Hail to Shenandoah, Hail

Delegate Kenneth R. "Ken" Plum 

The Board of Directors of Shenandoah High School Alumni Association gave me the "Distinguished Alumnus" Award at its annual banquet last weekend.  Last year I wrote about my graduating class's fiftieth reunion that I could not attend because I was out of the country.  I did attend this year and was honored by the recognition.  More than 20 of the 41 graduates of my class were present as were our two class sponsors, Mrs. Kite and Mrs. Foltz.  The theme of this year's banquet was "Celebrating 72 Years of Heritage and Fellowship."  The Alumni Association has been in existence since 1939 with an annual celebration possibly making it the oldest such association in Virginia.  The class after mine in 1961 was the last to graduate from Shenandoah High School; it was turned into an elementary school when the three high schools in Page County were consolidated into two.

School buildings have occupied the site of the current Shenandoah Elementary School since 1884.  The first two people to graduate from high school at the site graduated in 1911.  Various buildings with different configurations occupied the site over the years with one burning down and another being torn down.  The core of the current structure was built in about 1920 with a more modern addition constructed in the 1980s.  The original building has hallways lined with ceramic blocks about six feet high.  The gymnasium was the smallest in the area being known as the "cracker box."  Some really good teams came out of that modest gym.  Our small school of about 150 high school students had some problems producing a successful football team.  One year as I recall we had only twelve players.

I attended Grove Hill Elementary School for my first seven years.  There were no public kindergartens in those days, but I felt I had excellent teachers for all the other years.  As were all schools in Virginia at that time, Grove Hill Elementary and Shenandoah High School were segregated.  The half-dozen Black children in the community were bused to Luray where there was a regional school for Black children.  It never made any sense to us as young children and makes even less sense today.  Grove Hill closed as a school this year.

As I said to the more than 200 people at the banquet, I learned the basic values at Shenandoah High School that I needed to live life.  I learned the value of education and became an educator and legislative advocate for quality education.  From my parents and members of the community I learned the value of honesty, decency, and hard work.  A long-standing organization like the Alumni Association provides a great opportunity to look back to have a greater appreciation of how we got where we are.

As our school song opened, "Hail to Shenandoah, Hail.  Hail to our School."

Embark on a Journey through the Civil War Here in Fairfax County

Over a month before the Civil War's first well-known battle at Manassas, Fairfax County, Virginia was already engaged in conflict.  Frm the moment Virginia voters chose to secede from the Union on May 23, this region found itself in the unenviable position of being on the front lines of two nations about to clash.  As the rest of the nation prepares to commemorate their Civilo War stories, Fairfax County will already be in the thick of it, honoring two pre-Manassas events:

* The Skirmish of Fairfax Court House - During the first organized land engagement of the war, Captain John Quincy Marr became the first Confederate officer to die.  Commemorate this anniversary on June 1 or attend a reenactment on June 4.  After the reenactment, proceed to Historic Blenheim for their exhibit, An American Turning Point:  The Civil War in Virginia. 

* The Battle of Vienna - Almost two weeks after the Fairfax Skirmish, 271 Union soldiers were advancing toward Vienna by train and whiole rounding a curve were ambushed by nearly 700 Confederates.  This marks the first time a train was used tactically in warfare in American history.  See a reenactment and enjoy period music and other events on June 17 and 18.

Set your itinerary for these events and more at www.fxva.com/150/itineraries.