Southwest Sierra #123 – Alleghany School Days

This week, I have a few Alleghany School memories to share, along with the following announcement: The Alleghany Fire Department Auxiliary is hosting a Firefighter’s Appreciation Christmas Party in the Old School Theater, aka Gym, this year on Saturday, December 13th at 3 pm. It is a potluck, and everyone is invited. For more information, email alleghanyaux@gmail.com. As far as I know, the last Community Christmas party that was held in the Old School Gymnasium was in 1982, before the school was moved to Pike. (The first year in Pike was the 1983-1984 school year.)

As explained in previous articles, the building had been deemed unsafe for school use in the early 1970s. Recently, a person who was an adult before the school moved explained to me that the Parent Teacher Club was permitted to use the building to host events, and children could attend with a parent. I was wondering how it was that holiday parties continued to be held there despite the condemnation of the building.

Evidently the parent rule was occasionally bent. I say this because during the wintertime, I remember Mr. Humble holding volleyball games there after school. When I was in Jr. High, the Jr. and High School students were invited to play volleyball a few nights a week. At that time, there were enough kids to make up two decent-sized teams supplemented by Mr. Humble. You might expect that Mr. Humble was the best player, but High Schooler Ernie Locatelli was the best athlete. Players were divided for as even a match as possible, with Ernie and Mr. Humble on opposite teams.

The interior of the building is covered with 4 x 6-foot compressed sawdust panels with wooden trim. Back in the day, the inside was painted sky blue. Possibly to resemble the sky during those long winters? The ceiling above the court is a little over 15 feet high. Those games were so much fun and a great wintertime outlet! Sometimes a game would end abruptly when Ernie would hit the ball straight up so hard that it would pop through the compressed sawdust ceiling and get lodged in the attic. Usually, Mr. Humble had a spare ball, but not always. Only the school custodian was allowed to go up there and retrieve the ball or balls.