Drexel - What can be expected at a class reunion including attendees from at least 37 Drexel High graduating classes? "Lot's of fun," says Sue Cozort, activities chairman for the mega reunion.
Cozort says a committee of 20 has been working on a reunion to honor classes who graduated from Drexel High School from 1937 to 1974 when the school closed.
Although the earliest invitation to commencement exercises dates back to 1925, classes possibly started graduating in the early 1920s under Principal Lillian Tilley.
The committee is urging those in the 1937 through 1974 graduating classes to come and share their history of Drexel High School.
Drexel High School Alumni is hosting the event Aug. 4-5, at the Drexel Community Center, with closing events being held at Drexel First Baptist Church on Sunday, Aug. 6 with the Rev. Larry Fletcher, a 1950 graduate and president of the Alumni.
Activities on Aug. 4 start at 5 p.m. and include a social hour with a performance by the Alumni Chorus and a time to visit the memorabilia room, dinner, door prizes and a sock hop.
Class members with a classic car are urged to park their cars on the Community Center's front lawn that Friday afternoon by 4:30 p.m., says Cozort.
Recognition will be given to those who held positions in their class during their at Drexel High School.
The football team of 1951 will be honored for winning the state championship as well as the band that won several honors under the leadership of Katherine Siphers.
Seventeen graduates from Drexel High who gave their lives in service to their country also will be remembered.
The reunion continues on Saturday at 9 a.m. with breakfast and music by the Alumni Band. A time of reminiscing from each class and a tour of Harry L. Hallyburton Elementary will be offered.
Saturday's event will close with a drawing for the winner of a Blue Star Fantasy Quilt. Tickets will be sold throughout the activities, with proceeds being split between alumni operating expenses and the scholarship fund.
Harry Hallyburton was the principal of Drexel School from 1942 until 1968, and the elementary school is now named in his honor.
Clyde Baird recalls Principal Hallyburton granting his wish to go fishing for half of the school day his senior year of 1953.
"He let me go if I would bring a fish back the next day," says Baird. "He was testing my honesty with humor, but granted what I wanted. I've always remembered him for that."
Gail Powell, from the graduating class of 1967, remembers Hallyburton on her graduation day.
She says, "Principal Hallyburton gathered the whole class in a circle and said, 'I know you don't believe me, but this is the last time you will all be together.' Then we prayed the Lord's Prayer together. He was right, that was the last time we were all together."
Anyone with Drexel High School yearbooks prior to 1941 or other memorabilia are asked to contact Sue Cozort at 437-4602.
History of The School
This formerly flourishing community in Eastern Burke County once held the second largest school in the Burke County school system.
In 1940, Drexel School had 720 elementary through high school students in one building, according to a March 19, 1940 story in The News Herald.
The school was formed in 1903 from a consolidation of High Peak School that started in 1894 and Drexel School. J.H. Cooper was the first teacher of this one room school noted as one of the best in the county.
In 1895, High Peak School entered the county school system with John Bush as teacher. Teachers were paid $1.24 per day.
The first building at Drexel School was a two-story frame structure with double doors and two teachers on staff, Mr. Waters and Miss Lillian Hoffman, who later became principal Lillian Tilley.
Around 1915, with Tilley as principal, a shed-like addition increased the school to three rooms and the term was increased from six to eight months.
In 1916, with future growth expected, a brick structure of six rooms and an auditorium was built.
In the same year, consolidation of Enon and Zion, both one-teacher schools, were added as well as high school classes.
Crowded conditions continued throughout the next decade and led Principal Kenneth Hoyle to send high school students by bus to Rutherford College and Morganton High Schools for the years of 1931-33.
With continued growth, all the high school students couldn't ride the bus, so the 8th grade was added in 1935 and the Junior High classes began in 1936.
In 1940, Drexel School, housing both elementary and high school classes, consisted of 19 teachers, 561 elementary students, 161 high school students and 18 classrooms.
In 1946, the present building was erected as a high school until 1974. When the former elementary school was torn down, the copper cupola was placed in memory of former teacher Faye Russell on the grounds as a gazebo.
The former high school was refurbished and currently houses the Harry L. Hallyburton Elementary School in Drexel.
