DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PMSS PUBLICATIONS (Published by the School)
Dear Friend Letters 1963

DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963
March, May, August, September & Thanksgiving

TAGS: Dear Friend letters 1963, fundraising letters, PMSS Director Burton Rogers, Mary Rogers’ sketches, Floods, community rescue squad, typhoid inoculations, Mildred Mahoney, William Hayes, Fern Hayes, winter damages, forest fires, PMSS’s commitments, Mr.Workman, Little School, pre-school education, student aides, church camp, Harry Caudill, Community Fair Day, PMSS’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, Pine Mountain Room

CONTENTS: DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963 March 19

Page 1 of 1 [typewritten copy]
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky
Tuesday, March 19, 1963″

[Handwritten notation in upper left corner: “Grand letter. Thank You (?) !”]

“Dear Friends: We are deeply thankful that the Pine Mountain Settlement School has come through the most disastrous week in the history of this region with no major loss or destruction from the first flood on the 12th or the second flood on the 17th.”

Rogers continues to describe in detail the rainfall mixed with snow, reports from the Cincinnati Weather Bureau flood warning system, emergency evacuation in Harlan and rain calculations by his son, Peter Rogers. Stating that the widening of the creek four years ago saved the campus, he then lists some flood damage on campus. The School was cut off from roads and hospitals, “except the new Public Health doctor who made her temporary headquarters here the day before the first flood.” PMSS and other area schools were closed for four days. Rogers also describes the flood damage in the community north of Pine Mountain.

“Four of our staff men on our new community rescue squad were called over in the night to aid in the evacuation around Harlan. The four student teachers now here from Berea spent three full days assisting the typhoid inoculation teams on the State Health Department through the County….” with help from Miss [Mildred] Mahoney. “Our former staff members, William and Fern Hayes, have been operating their Division of Forestry radio system day and night for Civil Defense communication and coordination between the counties and cities isolated by disrupted telephone circuits.” He also mentions the help given by the Harlan radio station (where one of the staff was a former PMSS student), local agencies and the Red Cross.

In closing, Rogers states that he’s sending this letter to “let our friends share in our gratitude that Pine Mountain has escaped the suffering so widespread in our region.
Sincerely,
Burton Rogers”

[Handwritten notation on bottom left: “*Sorry, I couldn’t avoid ‘campus’ this time!”, the star referring to the first words of the second paragraph.]

DEAR FRIEND fundraising letter from PMSS Director Burton Rogers, March 1963. [1963DecBurtonRogerstoFriend.jpg]

CONTENTS: DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963 May 24

Page 1 of 2
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky
Affiliated with Berea College
May 24, 1963″

[Sketches: Tall pine tree with mountain range in background; child hugging against wintry weather; child in the rain wading in water.]

The school had to make up the 11 days it was closed “by omitting spring vacation, having a Saturday session and continuing a week into June.”

“Winter set in early, and proved to be the coldest in nearly half a century.” PMSS Director Burton Rogers lists the year’s steady special demands on the School’s resources. Frozen pipes that burst; the flu; two floods; clogged drains, ditches and water lines; a polluted reservoir; due to a washed-out bridge, a stranded school bus trying to ford a creek; and forest fires.

Page 2 of 2
[Sketches: A firefighter at work while a forest fire rages around him; a little girl wearing a dress.]

“These emergencies have broken into the routine activities — classroom programs, hot lunch, library, extra-curricular opportunities for students and adults….”

“…[W]e have cooperated this year with the new Department of Community Medicine at the University of Kentucky, which sent a team to Pine Mountain to give thorough physical examinations to 100 of our pupils, and 100 pupils at the neighboring Green Hills School….”

Rogers ends by stating the “ever-deepening conviction that the basic need is for better education for both children and adults of the area. Certainly our young people, to whom the future of the area belongs, must be equipped to solve their own problems of housing, health, community services, roads, strip mining, conservation, reforestation, and flood control.”

Rogers expresses appreciation of past support and asks that it is continued in the future.
“Sincerely,
[signed] Burton Rogers, Director”

CONTENTS: DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963 August 10

Page 1 of 1 [typewritten copy]
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky 40861
August 10, 1963“

Handwritten notation upper right: “LITTLE SCHOOL”

Director Burton Rogers writes about “a truly exciting summer for all of us.” Miss Mahoney and Mr. [Jerry] Workman are teaching “40 little tots, age four to six” who arrive by bus at the Fountain every morning at 8:30. Mr. [Charles Lee] Whitaker has them for physical education at recess on the playground, Mrs. [Mary] Rogers provides storytelling and Mrs. Boggs their lunch.

Rogers describes the beginnings of the “Little School”: A special committee that was formed to study the future of Pine Mountain became concerned that “culturally deprived” pre-school children were not prepared physically, emotionally or intellectually for normal schooling. After studying efforts by other schools, a pilot project was started this summer to see if PMSS could deal with this problem.

