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PJC in 1949

I viewed the 20-minute Paris Junior College 1949 recruiting film which was found not many months past residing in a long unused closet in the library. It’s fascinating to us older alumnae and long time Paris residents. I didn’t attend PJC in 1949, but I knew some of the teachers and administrators who appear in the film. I especially remember Dean Burton Mason, a dignified and quiet-spoken man who had the best interests of students at heart. In the 1949 Galleon, he said that “something for nothing is an uncertain dream,” but “something for something is a working reality.”
“When a normal American relies on his own efforts, he has a strong chance of earning about $3,000 a year for forty years, $120,000. As he earns, he becomes a dependable citizen.” Such was the American dream in 1949.
According to the Galleon, absenteeism was Mason’s chief concern.
Then there was Dr. J. R. McLemore, speaking to prospective students from his office and handing them diplomas at graduation. My father, J. B. Harvill, idolized Dr. McLemore as one of the most intelligent and good men that he’d ever known. I think of him as the man who nursed PJC successfully through the Depression and War Years, at great cost to himself both physically and financially.
He loved the college so much that he made great personal sacrifices for its welfare
during these trying times in our history.
Myra Fuller, English teacher, was there, young and vigorous, dedicated to her profession—the woman with whom I rode countless miles on horseback. However, perhaps the greatest thrill, for me personally, was seeing Mrs. Troy C. Thompson, known as “Sugee” Thompson, our choral director, tall and slim, directing her choir vigorously. If there’s a heaven, these wonderful teachers are up there, still teaching. I’ve no doubt about it.
Another personal thrill, for me, was seeing the PJC homecoming parades passing in front of the old R. F. Scott Building on the northeast corner of the plaza and then Woolworth’s. Why I haven’t seen Woolworth’s in anything but my dreams for years! The young people were thronging the sidewalks so thrilled over the parade and the upcoming football game. The girls were clad in pretty sweater sets and matching skirts. What a different world we live in today. Students don’t have the same time to interact, but to me, it seems like they “make do” with their laptops. They can interact online nowadays. Is it the same, I wonder? What have we lost? I guess what we have now is better than what we had in 1949, or so I’m told, yet many of those same innocent-looking “kids” were veterans, and with all the advances in technology—and as bad as all wars are—I wouldn’t think that much of anything compares to going ashore through the blaze of gunfire at Normandy.

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