By Elizabeth Cook
ecook@salisburypost.com
EAST SPENCER ó Essie Foxx says the Dunbar High School mass reunion coming up Sept. 4-6 is the last one she will head up.
Believe it when you see it.
Foxx, who is in her 70s, organized the first mass reunion for her alma mater in 1984, and the reunions have been regular occurrences ever since.
Alumni come from as far away as California to see former classmates and friends.
Dunbar had its beginnings as the East Spencer Negro School, a one-room structure built in 1900 on the same site as what is now Dunbar Center on Long Street. Through the years it grew and changed, including being named in 1922 for American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Dunbar School was the center of the community, the scene of May Day festivities around the Maypole and spirited basketball games.
Dunbar High graduated its last class in 1969 and, with integration, became North Rowan Middle School. The school system later replaced it with a new middle school in Spencer. Now the building is owned by Shady Grove Baptist Church, which uses it as a community center.
This year, Dunbar High School Mass Reunion will honor the class of 1959, which will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of their graduation.
“Tigers Embracing the Change” is printed on blue-and-white T-shirts for the event. Cost is $12.
A choir will be formed to perform that weekend. Any Dunbarian who wants to sing in the choir should contact a committee member.
In addition to Foxx, the committee includes Patricia Sifford, Tony Hillian, Pat Stout, Irene Bates, Eugene Hill and Doris Jones.
Here’s the schedule:
Friday, Sept. 4
– Registration, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., at Dunbar Center, 830 S. Long St.
– Opening ceremony, 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m., Salisbury Civic Center, 315 Martin Luther King Blvd. Dunbar graduate Raymond McDaniel, CEO of American Borrowing &Credit Services in Conley, Ga. will be the speaker. Presiding will be Ethel Evans, a former Dunbar queen.
Saturday, Sept. 5
– Parade, 11 a.m. Participants will gather at Town Hall at 8:30 a.m. The parade route goes from there to the Dunbar Center. Participants include the Kappa League Y Steppers. (People and organizations wanting to be in the parade should contact a committee member.)
– Picnic, 1-5 p.m. at Royal Giants Park.
– Nostalgia Ball, 7 p.m.-12:30 a.m., Salisbury Civic Center. A DJ will provide music; attire is semi-formal.
Sunday, Sept. 6
– Memorial Service, 3:30 p.m., at Southern City A.M.E. Zion Church, 940 N. Long St. The Rev. Barbara Barbour of Efland will speak and the Rev. Reginald Massey, the town’s first black mayor, will preside. Both are also Dunbar alumni.
The group will crown a king and queen on Saturday, with contestants raising money for scholarships. They include Eddie Turner and Raymond McDaniel for king and Frances Hatchell, Deborah Hammond Pearson and Patricia Corpening for queen.
As always, Ezra Gilliam, the last principal to serve Dunbar, is expected to attend and share remarks. He has not missed any of the reunions, Foxx says.
“It’s shaping up to be a great weekend,” says Foxx, chairperson for the planning committee.
But she gives all the credit for the reunion’s success to someone else.
“God is my chairperson,” she says.
For more information, contact Essie Foxx at 704-630-0922. Registration and T-shirt orders can be mailed to the Dunbar Alumni Association at P.O. Box 354, East Spencer, NC 28039.