Dr. Woodard and the Charter of Adel, GA

January 13, 2024 at 5:38 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Remedies and Medicine)
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Dr. Woodard and the Charter of Adel, GA

Robert Crawford Woodard taught in the schools of Berrien County, GA.
Dr. R. C. Woodard was born and raised near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City), GA. He entered medical practice at Adel, GA. In 1900, he was elected to serve on the Adel City Council.

In 1900, Dr. R. C. Woodard was elected as one of the town councilmen of Adel, GA. Woodard, a native of Ray’s Mill (now Ray City), GA attended the Medical College at Augusta, GA and graduated from in 1899. 

Adel News
Oct 19, 1900
Election Held Wednesday

The regular annual municipal election for the town of Adel was held Wednesday of this week, the entire ticket recently nominated being elected. There was a little scratching, but no organized opposition to the ticket. Forty-eight votes, all white, were cast and the following is the ticket elected:

For Mayor,
A. A. Parish
For Aldermen;
J. T. Wilkes,
S. A. Juhan,
Wm. Clements,
J. A. J. Parrish,
R.C. Woodard.

Mayor [John Henry] Kennon and Mayor-elect Parrish are both out of the city and the new men have not been inducted into office yet. As stated last week they are all gentlemen of strong capabilities and business qualifications and we look for the town’s affairs to be wisely managed during their administration.

Woodard was sworn into office on October 22, 1900. He served on the Adel City Council along with James Thomas Wilkes, Stephen Alexander Juhan, William Clements, and J. A. J. Parrish. Arlington Ansel “Arlie” Parrish was mayor. The council appointed Alonzo Augustus Webb as secretary and treasurer.  J. M. “Mark” Shaw was appointed Marshal of the town; The Marshal was instructed to collect all rents and taxes owed the town. 

Hog Law

The Adel City Council directed that the town ordinance against obstructing or littering the streets was to be strictly enforced, but enforcement of the Hog Law would be postponed until January 1, 1901. These two decisions were not unrelated. Under the Hog Law farmers were required to confine their stock. Loose hogs were taken to the pound, a corral or pen where livestock was held or “impounded” until the owners paid a fee to retrieve them. But in Tifton, the newspaper observed, a “town needs the services of those tireless scavengers just now when stale fruit and vegetables and other things deleterious to health are lying around loose. It is a fact that the hog law does the town more injury than good.” Leaving hogs free to eat the garbage in the streets, saved the cost and labor of having it carted away. On the other hand, free roaming and feral hogs were a major cause of the spread of Cholera, a disease which caused the loss of thousands of dollars a year in pork production. In Ray City, GA free-ranging hogs were a nuisance even into the 1930s. David Miley, lifetime resident of Ray City, recalled one particular swine that was notorious for stealing kids’ lunches at the Ray City School.

The Adel City Council declined to award the telephone franchise to R. R. Folsom and J. L. Williams. Ultimately, the telephone franchise went to the Adel Telephone Company, Inc., with William Clements, Arlington Ansel Parrish and C. D. Shaw as the principles.

The matter of a new charter for the town was taken up as the most important order of business.

According to the new city charter, the town council was responsible for provision public streets and grounds; establishment and assignment of “road duty” compelling citizens to participate or support road maintenance; food safety and inspections; building codes, building inspections and fire safety; regulation of the sale of “spiritous liquors”; and establishment of public schools under the supervision of a board of trustees.

“The authorities of said town shall also have power and authority to prevent injury or annoyance to the public or individuals from anything dangerous or offensive; to prevent dogs, hogs, cattle, sheep, horses, mules, goats, asses, and all other kind of animals and fowls from going at large in said town or any prescribed territory therein; to protect places of divine worship; to abate anything which in the opinion of the authorities is a nuisance; to regulate the keeping and selling of dynamite, gunpowder, kerosene and all other hazardous articles of merchandise; to regulate or prohibit the operation of blacksmith shops or other businesses that endanger the property of others in said town; to regulate the running of steam engines, whether for factories, mills, or any other kind of machinery propelled by steam engines; to regulate the running of any and all sorts of vehicles, however drawn or propelled, that may be used on the streets of said town; to establish quarantine and regulate the same, and to regulate the burial of the dead in said town.“

The town council was also the authority over municipal taxes,

…able to levy and collect a tax upon all and every species of property in said town subject to State and county tax; upon banking and insurance capital employed in said town; upon brokers and factors; upon each and every business, calling, trade or profession carried on in said town; upon billiard and pool tables, bowling alleys, bank, insurance, telephone, telegraph and express agencies in said town; to tax all theatrical performances, shows or exhibitions for gain or profit in said town; to tax all itinerant traders and peddlers, all venders of patent medicines, drugs, books, nostrums or devices of any kind; to tax all solicitors or canvassers selling wares or merchandise by sample at retail to consumers.

According to his memoirs, Woodard “convinced Adel’s electorate to support the establishment of a graded public school system, the first of its kind for a town of that size in Georgia.” The town council was responsible for the city schools and for the election of a board of trustees to oversee their operations.

The duties of said trustees shall be to establish two schools in the town of Adel, one for white children and one for colored children, which shall be entirely distinct and separate; to provide school houses by building, rent or otherwise; to employ teachers and provide the curriculum of said schools; to fix the salaries of teachers…to employ for said schools those teachers only who have a license to teach in the common schools of the state…that said schools shall be open for not lest than six, not more than twelve months in each year and shall be free, except a matriculation fee to be fixed by the mayor and council, to all children between the ages of six and eighteen years, whose parents or guardians reside within the corporate limits of the town of Adel.

Woodard opposed liquor sales in the town and voted to set the city liquor license fee at $10,000 dollars.

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R. C. Woodard Attended Medical College of Georgia

January 7, 2024 at 5:11 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Remedies and Medicine)
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R. C. Woodard Attended Medical College of Georgia

Robert Crawford Woodard taught in the schools of Berrien County, GA.
Robert Crawford Woodard taught in the schools of Berrien County, GA.

In 1896 Robert Crawford Woodard was presented with the opportunity to pursue a career in medicine. Woodard, who was born and raised near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City), GA, was then teaching in Adel, GA. His ambition to enter medicine may have been influence by a family connection to Dr. Crawford W. Long of Georgia, the first physician to use ether as an anesthetic in surgery. 

