NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, TX (KTRE) -
Alumni of the Bethel- Sand Hill/Chireno Colored School
marched through an empty lot where the school once stood, towards a monument
dedicated to keeping the spirit of the school alive after it closed in 1966.
"Primarily as a part of
desegregation as it was in many communities throughout the country, the change
was required," said Keneth Freo, Sand Hill Class of 1966.
Keneth Freo was a member of the last
graduating class and though schools of the time were segregated he remembers
Sand Hill as tight knit family
"It was enjoyable, I really don't
have any complaints, I don't think we ever missed anything," said Freo.
There were only 10 in Perlene Horton's
graduating class in 1951, but Horton credits the faculty and says the bonds
they had then are still strong today.
"The best teachers, well prepared
teachers that there was anywhere, we had
lots of fun and didn't know we were missing out on things so for that
reason we were just happy kids," said Horton.
Now that the monument has been placed
on the school's former ground alumni hope it will serve as a history lesson and inspire a new generation.
"They'll look back and realize the
importance of this and take a look at that monument and all the teachers and
whatever is on it that it will still them to do something to pass on to the
generations that follow them," said Horton.
"I think over the years as myself
and others pass on and people come through the community as kids and grandkids
it will be a markers of what has been here and who we were," said Freo.
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