eyes. I have been wearing glasses ever since and get along much better. I have

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Class Autobiography nea LYON DICKSON I was born near Durham, N. C., May 27, 1915. When it was discovered that I was deaf, Mother sent me to a private school for the deaf in Macon, Georgia. I stayed there one or two years. I was only five years old when I went there. I cannot remember much about that school but I do remember that Charles Stainback went there with me and he ruined my box of tools which my family had sent as a Christmas present. In the fall of 1922 I came here and my first teacher was Mrs. Kennedy. Before Christmas I was taken sick, so Mother took me home and I did not come back until the fall of 1923. I have been an active member of the Boy Scouts of America for eight years and am in the Eagle Scout rank now. I have attended school regularly for eleven — years. I am trying to prepare to enter Gallaudet College in Washington D. C. next year and I hope I shall pass the examinations but if I do not, I want to go to Nashville, Tenn., to attend the training school for linotype operators. My ambition is to become an expert linotype operator and live in my native town, Durham, or somewhere in Western North Carolina. EDITH WILLIAMSON I was born on a farm near Canton, in Hay- wood County, in 1919, I entered primary school when I was six and grammar school when I was eleven. I was never very happy in school because I was a teacher’s pet and this made the other pupils dislike me. I was a great tomboy and often got in trouble trying to imitate my brothers. Near the end of my first grammar school year, I developed spinal meningitis and became totally deaf. I was allowed to take the examination required for promotion with the summer school pupils and passed. The following winter I was too weak to go to school. I don’t know how my parents heard about this school but they decided upon sending me here as I could not be taught in the public schools unless I could read the lips. I came here in the fall of 1932 and shall never forget how dread- fully homesick I was at first and how hard it — was for me to learn to sign and talk with the other pupils. I was allowed to begin with the eighth grade and was given lip-reading lessons every morning which helped me a great deal. My speech also improved. The next year I was put in the Junior Class. After my graduation here, I expect to attend high school for two years. I have not yet decided upon the college I shall attend or the line of work I shall follow. HOYLE WRIGHT I was born at Lawndale, N. C., in Cleveland County on April 1, 1915. I lost my hearing from measles when I was three years old. I have lived on a farm all my life. When I was seven years old, my father sent me to a nearby public school. I had a hard time trying to learn because the teacher thought I could hear. My father did not know about this school, but fortu- nately, one of my neighbors had a deaf boy named Boyd Hendricks, who had attended this school for several years. He told us about it and my father decided to send me here. In 1923 I was sent here along with Boyd. When I came here the first time, I was amazed at the beautiful scenery around here and the big buildings. Everybody was kind to me. Miss E. Hampton was my first supervisor. I wondered how this school got such beautiful trees on the campus. I thought I was living in a fine castle, when I saw the tower on Main Building. I got along nicely with the children,

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been improving in lip-reading since I got my glasses, but still have bad sight. I have attended school regularly for thirteen years and have been working in the carpenter shop for six years. I hope what I have learned about carpentry will be useful to me. Reading is my favorite past time. Baseball and swimming are my favorite sports. I play haseball at home. I want to be a farmer when I finish school. HES BOBBIE PRUITT 1 was born in Jonesville, Surry County, N. C., October 23, 1913. I became deaf when I was about one or two months old. The cause of my deafness is unknown. My father didn’t know where this school was. The father of one of the deaf boys, McCree Gentry, who lived about three blocks from my home, heard about me and came to see my mother and told her about his son and where he went to school. My parents brought me here in the fall of 1922. I cried very hard because I thought that I would never see my parents again. I soon found out that I was in a school and had come here to get an education. My first teacher was Miss Scott. She was a Canadian and a fine teacher. She is now teaching in Philadelphia. Clonnie Baucom and Helen Hege were in my class and have been my classmates ever since. In 1923 I had diphtheria and had to go home. In this way I missed a year and had to enter a lower grade. I entered Main Building tn 1927 and have been in school regularly since then. Football and baseball are my favorite sports. I like to read some magazines. Liberty is my favorite magazine. I have been working in the tailor shop for eight years and I want to be a tailor when I finish school, CLONNIE BAUCOM I was born on November 25, 1913 in Marsh- ville, Union County, North Carolina. It is thought that I was born deaf. I have no deaf relatives. I did not come to school till I was almost nine years old as my father did not know where the institution for the deaf was. Some one told him that there was a school for the deaf in Morganton and they brought me to Goodwin Hall where small pupils are taught. My first teacher was Mrs. Clodfelter. When I entered Main Building in 1927, I was in the third grade. Another year found me in the third grade again. The next year I was in the fourth, grade and in the same year I was promo- ted to the fifth grade and I am in the Senior Class now. : My favorite sports are football and baseball. { worked in the Manual Arts shop for three years and I have worked on the farm for four years. My father has a farm in Union County and I hope to be a farmer when I have finished my education.