The opportunity came in the form of a full scholarship to attend the medical college at Augusta, now known as Augusta University. In July 1896, Woodard learned that he would be a recipient of The Charles McDonald Brown Scholarship Fund, established at the University in 1881 by the late Hon. Joseph E. Brown, Civil War Governor of Georgia. Two white students from each Congressional District of Georgia were appointed annually by the Governor to receive scholarships, and R. C. Woodard was selected from the Second Congressional District. The scholarship was actually a loan, and recipients were expected to repay the endowment after graduation.

Thus, R. C. Woodard moved to Augusta, GA, in early October to study medicine at the Georgia Medical College. His wife and children followed on Saturday, October 31, 1896 to join him in Augusta.

In Augusta, the Woodards rented a home at 619 4th street near the corner of Watkins Street, about seven blocks south of the Savannah River and fronting on May Park. The Woodard’s place was just a six block walk from the medical college building at 558 Telfair Street. Also boarding with the Woodards was fellow medical student Henry W. Clements, of Ray’s Mill, GA (now Ray City). Another classmate at the medical college was Charles X. Jones, who established his medical practice at Ray City, GA and was influential in the incorporation of the town.

The Woodard residence in Augusta is long gone, the lot now occupied by the Richmond County Jail. It bordered on the Olde Town Historic District which still preserves many houses along 4th street and Watkins built in the late 19th century, homes typified by simpler elements and a lack of detail in comparison to the larger Greek Revival and Victorian townhouses closer to the river.

May Park, Augusta, GA photographed circa 1900. Dr. R.C. Woodard rented a residence across the street from the park during the period 1897-1899 while attending the Georgia medical college (now Augusta University). May Park was named after Robert H. May, mayor of Augusta during the Civil War and from 1879-1891. In 1898, the Augusta Herald described the setting, “This park was developed under his administration. It is noted for its beautiful large trees, lakes, flowers, hillocks, rustic houses and pavilions. Just across from May Park lies “the city of the dead,” the most beautiful spot in Augusta, whose broad avenues are lined with magnificent magnolia trees. The choicest flowers and shrubs the south can produce can be seen here. It is a vast flower garden – with gleaming white statues and shafts arising amidst its setting of green shrubbery and brilliant flowers. Many statues and tombs are works of art by the most renown sculptors of fair Italy.” – Augusta Herald, October 12, 1898
Medical college at Augusta, GA

The medical college at Augusta was described in 1902 in the Standard Medical Directory of North America:

GEORGIA UNIVERSITY, Medical Department, Augusta; Dean Eugene Foster; Medical Academy organized 1829; suspended 1861-65; present title 1873. Admission: Certificate from high school or equivalent. Graduation: Age 21, attendance on three lecture courses of six months each, the last at this school. Fees: $100.00, examination $30.00. Faculty: Professors 10, demonstrator 1, instructors 7. Property $36,000.00. Recognition: I. S. B. H., U.S.N.Y. Matriculates last session 145.

Medical College of Georgia Dissecting Room, 1896-97
Medical College of Georgia, dissection room, 1896-97.
Pathology Laboratory at Medical College of Georgia, 1896-1897
Pathology Laboratory at Medical College of Georgia, 1896-1897.
Robert Crawford Woodard was elected class historian for the Class of 1899, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA.
Augusta Herald, Nov 4, 1898.

In January 1898, the Tifton Gazette reported that Robert Crawford Woodard was the teacher at the Rays Mill academy. He apparently took the job at Rays Mill between courses of study at the Augusta medical college.

Tifton Gazette
January 21, 1898
There has been quite a changing of teachers in South Berrien this year. Prof. M. S. Patten is teaching at the Roberts school house, J. J. Roberts, Social Circle; R. C. Woodard, Ray’s Mill academy; Miss Sallie Parrish, Griffin school house; Miss Jensie Nichols, Pine Grove; J.M. Patten, Grand Bay; J. A. Weaver, Green Bay; P.T. Knight, Cross Creek, and J. D. Patten at Milltown.

R. C. Woodard and family left Adel on October 4, 1898 to return to Augusta so he could complete his final term of enrollment at the medical college.

Woodard received his medical degree in 1899.  Throughout his life Dr. Woodard continued his medical education each year by taking graduate courses in medicine, even traveling to New York to attend some courses.

Following completion of his medical degree, The Adel News reported his return, “Dr. R. C. Woodard returned home Tuesday afternoon [April 11, 1899]. He has finished his medical course in Augusta and is now ready for practice. He deserves success, and we extend congratulations as well as best wishes for your future, Dr. Woodard.”

Return to Adel

Even after entering into his medical practice Dr. Woodard remained actively engaged in Cook County civics and education.  The announcement of Fall 1903 classes shows that he was then serving as president of the Board of Trustees for the Adel Institute.

It appears Woodard moved his parents about 1902 to a small house in Adel on Railroad Avenue, perhaps on the corner of Eighth Street. About 1910, Dr. Woodard purchased from his father a small house and lot in Adel, GA, but it appears this transaction may have been more about providing funds for his father than providing a property for Dr. Woodard. Dr. Woodard’s mother, Jane Crawford Woodard, died December 3, 1912 and his father, Robert Daniel Woodard, died January 7, 1914; both were buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Adel, GA.

On Tuesday, May 3, 1904 tragedy struck the Woodard household with the loss of their little daughter, Jane Woodard. The Adel News announced the death. The little girl was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery, Adel, GA.

Grave of Mary Jane Woodard (1902-1904), Woodlawn Cemetery, Adel, GA. Image source: Cat

Adel News
May 20, 1904

The Death of a Child

Little Mary Jane Woodard Died on Friday Night Last.

Mary Jane, the little nineteen-months-old daughter of Dr. and Mrs. R. C. Woodard, died on last Friday night. For two or three weeks the little one had been ill and several days before her death it was see that her case was a grave one. All that the skill of physicians and the tender nursing of loved ones and friends could do was done for the little sufferer but it continued to grow worse until its pur little spirit was transported to a fairer clime.
The little girl was a bright and attractive child and will be missed not only by the family, but by the neighbors as well, who were accustomed to seeing her almost daily.
The funeral services were held at the residence Saturday afternoon and were conducted by Rev. B. F. Elliott, who spoke tender words of sympathy and comfort to the bereaved ones. Some sweet songs were sung by the choir and the services were very impressive. The interment was in the city cemetery. The sympathy of all our people go out to the family.

