Joe and Diane Sizemore
School-year 1952-53
Joe and Diane Sizemore, long time residents of Ray City, GA attended teachers college at Statesboro, GA and spent their first teaching in Irwin County.
Joe Sizemore, 1952, Georgia Teachers College, Statesboro, GA
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Diane Sizemore, 1952, Georgia Teachers College, Statesboro, GA
Their first year out of Georgia Teachers College Joe and Diane went to Ocilla, GA where they taught school for the 1952-53 school year. They moved into a small, four unit apartment building located at 108 South Irwin Avenue, called the Teachers’ Building. It was in downtown Ocilla where they could walk to shop. The hardware store was across the alley from their apartment. They bought their first refrigerator there.
Joe and Diane Sizemore lived in this Ocilla, GA apartment building during their first year of teaching 1952-53.
Joe got a job in the Ocilla city high school; Diane was hired to teach in one of the county schools. The Ocilla position was highly recommended by Joe’s math professor at Statesboro, W. B. Moye, who knew the Irwin County School Superintendent. Joe’s degree was in Exact Science. That first year he taught math and algebra and two study halls.
Joe Sizemore taught high school math at the Ocilla Public School, 1952-53. Image By Michael Rivera [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Diane taught 4th grade at the public school at Mystic, GA five miles west of Ocilla. She rode to work every day with one of the other teachers. The Principal was Mr. Peavy; he had previously been pastor of the Baptist Church at Ray City, GA.
Mystic Public School, constructed 1928. Diane Sizemore taught 4th grade at Mystic in 1952-53.
Even with two incomes, teaching didn’t pay enough for Joe & Diane to live on. Joe took an extra job working on Saturdays at a grocery store so they could afford to eat. Still, they saved enough of that money in the first semester to buy their first car at the end of the first semester. One of the Ocilla teachers sold them a black Plymouth sedan, used but it looked like brand new. When they went home to Nashville and Ray City for Christmas, both of their families were shocked to see them drive up in their own car.
But at Christmas, the Irwin County superintendent lost his bid for re-election and a new superintendent was elected. After that, their positions in Ocilla were uncertain and they decided to pursue other jobs. When school closed for the summer, they moved to Quitman, GA and took teaching positions there.
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