Rogers explains that most teachers were planning to stay at PMSS for the summer and the “Little School” would provide them with part-time employment; how free hot lunches became possible, and how Harlan County provided two school buses to be driven by Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Conley.

The results were that 46 children, 100% of those eligible, became students for the first time. Over 50 upper grade and junior high school boys and girls volunteered to help as aides. Rogers describes the organization of the aides and the benefits of their assistance.

“Burton Rogers, Director“

DEAR FRIEND Letter from PMSS Director Burton Rogers, August 1963. [1963Aug10BurtonRogerstoFriend.jpg]

CONTENTS: DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963 September 12

Page 1 [Typewritten copy]
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky 40864
Affiliated with Berea College
September 12, 1963″

“The ‘Little School’ completed its very successful and rewarding 6 weeks on August 16.” Director Burton Rogers provides totals of perfect attendance and promotions to first grade. Of the 62 older student aides, 49 attended the excursion at the end of the 6 weeks to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and Cujos Cave. He explains that the “Little School” project was “an act of faith, first to test our ability professionally…[and, second,] the trusting that we would find the necessary funds during the new fiscal year.“

Other updates: Housing 81 persons from the junior high school camp conference of the Greenmont Oak Park Community Church in Dayton, Ohio, here for their 6th successive summer. The counselors gave the school a gift of 50 silver coins for PMSS’s 50th anniversary and a carpet for the Chapel.

PMSS’s special grounds crew provided badly needed summer work for students; a slight decrease in enrollment for the new school year meant one less teacher; the entire faculty of the University of Kentucky Southeast Center spent Labor Day in orientation retreat; Harry Caudill, author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands presented a talk during the UK faculty’s dinner at Laurel House; Miss Mahoney will teach a course 2 nights a week at the Southeast Center in Cumberland; the annual Pine Mountain Fair on October 5th will include a PMSS homecoming and an observance of PMSS’s 50th anniversary.

“Burton Rogers, Director”

Page 2 [Typewritten copy]
An unsigned narrative, describing the observance of PMSS’s 50th anniversary on October 5, 1963, at the Community Fair that featured a bright day and fall colors, a “very large crowd,” special events and displays about the anniversary. The Board of Trustees attended an outdoor picnic, an evening business meeting and a tour of the Little Shepherd Trail (built by the State Division of Forestry under the direction of Pine Mountain’s former student and farm manager, William Hayes.)

The narrative describes the Anniversary Fair Day’s displays and sponsors, such as the Boy Scouts, the Health Department, community churches and Community Homemakers. A Reunion Table was set up to register former students and distribute name tags.

Three special places on campus were opened for visitors: Aunt Sal’s Cabin hosted by two of her great-great grandchildren in costume; a display in Laurel House arranged by Jerry Workman, Berea graduate and PMSS teacher, of articles made by community members during the past century; and a display of Indian artifacts discovered by William Hayes.

The special Pine Mountain Room in the library was opened for the first time with displays of the School’s past 50 years organized by Mary Rogers. A formal anniversary program was presented on the Burkham Schoolhouse porch. Special guests included the Trustees, Columbus Creech (William Creech’s son), Lucretia Garfield Comer (an early staff member), Edna Ritchie (former student and well-known folk singer), President Francis S. Hutchins (Berea College and BOT chairman).

Tableau scenes were presented by students in costume accompanied by a narrative written by Mary Rogers and told by Mrs. Cora Campbell and Rev. Alvin Boggs, staff members. Two former students from each of the 5 decades of the School demonstrated community service through the years and Marion Leech sang the School song, written by the Class of 1944 and accompanied by her husband William Leach, great-grandson of William Creech. Elizabeth Watts, a longtime Hindman Settlement School employee, closed with the 121st Psalm.

The day ended with a late afternoon tour of the grounds for former students, a buffet supper and an evening of folk dancing in Laurel House.

CONTENTS: DEAR FRIEND Letters 1963 Thanksgiving

Page 1 of 1
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky 40864
Affiliated with Berea College
Thanksgiving, 1963″
Sketch: Person standing next to a tall pine tree viewing a mountain range.

Director Burton Rogers begins with a review of 1963 and the ways this anniversary year was celebrated. He observes the “cooperative effort, sharing and friendship” that the School’s history represents.

Rogers encloses a printed presentation of scenes from “Pine Mountain Album,” enacted by costumed PMSS students on the Schoolhouse porch during the anniversary commemoration day.

“National attention is again focused on the dire conditions existing in this East Kentucky area. Our immediate school neighborhood has needed our full effort to stimulate expanding educational opportunities….” Rogers describes the success of “Little School.”

Rogers concludes with an appreciation of the cooperative support from PMSS friends and asked for “continuing participation.”

“Gratefully,
[signed] Burton Rogers, Director”

DEAR FRIEND Letter from Burton Rogers, 1963 Thanksgiving. [1963ThanksgivingBurtonRogerstoFriend-scaled.jpg]

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