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Professor R.C. Woodard

January 6, 2024 at 1:41 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Remedies and Medicine)
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Dr. Robert Crawford Woodard (1867-1949)

Robert Crawford Woodard taught in the schools of Berrien County, GA.
R. C. Woodard taught in the schools of Berrien County, GA.

Robert Crawford Woodard’s early life was spent near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City), GA.

After studying at Bowling Green College of Business Administration Robert Crawford Woodard returned to Berrien County, GA. He became a teacher and was in charge of a school near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City), Ga by 1892.

On March 18, 1892, the Tifton Gazette reported, “From Ray’s Mill…Mr. R.C. Woodard has a school of sixty odd pupils at the Knight Academy two miles south of here. He is assisted by Mr. L. Lovitt [Lyman Byrd Lovett].”  Meritt E. Johnson, a native of Ray’s Mill, later served as a Trustee of the Knight school.

The Ray’s Mill Academy was taught that term by Jonathan Perry Knight; The two men would later work together as state legislators.

In those days, few teachers were college educated. Most teacher training “involved a very important, now almost forgotten, American institution – teaching institutes. At these, teachers gathered for instruction in subject areas and teaching methods…Throughout the nineteenth century, most U.S. elementary school teachers received no special training. Those who completed eight elementary grades, or the few privileged to attend secondary-level academies, won teaching positions by passing state subject-matter exams.” In Berrien County, the annual examination of applicants for teacher’s license was held in the summer at the county seat at Nashville, GA.

For the convenience of the teachers, The Berrien County Teacher Institute sessions were held on Saturdays during the summer and locations were rotated to towns around the county. Sessions were taught by the more qualified teachers and sometimes by outside experts. R. C. Woodard was a frequent attendee, and presented on such topics as Methods for classwork in Arithmetic, and Capital letters and the rule for their formation. Among other well-known presenters at Teacher Institute were R.L. Patten, William Green Avera, Johnathan Perry Knight, and J.M. Guilliams.

“In theory, these institutes augmented the former training of teachers, bringing them up to date on new theories or new knowledge. In most of America, these short sessions provided the only contact elementary teachers would ever have with expertise in the developing profession of public school teaching. Teachers came to institutes to learn, to gain inspiration, and to develop a sense of professional identity. The larger public attended evening lectures. Parents gained pride in their schools, and young people committed themselves to teaching as a career. The gathered teachers enjoyed the fellowship with other teachers and the home hospitality offered by local families. Institutes were the camp meetings of the teaching profession, and the ablest, most sought-after instructors the evangelists of the public school movement.” – Peabody College: From a Frontier Academy to the Frontiers of Teaching and Learning

Like the public schools of the time, the Berrien Teacher Institute was for whites only. African-American teachers in Berrien County were required to travel to attend five days of separate, mandatory training at the Peabody Institute which was held on consecutive weekdays at a central location serving multiple counties.

For the fall term of 1893 Woodard took the teacher’s position at Milltown Academy.

Tifton Gazette
July 21, 1893
Milltown has a flourishing school now under the administration of Prof. R. C. Woodard.

In the spring of 1894, Woodard came back to Adel to act as associate principal in the South Georgia Normal School at Adel. The January 6, 1894 issue of Educational News reported that Woodard had entered a partnership with James Rembert Anthony, of Taliafero County, GA. ”Captain J. R. Anthony will leave Crawfordville, and, in conjunction with Mr. R. C. Woodard, will establish a normal and business school at Adel, Ga.“ J.R. Anthony was an early student of the University of Virginia and a Confederate veteran; At the close of the Civil War he had assisted former Confederate Secretary of State Robert Toombs on his escape to Cuba.

1895 advertisement for Tifton, GA’s big expo, the Empire Garden Midsummer Fair

When Governor William J. Northen and Education Commissioner Samuel Dowse Bradwell visited Tifton on June 4, 1894, they were received by Tifton Mayor Columbus Wesley Fullwood “and a select party of gentlemen,” Robert Crawford Woodard among them.

In the Summer of 1894, Woodard was back for a Teacher’s Institute convened at Sparks, GA. He co-presented with B. F. Hill on “Spelling – Old and new methods explained and illustrated.” While the Institute was in session the teachers held a little “competition to suggest a suitable name for a fair to be held at Tifton, GA. To make the contest interesting a five-dollar gold medal was offered to the one proposing the most suitable name for the fair. Among the rest was “The Empire Garden Mid-Summer Fair” suggested by Prof. R. C. Woodard, of [Adel], and this name was adopted and the medal was awarded to Dr. Woodard. The Prof. was elated at his success and valued the medal very highly.” The Empire Garden Mid-Summer Fair became a great success and by 1897 was drawing 5000 attendees annually.

Around this time, R. C. Woodard served a term as principal of the Grand Bay School near Ray’s Mill, GA. An appreciative pupil was James Madison Knight (1879-1953), a great grandson of William Anderson Knight who was the first pioneer to settle at Grand Bay. The Grand Bay School had been built by J.M. Knight’s two grandfathers, Jonathan Knight (1817-1886) and James Madison Baskin. The Grand Bay School was consolidated with the Milltown School in 1923.

In April, 1895 Woodard took the position of Principal of the school at Cecil, GA. In addition to teaching, he served as a vice president of the Berrien County Sunday School Association, which convened for its annual meeting at the Nashville Baptist Church.

Tifton Gazette
July 26, 1895

Prof. R.C. Woodard is now teaching the Fellowship School, two miles east of Cecil, with an attendance of about nintey pupils. He is ably assisted by Prof. R. F. Carey, late of Emory College. Prof. Woodard is a hustler in school work and is never out of the harness long at a time. He has been tendered the Cecil school for another year. – Adel News

That winter he returned to Adel.

Tifton Gazette
November 29, 1895
Prof. R.C. Woodard has moved into town [Adel] again and receives a warm welcome by all.

