Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Hundreds gather for sixth McRae Reunion over holiday weekend

A gathering of more than 100 Tigers was sighted at McRae Middle School Friday, July 4.

Of course, it was a different sort of Tiger, as those on hand were there for the opening session of the sixth McRae Reunion.

The session opened remembering two committee members, Maxine Green and Mae Hamilton, who died during the past year.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor welcomed the revelers to town, saying he hoped they had a good visit with old friends and plenty of fellowship with one another.

"It's hard to believe it's been two years since the last one," he said. "It's good to see all of you and I hope you have a great day. We can't say enough about the effort and hard work put forth by Herbert and Verion Adams (the chairmen of the event)."

Taylor said city employees had tried to make the town more attractive for the reunion, but the crews got behind in mowing because of the June rains.

Willie Wilson, dean of students for the Prescott School District, spoke in place of Superintendent Hyacinth Deon, who had to return to Jamaica due to a death in the family.

Wilson pointed out George Odom, president of the Prescott School Board, had taught at McRae, and board member Patricia Blake had attended the school. He added Prescott Elementary School Principal Howard Austin taught at McRae as well.

The Prescott School District, he said, has a rich heritage, and is a system working to promote academic excellence, along with social and personal excellence.

The school board, he said, renamed the middle school from Prescott Middle School to MMS a few years ago in honor of Gov. Thomas McRae, who had donated the land for the McRae school during the early part of the 20th century.

The "barn", he said of the gymnasium, underwent extensive renovations, with the district working to keep a balance of the old gym, while updating it to a modern facility.

"I hope the reunion will be invigorating, rewarding, memorable and exciting," Wilson said. "When I see football players running up and down the field, I can't help but think, They've got a Tiger in their tank.'"

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, gave the audience a run down of changes in Prescott since the last reunion.

Sterling Park, she said, has been completed since the last reunion, and the Depot Museum has been completely renovated. The park depicts life in Prescott and Nevada County.

Peggy Lloyd, the museum's curator, Godwin said, is looking for information to expand the exhibit for the old McRae school.

The museum, she said, was renovated with a $325,000 grant, but is in the process of getting exhibits ready for display. There will be a grand opening for the museum in August.

Godwin pointed out the Industrial Park has its first industry going in. Prescott Rubber, Inc., she said, will be taking scrap and used rubber from Firestone and converting it into new products.

The city, she continued, has received a $500,000 grant to redo the sidewalks in downtown.

"This will be a huge project," Godwin said. "We expect to start in two months, and it should take about four months to complete."

Other projects underway, she said, include downtown beautification and work to get signs showing what Prescott has to offer at the two exits on Interstate-30.

Lynda Washington did a roll call of the classes. The earliest with a representative was from 1937, while the Class of 59 had the most on hand.

"We all have different memories of high school," she said. "We've had different degrees of success due to what happened at McRae, but there was a lot of learning going on. It just goes to show what dedication and determination can do.

"McRae Tigers are no slouches."

A registration report was given by Blake, who said a total of 271 adults and 16 children had registered. However, she added, 370 registered for the different activities over the holiday weekend reunion.

Tigers from 23 states made their way to the 2003 reunion, she said, with Arkansas having the most representatives with 106. California was second with 41, followed by Illinois (33) and Texas (25).

Adams discussed the registration situation. She said the deadline to register for the reunion was June 1. However, at the May meeting, only 60 had registered.

When the deadline arrived, the number had climbed to 116, but by June 14-15, the figure reached 300.

Adams said everything was based on the 300 figure for the picnic, banquet, dance and basketball shoot-around.

But, after the plans had been set, she said, the phones started ringing with others wanting to come. Adams asked those planning to attend the next reunion (scheduled for 2006) to register before the deadline to make it easier on the planning committees.

When the session ended, those attending adjourned to the halls of MMS where booths had been set up with different items, including McRae Tiger memorabilia.