We asked visitors to the I Remember Fort Pierce When
and Growing Up in Fort Pierce pages on Facebook to
share some of their remembrances of the yellow-brick
school on Delaware Avenue. Here are some of them:
Some of my best memories of Fort Pierce elementary were
getting there early enough in the morning time to play on the
playground especially the merry go round. The monkey bars
were awesome, too.
— Mookie Hagwood
‘‘
This building is a historical gem. Although I never went to
school there I attended many events and shows in the auditorium.
I think both my parents went there.
— Jeff Sneed
My mom and dad went there from 1-12th grade. I was there
from 1-3 grade.
— Robert Bemenderfer Jr.
Both of my parents taught there for many, many years. I grew
up in that school. Sooooo many wonderful memories!!!
— Brenda Furr McNeil
I went there from first to sixth grade and I loved the school.
I knew Mr. and Mrs. Furr who I thought the world of... My
classes were from the first building to the last and I had band
in Mrs. Sample’s building. My third grade was in Mrs. Hood’s
T- building.
— Cathy Sanford
I went there in third grade in1973. No A/C and at the end of
the school year we had to move classrooms desks and all, and
we, the kids and teacher, did it all. Not only that, we moved everything
from the second floor to the first floor, via the outdoor
fire escape stairs. As kids, we thought of a physical day versus a
mental day as easy! I remember how sweaty we all were!
— William Abramowicz
John Carroll High school performed their school plays in the
auditorium. I remember watching “The Sound of Music” when
I was in grade school, and I played a part in “Our Town” when
a student at JCHS.
— Mary Fee
When I first moved to FP in 1965, I went to Ft. Pierce
Elementary that fall for 6th grade. Mrs. Charlene Dugan was
my teacher — she was an absolute inspiration. She worked us
hard! I went on to have a great career in biomedicine and business
thanks to her initial encouragement, and now teach myself
at Indiana University. FPE was a big part of my life.
— Mark Long
Both my parents taught there and I attended 1st through 6th
grade there. My third grade classroom was on the floor just below
FPE’s bell tower and I remember the HS Seniors from Dan McCarty
would come over on their last day of school and ring the bell.
— Steve Day
I fondly remember the Fall Festival on the playgrounds on
Halloween after school. Kids came in their Halloween costumes
and there were games and food booths. Plus I walked to
and from that school through 4th grade (1967). My family had
a St Bernard that would follow my siblings to school and the
principal would kindly call my father to come get his dog from
the classroom, this happened several times and the principal
never got mad about, he thought it was kind of humorous.
— Peggy Brown Linares
There was the time the seniors put a cow up in the bell tower
as a prank. They had to back it down (Told to me by my mom,
Mariel Colean Minton). My grandmother, mom, and I all attended
and my grandmother, Bobbie Thomas Colean, was a
kindergarten teacher there. We had movies every Monday in
the auditorium and music classes every week with Mrs. Sample
in one of the old white buildings on the grounds. Band with
Mr. Hood was also in an out-building for fifth and sixth graders.
We played dodge ball, kick ball, soft ball, stick ball (similar
to kick ball), and jump rope with rhymes and jumping in and
out. We loved the old merry-go-round which was loads of fun
and very unsafe! We would go out and watch when the rockets
went up from the Cape and learned the different bell signals
for “Duck and Cover” during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lots of
memories are in that school building!
— Boots Plyler
I grew up on Boston Avenue the street that ran behind FPE.
I went there all six years of elementary school. My mother,
Gloria Hatcher Rooks, went all 12 years there and graduated
in 1939. When I was growing up the auditorium was where all
the events in Ft. Pierce took place. Orchestras, opera, plays, always
— Kathy Rooks Krueger ‘‘
something going on. That was when everyone still dressed
appropriately to go “out”. When they added the eastern wing,
my grandfather, W. W. Hatcher was asked to design it.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
22
What they are saying on Facebook
STEPHEN HORTON
The Fort Pierce High School Class of 1945 takes a tour of the school during
a 1975 reunion.