In the spring term of 1896, Professor Woodard was again teaching at the Cecil School. When the Berrien Teacher Institute met in Adel on Saturday, February 15, 1896 his students gave a performance. “At 9 a.m. the teachers and visitors were treated to a song by the Cecil School, ‘Sailing O’er the Sea,’ which reflects credit on Prof. Woodard, and his assistant, Mr. O.H. Pafford, and their pupils. This song, which is a very pretty one, is sung by the school every morning before entering upon the duties of the day.“

During this period Woodard tried his hand working in accounting and farming, as well as teaching.

In 1896, Robert C. Woodard was admitted to the Medical College at Augusta, GA.

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Dr. Robert Crawford Woodard (1867-1949)

January 1, 2024 at 7:27 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Remedies and Medicine)
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Dr. Robert Crawford Woodard, born near Ray City, GA in 1867, photographed August, 1920.

Dr. Robert Crawford Woodard (1867-1949)

Early Life

Robert Crawford Woodard was born in 1867 near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City, GA).  He was a son of Robert Daniel Woodard (1831-1914) and Jane Crawford Woodard of Berrien County GA. He was one of the Medical Men of Ray’s Mill and became an important figure in medicine and education in Wiregrass Georgia.

His father, Robert Daniel Woodard, was a Confederate veteran. R. D. Woodard enlisted as a private in Company E, 54th Georgia Regiment on May 6, 1862. Among R. D. Woodard’s Confederate company mates were J.D. Evans, H.M. Talley, Littleton Albritton, William J. Lamb, Jehu Patten, Stephen W. Avera, Matthew Hodges Albritton, James M. Baskin, Samuel Guthrie, George Washington Knight, Jesse Lee, John Lee, William H. Outlaw, Rufus Ray, and Benjamin Sirmons. Woodard was on special detail as a teamster for most of the Civil War and served in coastal Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi. According to available service records and pension applications, he was on duty until about the first of April 1865 and was on furlough at home when the war effectively ended with the surrender of the Confederate Army on April 9, 1865. Woodard’s application for a Confederate pension would later be denied by the State of Georgia on the grounds that he was not present with his unit at the time of surrender. On July 30, 1867, Robert Daniel Woodard swore the Oath of Allegiance to the United States and was again permitted to register to vote. (Through the act of secession, the US citizenship of Georgia residents had been renounced.)

Robert Crawford Woodard, the subject of this sketch, was born December 6, 1867, during Reconstruction. In his autobiography, R. C. Woodard reflected that his family had lost nearly everything in the devastation of the Civil War. But the Georgia Agriculture Schedules for the Census of 1870 show his father still owned a one horse farm near Ray’s Mill, GA (now Ray City) with 390 acres, 30 acres under cultivation and 360 acres in unimproved woodlands. His father kept milk cows and beef cattle, sheep and chickens, and cropped corn, oats, and sweet potatoes.

1884 Double Keyboard Typewriter – NMAH

A synopsis of Woodard’s autobiography provides the following:
Woodard recounted his early enthusiasm for hard work and thirst for education. In his teens, he resolved to get a better education than the school afforded in his home county, so he made application and was accepted at the present Bowling Green College of Business Administration, Bowling Green, KY.  Studying there for several years, he then returned to South Georgia and became a teacher.

In 1886, the Bowling Green College of Business occupied the building of the former Bowling Green Female College, which had closed a year earlier. The school taught typical business skills such as bookkeeping, shorthand, telegraphy, pensmanship, and typewriting. A five month course in business was $45. The college’s eight typewriting machines were of the double keyboard type, which had only been invented in 1884. No typewriter instructor and no text were used; the method of touch typing had not yet emerged.

Bowling Green College of Business occupied this building on College Street, Bowling Green, KY in 1886.
Bowling Green College of Business occupied this building on College Street, Bowling Green, KY in 1886. Robert Crawford Woodard attended the college in the late 1880s.

After returning to Berrien County, R. C. Woodard taught in the common schools of the area.

On August 25, 1892, Robert Crawford Woodard married Lillian Ida Parrish. She was the eldest daughter of Susan Mathis and John A. Parrish of Berrien County, and granddaughter of Primitive Baptist elder Ansel Parrish. The wedding ceremony was performed by Primitive Baptist minister William Pendleton Nunez, a Confederate veteran who with other men of the area had served in the 26th Georgia Regiment.

Marriage certificate of Robert C. Woodard and Lilian Ida Parrish

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Eloise Williams Johnson

March 13, 2023 at 4:44 am (Ray City School, Uncategorized)
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Eloise Williams Johnson

Eloise Williams Johnson, 1948 Ray City School Yearbook. Mrs. Johnson taught at the Ray City School from about 1936 to 1976.

Eloise Williams Johnson taught at the Ray City School from about 1936 to 1976. In 1939, she was teaching in the Classroom Building and Soup Kitchen at Ray City School. Eloise and her husband, Bernard L. Johnson, lived in the residence of her mother, Mrs. Nancy Mobley, on North Street in Ray City. Her mother was a widow and had partitioned off a part of her home into an apartment, which was rented by Marvin and Arlie Purvis. Eloise also operated Johnson’s Cash Store, purveyor of groceries, meats and feeds.

Eloise Williams Johnson 94, of Selma, AL passed away on March 13, 2008 at Warren Manor Nursing Home.
She spent most of her life in Ray City, GA, where she taught school in Ray City Schools for approximately 40 years, retiring in 1976. Visitation will be at Lawrence Brown-Service Funeral Home in Selma, Al from 6 until 8 p.m. March 14, 2008, and at Music Funeral Home in Lakeland, GA, March 15, 2008, from 6 until 8:00 P.M.
Funeral services will be held at First Baptist Church in Ray City, GA with burial to follow at church cemetery at 2 p.m. Sunday March 16, 2008, officiated by Rev. Lee Graham and Rev. John Patton.
She is survived by her son, James Travis Johnson and his wife Lou, granddaughters, Lisa (Steve) Anderson, Leslie (Charlie) Skelton, Allison (Dean) Smith, all of Selma, and Luann (Ray) Roberts of Prattville, and her great-grand-children Courtney Kendrick of Tuscaloosa, Kelly Kendrick of Prattville, Will Anderson, Katy Skelton, Kent Skelton, Meredith Smith, and Cole Smith, all of Selma.She is also survived by a sister-in-law, Jimmie Mobley, a niece Cathy Mobley, and nephew Steve Anderson all of Ray City, GA. She was a longtime member of Ray City Baptist Church and taught Sunday School and Training Union there for many years.
Pallbearers are Steve Anderson, Charlie Skelton, Dean Smith, Ray Roberts, Will Anderson, and Buddy Purvis. The family would like to express appreciation and warmest regards to the complete staff at Warren Manor Nursing Home in Selma, AL.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Elkdale Baptist Church in Selma, AL.

