PEA RIDGE — From Homer Walker of the Class of 1938 to Karen Shelton of the Class of 2012, about 190 former students, teachers and graduates of the Pea Ridge schools reunited Saturday for the annual Pea Ridge Alumni Association gathering.
Three former teachers were recognized.
◊Wanda Roe, 91, former teacher and the widow of former superintendent Roy Roe, taught at Pea Ridge from 1972 to 1983.
◊Joe Dorman, a former teacher and the first football coach at Pea Ridge High School, was a student of Roe’s at Hartford, from which he graduated in 1955.
◊Jim Cheek taught at Pea Ridge from 1973 until his retirement in 2011. He is “the voice of the Blackhawks” and is the announcer at ballgames.
Roe taught many subjects at Pea Ridge.
“Every time they needed a certified teacher in another subject, Roy would have me get certified.
I told him if he ever asked for math or Ag, I’d divorce him,” Mrs. Roe laughed. She became certified as a counselor as well as in home ec, art, music, drama and social studies.
“Danny went to school at Hendrix and he said he learned more from her (Roe) about art than from his professors there,” Janita Prophet said of her son, also a Pea Ridge graduate.
Dorman, who began at Pea Ridge in 1963, said: “I started the football program. He said he and his wife moved to Pea Ridge because they could both get teaching jobs here. His wife, Mary Jess Dorman, taught typing and shorthand. Dorman went on to coach at Springdale, helped begin the football program at Shiloh and became a minister. He retired from the ministry after 30 years.
Several people collected their school transcripts from school employee Stephanie Stamps.
A baked goods sale collecting money for teacher Tony Carrera raised more than $500.
Several of the alumni toured the new Intermediate School, led by principal Sarah Stokes.
A graduate of 1947, Mary Givens Adams, 83, recalled that there were 17 graduates in her class,“including the six boys who came back from the service ... two were still in the service.” She remembered that when the young men returned from fighting World War II, the principal, Mr.
Rhoulac encouraged them to finish their schooling and get their diplomas.
“I never though I’d see this in Pea Ridge,” Ray Easley, graduate of 1971, said.
“This used to be our ballfield,” one alumni said.
“This was Lloyd Miller’s farm,” said Jerry Nichols, a graduate of 1957.
“I was on the School Board when they built this,” Ronnie Fletcher said of the older portion of the elementary school now renovated and part of the new Intermediate School.
Any former student or teacher is invited to join the Alumni Association.
News, Pages 1 on 07/18/2012