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Several members of the community have been selected to serve on a committee providing input into phase II of the Washington-Coleman Community Center Project, but one South Boston resident particularly stands out with her historic knowledge of the school.
Booker T. Washington class of 1942 class graduate Odell Thompson remembers when the school was a high school. She was one of six graduates from that year?s graduating high school class.
The current Washington-Coleman facility once served as the Booker T. Washington High School, with four rooms, a pot belly stove to keep students warm in the colder months and an outhouse that served as the school?s restroom facility.
?It?s amazing to see what they have done to the school now,? said Thompson.
Recalling her days as a senior student at the school, she remembered the Debutante Balls the school held for the graduating class and how they would decorate the gym so the ceiling looked like a sky complete with moon and stars.
Basketball was the only sport the school had 70 years ago, and she still remembers fellow students as ?the champions.?
Just as easily as she recalls the good times, Thompson also remembers tragic times.
According to Thompson, tragedy struck in December of her senior year when America was drawn into World War II.
?I remember exactly where I was. I was on the way to my teacher?s wedding when I heard on a transistor radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed,? said Thompson.
Shortly after the bombing, she recalls the boys in her senior class who were 18, one by one were drafted, and the girls in her class dropped out of school to marry those who were going off to war.
Like in many schools across the country, the draft left a small graduating class.
?I was drafted to help with the draft board, helping African-American men sign up for war along with two other classmates, my teacher and his bride,? said Thompson.
She recalled war times of how families had to have food stamps, liquor and shoe stamps. Women as part of their patriotic duty gave up their silk hose and went bare-legged.
?You just didn?t hear of that back then, but we all did our part and had a sense of patriotism,? said Thompson.
The South Boston native recalls it was a ?scary? time. The students didn?t know anything about war or what it was going to be like, but all those who were drafted ?seemed to be so eager to do their part.?
When Thompson graduated from Booker T. Washington on June 6, 1942, she was the salutatorian and one of only six graduates in her class.
Because of World War II, only three boys and three girls graduated that year from the school that is now, seven decades later, undergoing extensive renovations.
Although the school ceased to be a high school in 1948, Thompson continues to cherish fond memories that took place within the walls of what is now becoming the Washington Coleman Community Center.
After raising her three children, Thompson returned to the classroom to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree.
?I am honored to be on the committee, my part is the history. Most people, most young people didn?t know it was a high school. I think phase II is going to be a wonderful addition to the entire community,? said Thompson.
Fellow committee member Recreational Director Matthew McCargo Jr. said he is really excited about phase II.
Once completed the center will be more sports-oriented for mostly basketball. The community center will contain a learning center, the role model program and recreation center for seniors and a computer lab.
?We?re really excited about it?it will be something for everyone,? said McCargo.
Tom Starbuck, lead architect at B & B Consultants, said the first chore to be tackled under phase II is asbestos removal.
Once completed, contractors will begin the main renovation which they hope to complete through the summer including the multi-purpose room and the kitchen.
?We have to be done by September because the kids will be in here, but most of the renovations will be done over the summer,? said Starbuck.
He estimated phase II will cost around $800,000, but he said he does not have an exact amount at this time.
In the meantime, community members serving on the committee anxiously anticipate completion of the project.
?I hope it will be well used by the community. It?s something different, and I think it?s wonderful,? added Thompson.
Thompson, who grew up in South Boston, married the late John Thompson, and together they had three children, John Michael, Geryl and Mary Belinda, each attending Washington-Coleman while it was an elementary school.
She lived and worked in New York for 31 years but returned to South Boston in 1992 where she currently resides.
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