Grave of Eloise W. Johnson, Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA.

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Ray City School Yearbook 1948-1949

November 24, 2022 at 2:11 am (Ray City School)
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Ray City School Yearbook 1948-1949
Special thanks to Chris Clements for preserving and sharing this document.

1948-1949 Yearbook cover, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook cover, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook Dedication, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, History of the school, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, History of the school , Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook Teachers, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook photos of the class of 1949, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 list of Superlatives & Yearbook Staff, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of the junior class, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of the sophomore class, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, sophomore class roster, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of the boys' and girls' basketball teams, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, summary of the basketball season, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, continued summary of the basketball season, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook section divider, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of the seventh and eighth grade classes, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, roster of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of the 2nd and 3rd grade classes, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, photos of 1st grade class, Ray City WWII veterans, and lunch room staff, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, roster of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classes, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, section divider, advertising, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, advertisers, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, advertisers, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA
1948-1949 Yearbook, Ray City School, Ray City, GA

Teachers
Mrs. Cornelius (Pearl Cornelius)………………1st Grade
Mrs. Webb (Jessie Webb)…………………….…2nd Grade
Mrs. Taylor (Emma Lou Taylor)………………3rd Grade
Miss Barbara Comer…………………………….…4th Grade
Mrs. Williams………………………………………..5th Grade
Mrs. Patten (Mabel C. Patten)…………..……..6th Grade
Mr. Joe S. Clements………………………………..7th Grade
Mrs. Smith…………………………………………….8th Grade
Mrs. McClure (Myrtle Hawk McClure)….…9th Grade
Mr. Underwood……………………………………10th Grade
Mrs. Johnson (Eloise Williams Johnson)…11th Grade
Mr. Charles Woodrow Schmoe…………………Principal

Ray City School Class of 1949

Winona Williams, President
Talton Rouse, Vice President
Jean Studstill, Treasurer
Murray Comer
Carey Register
Helen Wood
Charles Scarbrough
Thomas Studstill
Robert Whitehead
Robert Conner

Junior Class
Herman K. Guthrie, President
Edith Wheeler, Vice President
Betty J. Huff, Secretary
J. Bart Gaskins
Mary L. Sirmans
Jimmy Grissett
Jimmy Gaskins
Allie M. Warren
Robert Hamm

Sophomore Class (9th Grade)
Betty Jo Cook, President
Billy F. Moore, Vice President
Lullene Rouse, Secretary
Wendell Clements, Treasurer
Geraldine Sirmons, Junior Cornelius, Betty Rose Purvis, Bobby Buckholts, Hazel Croy, June Earl Dampier, Peggy Huff, Bobby Vaughn, Golie Warren, Talmadge Moore, Carolyn Wood, Ira McKuhen, Ava Lou Nix, A.C. Hesters, Wilma Ray, Billy Roberts, Faye Sirmans, Jack Knight, Evelyn Wheeler, James Rogers, Mildred Dampier, Jimmy Whitehead, Patricia Bradford, Bobby Williams, Meredith Futch

Eighth Grade
Willie M. Luke, Charles D. Allen, Harry Cornelius, J. W. Temples, Donald Sirmans, Foster Griner, Thurmand Plair, Charles Luke, Franklin Baldree, James Williams, Sara J. Smith, Eloise Miller

Seventh Grade
Mary Bush, Louise Bates, Hilda M. Gaskins, Hilda V. Gaskins, Elinon Grissett, Annette Jordaon, Jimmy May, Donald Mathis, Charles McKuhen, Hazel McCuller, Clyde Nix, Glen Putnal, B. Ray, Jimmie Robertson, C. Sirmans, Aulie Sirmans, Bennie Sirmans, Robbie Smith, Mary Vaughn, Betty Webb, Don Bennett, K. Walls, Helen Whitehead, Jessie Hamm, Carroll Williams.

Sixth Grade
Betty Bates, Robert Carter, Bobby Cook, L.C. Cook, Elizabeth Cone, F. Cornelius, F. Dampier, Lamar Fender, Wendell Garner, Eugene Harpe, Jule Holton, Jeraldine Jordon, Kenneth May, Kim Moore, Jack Patten, Betty Roberts, Vernon Roberts, Bobby Sammons, Lenora Sirmans, Judith Smith, Frank Studstill, David Suggs, Elizabeth Temples, Brown Vaughn, Grace Williams, Hubert Miller, Betty J. Warren, Mary Scarbrough, Londell Griner, Wilson Stone.

Fifth Grade
Jack Barnard, L. Conine, Richard Burnett, Bobby Croy, Carlton Garner, Billy Gaskins, Bruce Gaskins, Jr. Harpe, Travis Johnson, S. Etheridge, J. McCullers, Everette Roberts, Jim Roberts, Leon Sirmans, Billy Smith, Ray Smith, J.T. Smith, Charles Snipes, Frank Wood, Sam Griner, Remer Bostic, R. Noles, Billy Mathis, R. Noles, Willene May, M.L. Brantly, Joyces Chavous, Pam Cook, I.L. Exum, B.J. Myers, Wynelle Myers, N. R. McDonald, J. C. McSwain, C. Robertson, A. Sammons, M. Sirmans, W.J. Smith, Evelyn Snipe, Mary Warren

Fourth Grade
Charles Cook, William Ray, R. Sirmans, M.B. Swindell, M.B. Suggs, Eloise Warren. Jr. Logon, Carolyn Croy, Norma Harrod, Leroy Wilson, Franklin Cribb, Edna Fountain, Virginia Harpe, Charles Baldree, Betty Akridge, Dorothy Mathis, Clarice Allen, Phyllis Fletcher, Katie Luke, Dorothy Hendley, Betty Cook, Julian Mathis, Henry Gaskins, Pearl Avery, Carlton Sirmans

