Published: June 06, 2008 08:33 pm      

Somber scene at 99th, final graduation for PHS

POCAHONTAS, Va. — As a crowd of hundreds slowly packed the Gaza Kovach Auditorium, months of anguish by the proud Pocahontas Indians slowly gave way to tears Friday night.

Brenda Jackson came to seen her granddaughter, Arrianna Green, graduate as part of the 99th and final class of Pocahontas High School.

“We are very proud that she graduated, but it will be a sad night for all of the kids,” Jackson said. “The community really needs the school. We pray to God that somehow at the next scheduled court hearing, they would somehow rule in our favor. We are 100 percent behind the parents going to court.”

Eugene Butt, who worked for more than 35 years as a teacher, guidance counselor and assistant principal at PHS, said when he started work at the original high school site on the hill in 1950, there were more than 500 students enrolled in Pocahontas.

“I had to see it,” Butt said of the final graduation. “I would keep it (the school) open for the next 200 years. I’ve talked to the superintendent of schools, the school board and the Board of Supervisors.”

Wanda Parton said her grandson, Dakota Thomas, was the school’s final valedictorian.

“I’m real proud of him,” Parton said. “I’m just glad he got to be one of the last graduates.”

Phillip Mathena said the community was also losing a good football and basketball program.

“I’ll just miss the football games and basketball games,” Mathena said. “It’s a sad occasion. My wife went to Pocahontas High School. My father went to Pocahontas High School.”

Juanita Pendergrass, a graduate of PHS, said the final commencement exercise was a bittersweet moment.

“It’s just a bittersweet graduation night for these young people,” Pendergrass said. “I think it’s just so unfortunate the school had to close. This school is beautiful. It looks as good as it did when I was in school here.”

“It’s devastating, and it’s unnecessary,” Belinda Davis said of the school’s closure. It’s totally unnecessary.”

“It’s sad, really sad,” Carol McKinney of Abbs Valley said. “I was hoping my grandchildren would get to graduate from here. But I’m not going to get to see them graduate from here.”

Bill Stone, a former principal at PHS, said the school looks the same today as it did in 1972.

Tommy Childress, a community member fighting to save the high school, said Friday night was not the time to talk about lawsuits, or continuing the fight. “This is the students’ night,” Childress said. “But I had to be here.”

Childress said his mother, Frances Lee Brinegar, was a 1929 graduate of PHS.

As the 7 p.m. commencement exercises began, there wasn’t an empty seat to be found in the auditorium.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com