This is in response to the Dec. 22 article (“Academy goes historic”) when Tom Utroska questioned the importance of the auditorium and gym of the Academy.
I have lived in Blythewood all my life. I started school there and remember my daddy, who was a carpenter, helping to build the gym. I remember good times there, like going to chapel programs each Friday in the auditorium. We had our junior and senior plays in there each year. We went to the lunch room, which was located in a building behind the gym. Rain or shine, we were served delicious meals there. We held proms and other events, as well as all the basketball games that were enjoyed by so many, in the gym.
No, Martin Luther King never spoke there, but history was made there. Integration was put into effect within those walls.
I took a course in the Bible in this school, unlike now when this is off limits. There have been hundreds of graduates who have walked the aisles of this auditorium. My daughter was a member of the last graduating class there.
I was privileged to be an honor graduate and delivered a speech at my commencement. Yes, there are many happy memories that took place within those walls! Long live the graduates of our Alma Mata, the first Blythewood High School.
Eloise Trapp Raines
Blythewood