Veterans
June H. Sirmans, Barney J. Akridge, Ned Browning, L.C. Hughes, James E. Jefferson, Clarence A. Luke, Perry C. Myers, Ira G. Register, Howard D. Temples, John W. Walker, Lonnie C. Alexander, Chester E. Moncrief, William Allison, Robert W. Barber, James H. Conner, Lamar E. Fountain, John H. Greene, James C. Harris, Reva L. Rice, Albert W. Warren

Advertisers
Advertisers in the 1948-1949 Ray City School Yearbook included Adel Grocery Company, Adel Trading Company, Bank of Ray City, Boyett Sprayer Manufacturing, Farmers Motor Service Company, Fletch and Mac’s Garage, Glidden’s Truck Company, H.A. Swindle General Merchandise, Holton Furniture Company, Jenkins Chevrolet, Jim Paulk & L. Nooe Sawmill, Johnson’s Cash Store, Lanier Motor Company, Lovein Funeral Home, Mail-Me-Monday, Murray’s Service Station, Nashville Stationery and Printing Company, Nehi Bottling Company, Nichols Builders Supply, Patten’s Concrete & Block Industry, Perry Auction Company, Schroer Implement Company, Snow’s Laundry, Stalling’s Feed & Seed Store, Star Laundry and Dry Cleaning, Swindle and Mathis Grocery, Swindle’s Cash Store, Tom Hewitt Auto Company, Valdosta Coca-Cola Bottling Works, Victory Soda Shop, and Waldron-Howard Allis-Chalmers Farm Machinery and Equipment.

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Vida Mae Coleburn

August 6, 2022 at 1:14 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Uncategorized)
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Vida Mae Coleburn (1915-1998)

Vida Mae Coleburn came with their parents and siblings to Lois, GA near Ray City sometime in the 1920s.

Vida Mae Coleburn at Berry College, 1938

Vida Mae Coleburn was born May 12, 1915, at Morehead, NC. Her parents were William BJ Colburn and Mamie Parks Colburn. In 1936 she entered Berry College near Rome, GA. There she participated in the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Syrreb Literary Society, and the Business Woman’s Association. She graduated in 1940 with a bachelors degree in Education.

Vida Mae Coleburn at Berry College, 1940
Vida Mae Coleburn was a member of the Young Women’s Christian Association at Berry College, 1936-1940. Photo of the YWCA members in their college uniforms, 1938.

The Business Woman’s Association endeavors to stimulate interest in the Commercial Department and to bring members in closer contact with outside business activities. Membership is open to those women who are majoring or minoring in commerce and maintaining a scholastic average of “B” or above. The bi-monthly meetings feature student programs and speeches by guest business and professional leaders. A program sponsored jointly with the Commercial Club featured two short business plays, “Of All Things” and “The Potter Pancake Company.” A joint meeting, two parties and picnics were other outstanding events of the year.

The year 1939-40 found the Syrreb Literary Society winding its way around the ninth curve in our road to flaming success in literature, dramatics, music, and other expressions of art. The peak of success for the year was the play, “One Mad Night,” presented under the direction of Judith Joyner and Fred Johnson. Featured activities of the spring semester were the annual banquet which was held in the Ford Refectory on March 7, and the Syrreb joint program sponsored by both divisions of the society.

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J.M. Knight left the “Goober State” for Miami

September 11, 2021 at 1:07 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Knight Family, Uncategorized)
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James Madison Knight (1879-1953) grew up in the Rays Mill District of Berrien County, GA; He was a great grandson of William Anderson Knight, pioneer settler of the district. His father was Ulysses A. Knight (1859-1934); his mother Mary J. Baskin (1861-1902). His father briefly served as postmaster of Rays Mill, GA. After attending Grand Bay School, near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City, GA), J.M. Knight attended Stanley’s Business College at Thomasville, GA. Other Rays Mill students at the college were Lane Young and W. D. Sloan. In 1904 J.M. Knight moved to Florida where he became a general contractor.

Grave of James Madison, Knight, Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, AL.
Grave of James Madison Knight, Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, AL.
Image source: Pete Mohney

A biographical sketch of James M. Knight appeared in Cuthbert’s History of Florida, Volume 3, published in 1923:

James M. Knight, prominent contractor and builder at Miami, is a master of several of the basic arts involved in the building construction, and long mechanical skill and experience give him great advantage in directing his present organization and equipment for handling every class of building construction.
Mr. Knight was born near Valdosta, Georgia, in 1880, and represents a lineage that has been in Berrien County, Georgia, from earliest pioneer times. One of the earliest settlers there was his Great-grandfather [William Anderson] Knight, a rifle maker, who made many of the guns with which warfare was carried against Cherokee Indians. Mr. Knight’s ancestors were soldiers in the Indian wars, the Revolution, and later on the Confederate side in the war between the states. His two grandfathers, Jonathan H. Knight and J. N. [James Madison] Baskin, built the famous and historic school at Grand Bay, in Berrien County. Mr. Knight’s father, [Ulysses] Hugh A. Knight, came to Florida some years ago, and owns one of the finest farms in the state, a large place near Arcadia, stocked with fine cattle and containing citrus groves.
James M. Knight grew up on a Georgia farm, and from an early age took his place between the plow handles. His excellent education was due largely to the splendid Grand Bay school mentioned above. There he was an appreciative pupil under Dr. R. C. Woodard, then principal. Doctor Woodard was a teacher of genuine distinction, one who not only instilled learning, but character, into his pupils. After an honorary career as a school man Doctor Woodard took up the practice of medicine, and is now highly esteemed in his profession in Miami. James M. Knight also finished a course at Stanley’s Business College at Thomasville, Georgia.
His years were industriously spent on the farm until he was twenty-three. Then, in 1904, having learned the trade of stone mason, he came to Florida, locating at Tampa, and made the building trade his permanent business. After spending several years in building operations in and around Tampa and after a short period in the central part of the state, he came early in 1917 to Miami. Here he has been one of the busy contractors. One of his first large jobs as superintendent of construction was the Clyde Court Apartments. His business has involved both business and residence structures at Miami and Miami Beach. A few examples of his work that may be mentioned as an indication of the character and scope of his business include two large residences for Carl Fisher at Miami Beach, the beautiful home of E. B. Kurtz in Magnolia Park, the plastering and masonry contracts on the Ohio Hotel, the Keystone Hotel, the Leamington Hotel, the new building of the South Atlantic Telephone Company, and he was the builder of the drug store of Dr. D. S. Boles on Northeast Second Avenue, the Llewellen Building on North Miami Avenue, the Bishop Apartments on Miami Beach, the Municipal Warehouse, Municipal Dock for the City of Miami, and many other noted structures.
Mr. Knight is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Stanton Memorial Baptist Church. He married Miss Mary J. Swann, of Savannah, Georgia. They have three sons, G. B. [Girth Baskin Knight], U. A. [Ulysses A. Knight] and J. E. [James Earle] Knight.

