Celebrating Carver
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on July 3, 2016 1:45 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
From left, Dave Evans, Class of '64, Rosalind Armwood Abernathy, Class of '55, and Orlander Highsmith, who attended Carver High School until 1953, fill up their plates during the Carver Alumni picnic Saturday in Mount Olive. The annual picnic is an event held in the gym as a way for classmates to socialize and catch up. Several fundraisers were set up to raise money for the organization's scholarship fund.
MOUNT OLIVE -- Eula Williams Bennett was busily making the rounds in the gymnasium of the former Carver High School shortly after noontime on Saturday, moments before the Carver High School Alumni Association and Friends held its annual picnic.
But her motivation went beyond catching up with former classmates.
She came bearing gifts.
A picnic basket filled with homemade blueberry muffins.
"This is what I do every year," she said, producing one of her specialized delicacies. "I make a batch of blueberry muffins.
"That shows my kindness, my love for my classmates I haven't seen in years."
Now retired from the Social Security system in Baltimore, she graduated from Carver in 1965.
"I have great memories. I grew up here," she said. "I returned to Cary about four years ago, as Durham was my father's home."
The weekend events are also a family reunion of sorts, she said, pointing out relatives in the crowd.
Like Carolyn King Garner, from the class of 1966, Mrs. Bennett's cousin and part of the King family, which also includes another Carver graduate, former Goldsboro Mayor Al King.
"This is my 50th year, I'm a 1966 graduate," Ms. Garner said. "And after 50 years I'm still working."
She said she retired from XPS after having worked there more than 39 years, but two years later was asked to return there to train others.
The Mount Olive resident said it's "unbelievable" to realize she has been out of high school a half-century.
"It doesn't seem like it's been that long," she said. "I hadn't been coming to the reunions, but I came this year because it just marks an era or something, 50 years. And I see so many faces that I'm so glad.
"If I stay healthy, I'm going to keep coming. I see what I've been missing."
Cassandra Rush, association national president, is the daughter of an alumni.
She grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and began working with the alumni association as a member of the D.C. Metro Chapter.
"I started out bringing my mother to the meetings," she said. "I call myself a Carver baby."
She was recently re-elected to her third two-year term as president.
Nearly 200 attended Friday evening's banquet, she said.
That was a pre-sold event, with about 300 expected Saturday because they could pay at the door.
In addition to the barbecue meal, Saturday's event included a raffle, art on display for purchase and individual class reunions being held.
Carolyn Worrell King graduated in 1964 and then got married, so opted not to go away to college. After a year, she enrolled at Mount Olive College, then a two-year school.
"I was the first black student that went to Mount Olive College," she said.
A year later, a black young man also enrolled, but for that first year, she was the only person of color, she said.
"It was scary. It was a learning experience and an experience I'm glad I had," she said.
She earned a two-year degree in secretarial science, transferring to N.C. Central to receive her degree in business. Her career included roles as a counselor and a principal. Now retired, she still works in Wake County as a principal for a private school for children with behavioral needs.
"It's exciting to see people that I went to high school with, and it's exciting to support what we had back many years ago and see where we were and where we came from," she said of the reunion. "It helps us to know where we're going.
"I love it. I love coming back."
Coris Bennett also showed up to celebrate her 50-year reunion, having graduated in 1966.
A member of the D.C. Chapter -- the association has three chapters, the local one, D.C. and national -- she lives in Woodbridge, Va.
"We call ourselves the DMV, (for) D.C., Maryland and Virginia," she explained.
Some of her favorite memories from the graduating class of 120, she said, included basketball games -- "I was a cheerleader," she said -- debate club, drama club and the choir.
Shirley Evans of Dudley is another faithful attendee.
Her experiences were both as a student and later a teacher.
It was also where she met her husband, J.D. Evans, who went on to become an educator and a county commissioner before his passing in 2012.
She also shared the occasion with several family members, including her sister, Barbara Waters Wilson, Class of 1965.
"I had my 50th last year. It was great," Mrs. Wilson said, recalling the things that made the school so special. "Just the love, the family, the teachers, the classmates.
"It had a community-family feel, just the caring part of the teachers -- they really took an interest in you."