School reunion honors history

WALLISVILLE— Alumni of Double Bayou and George Washington Carver Schools gathered to reflect on the history and evolution of the schools while reconnecting.

The biannual Double Bayou/G. W. Carver All Class Reunion was held on Saturday, Aug. 16, to commemorate and honor the historically Black schools.

"Our past shaped us- the lessons, the struggles, the victories that made us who we are," said committee President James "Don" Appling. "Our future lives in each of us and in our scholarship recipients who prove our legacy continues to shine bright."

The event also featured a showcase of photo albums of previous reunions and images from schools and athletic teams. Additionally, there were band sweaters and a football jersey on display.

There are currently five surviving teachers who taught at the schools, and three who attended shared fond memories of GWC.

Joan Deshotel Batie taught first grade from 1964 to 1966, Gloria Slaughter taught third grade from 1963 to 1965, and Herman Harper taught from 1960 to 1962.

GWC was both Deshotel Batie and Slaughter's first teaching job.

Dollie Humphrey, Double Bayou Colored School alum, and Ruthell Brown, GWC alum, lit a memory candle to honor classmates who have died.

Jerry Lewis, GWC alum, and Regina Lewis, DB alum, were crowned king and queen of the reunion.

During the event, alums provided a bit of history on the two schools.

Frankie Jackson Long provided some history on her alma mater, DB, stating that the earliest evidence of DB dates back to 1882. 

In 1896, DB was a one-room building used as a school and church, and in 1920, an additional building was constructed across the road, adding two rooms. 

In 1932, due to increased enrollment, a four-room wooden structure was built. In 1966, students were relocated to Anahuac High School as a result of desegregation. 

Gwendolyn LeBlanc Monday provided a bit of history on her alma mater, GWC.

GWC began as Anahuac Colored School, where the St. James United Methodist Church was used as a schoolhouse.

S.C. Gill, an ex-slave, settled in Chambers County in the 1870s. While enslaved, Gill secretly learned to read and write, bringing the knowledge with him to the county.

By the mid-1920s, the first schoolhouse was built, and by September 1937, a larger school was built. In February 1940, the school's name was changed to George Washington Carver High School.

Notably, the school was given used textbooks and were denied new band uniforms as the school board had just approved the purchase of uniforms for the white school.

The first reunion was held in 1992, and the second reunion took place in 2009. Alumni held reunions every two years until 2018, when COVID prevented the event.

This year marked the first time the committee awarded scholarships, presenting $1,000 each to La'Vonté Holt, MaKhyla Johnson and Shalyn Wedner.

Each applicant went through an application and interview process, and each recipient expressed deep gratitude.

Holt, who is already a University of Houston alumnus, hopes to pursue a law degree, and Wedner is pursuing a nursing degree, sharing she wants to work with children.

Johnson said she is majoring in agriculture and environmental science with aspirations of becoming a veterinarian or anesthesiologist.

Appling said he joined the committee to bring younger generations in to keep the history of the schools alive.

"It's not about us, it's about the history," Appling said.

Committee members include Appling, Julia Barber, Willie Dickerson, Jr., Rickey Brown, Alice Ricks Lewis, Debra Coates, Patricia Dixon, LeBlanc Monday, James Meekins, Charles Moore, Sr., Ethelyn Ricks, Amber Sandlin, Shirlean Wilson and Bobbie Ricks Brown.