Clyde Court Apartments, Miami, FL, 1921. Constructed by James Madison Knight, great grandson of William Anderson Knight, early pioneer of old Lowndes County, GA.

In 1920, J.M. Knight formed a partnership with George Lomas and for four years did business as the firm of Knight & Lomas. The company completed a large number of buildings before dissolving in 1924.

On New Years Day, 1924 The Miami News-Metropolis did a piece on the firm, in which it was observed the company was doing much to build up the city. About Knight, it was said,

J. M. Knight is a native of Georgia, in which state, in his earlier days, he followed the plow in fields of cotton, sugar cane and sweet potatoes, but as long as the demand continues in Miami for new buildings he has no intention of returning to the Goober state and the fields. He has his comfortable home in Miami, and prefers this to all localities he has seen.

But J.M. Knight was proud of his Georgia heritage. He and his sons were prime organizers in the Dade County Georgia Society. In 1922, the society put on a huge barbeque for the 4th of July. Among the south Georgians who removed to Miami were Lester Griffin & family, Lawson S. Rentz, Dr. D. Frank Rentz, and Benjamin L. Wilkerson.

During the Miami boom years from 1923 to 1926 J.M. Knight partnered with his brother Oliph May Knight under the name of Knight Construction Company. O.M. Knight invented and patented a cruise control device for automobiles, and built a manufacturing plant in Atlanta, GA.

The boom period in Miami construction ended with the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926. The Conners, of Ray City, GA were among Berrien County residents vacationing in south Florida when the storm hit. Lester Griffin’s family, who had moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL narrowly escaped the disaster, as they were visiting relatives in south Georgia; Lester Griffin rode out the storm in Fort Lauderdale.

The 1926 storm was described by the U.S. Weather Bureau in Miami as “probably the most destructive hurricane ever to strike the United States.” It hit Fort Lauderdale, Dania, Hollywood, Hallandale and Miami. The death toll is estimated to be from 325 to perhaps as many as 800. No storm in previous history had done as much property damage. 

1926 Miami: The blow that broke the boom

About 1928, James Madison Knight left Miami and moved to Birmingham, AL.

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Early Schoolhouses in Georgia

August 14, 2021 at 12:07 am (Education In the Wiregrass, Uncategorized)
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The memoirs of Judge Augustin H. Hansell (1817-1907) describe his experiences as a student in a common school of the Wiregrass Georgia frontier. He started his education in 1822 at Milledgeville, GA at the age of five or six.

Engraving of early log schoolhouse with children playing at recess
Engraving of early log schoolhouse with children playing at recess.

Judge Hansell was known to everyone in Wiregrass Georgia and had defended, prosecuted or presided over the most prominent court cases of Rays Mill, Troupville, Nashville, and other south Georgia towns.  As a young attorney Augustin H. Hansell put up a sensational murder defense for Jim Hightower (aka James Stewart); as Solicitor General he won an equally sensational murder conviction against Jonathan Studstill, which was later pardoned by the state legislature. As judge of the Southern Circuit of the Superior Court, he presided over the trial of Burrell Hamilton Bailey and of James T. Biggles, who gunned down Madison Pearson on the front porch Henry H. Knight’s mercantile store at Ray’s Mill, GA. He represented Thomas County, GA at the Georgia Secession Convention of 1861, and signed the Georgia Ordinance of Secession along with John Carroll Lamb, of Berrien County.  He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the of 1877, along with Ray’s Mill (now Ray City) resident Jonathan David Knight.

In his memoirs he describes the schoolhouse of his childhood.

1822

About this time and when only in my sixth year, I started to school…The school was about two and a half miles from our home, and the walk seemed rather long for a five year old.  Our nearest way took us off the public road and directly through the extensive orchard and yards of my grandfather…But let us get back to school. The house was about 25 x 20 feet in size.  The roof was of boards held in place by small logs laid across them and held in place by wooden pegs.  The floor was of puncheons and on two sides of the room a log was sawed out to give light, especially for writing, and boards were fastened inside so that they could be drawn up and fastened by leather thongs. These were tied to wooden pegs, as there were no nails used in the building, which was literally built by hand, and no nails, glass or brick were found there. In one corner stood a large block about two feet high and known as the “Dunce Block,” upon which some unfortunate boy had to stand often for an hour, and if it was a bad case, a dunce cap made of paper and about three feet high was placed on his head.  And in addition, a pair of spectacles with bark in the place of glass, was placed over his eyes. The only door was of boards and was fastened by a chain and padlock and the key kept by the teacher.

Hansell also talks of ghostly encounters walking home from school. He mentions that schooling continued even in the Summer and that the Fourth of July was expected as a school holiday.

Early schools were also a subject of the 1894-1895 report on the state of education in the United States produced by the Commissioner of Education, William Torrey Harrison. This was only the second such volume that had been produced. A chapter on early educational life in Georgia addresses the period before the Civil War and describes the typical common schoolhouse of the time in rural Georgia, which was to say in all of Georgia except perhaps Savannah and Augusta.

Schoolhouses

A place was selected on the edge of a wood and a field turned out to fallow, sufficiently central, hard by a spring of purest fresh water, a loghouse was put up, say 30 by 25 feet, with one door and a couple of windows and shelves, with benches along the unceiled walls, and the session began. Most families breakfasted about sunrise, and a brisk walk of three-quarters of an hour brought even remotest dwellers to the early opening.

A box of Lucifer matches, "which instantly ignite by quickly drawing the Sand Paper lightly over the Composition, and warrantied to keep perfect." Manufactured in West Boylston, MA.
In Judge Augustin H. Hansell’s school days, lighting the schoolhouse fire was a daily chore. Friction matches, known as “lucifer matches” or “loco foco matches”, had yet to be invented.

