W T Woodson High School - Cavalier Yearbook (Fairfax, VA)

Page 9 text:

Attending many of the school’s meetings, assemblies and other events is still an important part of Mr. and Mrs. Woodsons’ lives. The Woodson’s renovated a barn for their house on Chain Bridge Road. A gracious host and hostess discuss their life in Fairfax. Mr. Woodson has worked with schools all his life and seen many changes. He was an innovator of many of the changes himself. When he started there were “more cows than we had children.” There were some 40 one-room school houses, most of them with dirt road accesses. As the county grew he was instrumental in closing the one- room schools in 1935-36 and opening consolidated schools. Another innovation he pushed strongly for was switching from having seven elementary grades and five high school grades to having an intermediate school, which would take seventh grade out of elementary school and eighth grade out of high school. Mr. Woodson retired in 1961, the year W.T. Woodson was built and named for him. He had already opposed naming an auditorium for him so the meeting for naming the school was held in secret. He was surprised to learn of the honor bestowed on him, saying, “listen, you don’t name schools for people until they’re dead, and I’m not dead by a long shot.” A Drawing Force OPENING 5

Page 8 text:

will© i® W. T. Wood son A clock chimed the hour in the hall. Cars and trucks roared outside the window. A man in his eighties entered the room—a stately man living in a stately house on Chain Bridge Road, who loves to talk and reminisce with visitors. He is Wilbur Tucker Woodson, former Superintendent of Fair¬ fax County, and mentor of W.T. Woodson High School. In Mr. Woodson is seen the same spirit and driving force visible in the school itself: a sense of competition, involvement, awareness, and concern. His reminiscing took him back to days which influenced his adult ideas and viewpoints. He grew up in Albemarle County, west of Charlottsville in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The dining room in his house was renovated to make a room where he and three of his neighbors were taught by a private teacher. This arrangement lasted only through the earliest part of his schooling. When he reached 4th or 5th grade he walked two miles, lunch pail in hand, to a typical two-room schoolhouse. After high school, with two in his graduating class, Mr. Woodson attended William and Mary College. After his graduation from college, Mr. Woodson taught school, was involved in WW I and returned to become a principal of a school for a number of years, before coming to Fairfax County in 1925. The title of his job was Supervisor of schools but he describes himself as being “really Assistant Superintendent” to an older man close to retiring. The year 1929 saw his superior retire, and Mr. Woodson took over the post, which he was to hold until 1961.

Page 10 text:

Participation , ; .. . =- ,- ■ . , ' ' ; f 1 - ■:; ' . ' % V l 5 . • . . • « • ' ,. -• ; • ' v n£%- % gS 1 Sloshing through puddles and sliding down mui dedication of serious joggers and track oriente Football games are Woodson ' s favorite places to participate and show spirit. The Senior section upholds this doctrine enthusiatically. Chemistry experiments engross Bruce Kirchgessner and Stephanie Oliver. 6 OPENING