Yesterday: The 1939 commencement invitation for J.C. Price High

Published 12:00 am Monday, June 5, 2017

Above are elements of the June 2, 1939, invitation to commencement exercises at J.C. Price High School in Salisbury. Frank Coley of Charlotte says he saved a trunk of books and letters from the past when an old barn was cleaned out some years back. This past Wednesday, while doing some research on the late Albert Stout, who was a well-known law enforcement figure in Rowan County, Coley happened on this commencement invitation. Coley said the invitation belonged to  George Waford Strawder, a member of the Class of 1939 and the father of former Granite Quarry Mayor Mary S. Ponds. The graduating class had 77 members. Class president was James Ducson Templeton. The class motto was “Today We Sail, Where Shall We Anchor?” The class flower was the pink carnation, and the class colors were blue and gold. Rowan-Salisbury high schools will be graduating this coming weekend. J.C. Price High’s last graduation was 30 years later, in 1969, when integration led to the merger of Price and Boyden high school students and the formation of today’s Salisbury High.