The one who happened to reach the schoolhouse first on winter mornings kindled a fire. This was before the date of lucifer matches. In winter half-burned logs were so disposed beneath ashes on the huge fireplaces as to preserve fire through the night, which was quickly rekindled by the aid of pine knots always on hand. To provide against failure, the master and some of the larger boys carried a small piece of rotten wood -punk- obtained from a decayed oak, which, being held under a flintstone and struck with a steel blade of a pocket knife, produced sparks, igniting the wood. There was seldom any suffering from cold.
At noon a recess of two hours was allowed for dinner and sports. On days when the sun shone, the hour was made known by its reaching a mark on the floor by the door or one of the window-sills. In cloudy weather it was guessed at. The idea of a schoolmaster owning a watch did not enter anybody’s mind. When the day was done, dismissal was out and out. There were no keepings-in at noon or evening tide. Each day had its own history and no more; whatever was done was done for all henceforth – recitings, good or bad, punishments big or little, became things of the past, though their likes were sure to be enacted on every day thereafter. The meaning is that nothing was put off, no more than a breakfast, for the morrow. The master went silently to the house where he boarded, and the pupils, boys and girls, whipped and unwhipped, turning their backs upon everything, journeyed leisurely along, boys anon rallying one another on the day’s misadventures, personal and vicarious, and the girls behind laughing at them, occasionally lingering to gather and weave into nosegays wild flowers, that in all seasons, except the depth of winter, bordered their way along roads and lanes.


United States. 1896. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 1894-1895, Volume 2.

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1949, Ray City School, 3rd Grade

December 7, 2019 at 6:06 am (Ray City School, Uncategorized)
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Ray City School, Third Grade, 1949

Special Thanks to Chris Clements for sharing Ray City School records.

1949 Ray City School 3rd grade

1949 Ray City School 3rd grade

 

1949 Ray City School 3rd Grade Roster

1949 Ray City School 3rd Grade Roster

  • Harold Scarboro – Harold Duane Scarboro [Scarbrough] -born December 16, 1939, a son of Elmo Clifton Scarbrough and Ruth Martin. His father helped build Moody Air Force Base. The family home was a two-dollar-a-month rental place in the Lois community on the Ray City and Hahira Road. Harold’s grandparents, Lela and Charlie M. Scarbrough, rented the house next door, and uncle Paul Allen Scarbrough was nearby. His brother, Charles Scarbrough, was a Ray City Senior in 1949.
  • Christine Akeridge
  • Leon McCullers – Leon Franklin McCullers, born October 30, 1940, a son of Leroy McCullers and Verdy Martin.  His father was a farmer and a veteran of WWII. His siblings, Dorothy McCullers and James Wesley McCullers, also attended the Ray City School.
  • Martha D. Flowers was a daughter of Ola Browning and James H. Flowers. Her parents were lodging with Lewis D. Browning in a home on the Ray City & Nashville Road in the Lois community. Her father worked as a farm laborer.
  • Bob Cook – Robert Eugene Cook – born July 26, 1936, a son of Isaac Clayton Cook and Mattie E. Sirmans. His father’s occupation in 1940 was fishing. He was a brother of Betty Jo Cook and Bertha Nancy Cook.  The Cooks rented a house on Jones Street, Ray City, GA.
  • Betty Burkhalter – Betty Madie Burkhalter, born March 4, 1938, a daughter of Phillip I Burkhalter and Edna Gertrude Brantley.  Her father was a farmer.  When she was a toddler her great grandfather, Gus Calhoun, lived with the family.
  • Edward Carter
  • J. D. Cone – John Dewey “JD” Cone, born May 27, 1940, was the son of Dewey Lesley Cone and Velma Sowell Cone. In 1940, the family lived in the Lois community, just west of Ray City, on a rented farm. JD’s father worked as a laborer. By 1942, JD’s father took a job with Henry Gornto working on his farm about a mile and a half southeast of Ray City.
  • Dorothy Skinner – Dorothy L Skinner, born July 23, 1940, a daughter of Payton Shelton Skinner and Mary E. Akridge Skinner.
  • Wilmer Smith
  • Bonnie Fountain
  • Wendell Browning
  • Deloris Barnard – Iris Delores Barnard, born August 19, 1939, in Ray City, GA, a daughter of Charlie Jackson Barnard (1909-1970) and Lola Lee Davis (1919-2009). She was the granddaughter of Andrew Jackson Barnard and Nettie Ray Barnard, residents of the Lois community just west of Ray City. She was the sister of Ann Barnard and Charles Barnard.
  • Grace Carter
  • Marion McKuhen
  • Mary Justic
  • Earl Warren
  • Lawana Snipe – LaJuana Jean Snipes, born January 4, 1940, a daughter of Arthur Leonard Snipes (1907–1962) and Louise Elizabeth Garner Snipes (1909–1997), and a granddaughter of Asa Duggan Garner and Bessie Yopp Garner.  She was a sister of Donald Dale Snipes (1943-2016). The Snipes lived in the Lois Community just west of Ray City. Sometime in the 1940s the Snipes moved to a house on the south side of Jones Street in the middle of the block east of Ward Street.  In the late 1950s the family moved just outside the Ray City city limits on the Adel Highway.
  • Willard Bates – attended the New Lois school by 1952
  • Bobby Smith
  • Earl Snipe
  • Kenneth Griner
  • Myrtle Myers
  • Billy Sirmans – Billy Lawton Sirmans, born October 14, 1939, a son of John Abner Sirmans and Lettie Studstill. His father was a veteran of WWI.
  • C. Fountain
  • Gene Baldree
  • M. Fountain
  • R. Dampier – Ronald Edward Dampier, born December 12, 1940, in Ray City, GA, a son of J W Dampier and Ardie Kent Dampier,
  • Jan Moore was a daughter of Ferris Moore, who was the Ray City iceman.
  • J. Jefferson
  • C. Sirmans
  • Johnny Wood –   He was a son of Jewel and Remer Wood.  His father was a smoke house operator. The family home was on Jones Street and the smokehouse was in the back yard. People would come by the house to buy smoked meat.  Johnny Wayne Wood later moved to Savannah. He came back to Ray City and worked as the Chief of Police.
  • M. Smith
  • Bobby Pevy
  • Carol May
  • Alvis Sauls – a son of Alvis Sauls (1914-1989) and Kathleen Warren Sauls (1917-1977)
  • Bobby Green

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