On Sunday, April 21, members of Orangeburg High School class of 1953 sat together in pews at St. Paul's United Methodist Church.

They were there to worship in appreciation for the church's opening its doors to allow them to complete their junior high education after Sheridan Junior High School on Ellis Avenue was destroyed by fire during the 1945-46 school year. Approximately 245 students, eight teachers and school administrators were left without educational facilities.

When the class of '53 entered its 1948-49 junior high school year, St. Paul's adapted its Sunday school rooms and other facilities to become a five-day-a-week public schoolhouse. Also at St. Paul's was the OHS class of 1954. On school days, the church's parsonage basement served as the school lunch room. The church sanctuary was used for various combined classes. Students were confined to the church grounds during recess periods.

For their ninth-grade and freshman high school year, the '53 class was shifted to a newly constructed building on the grounds of the Orangeburg High School on Sellers Avenue while the '54 class remained at St. Paul's. The 1951 and 1952 classes completed their junior years in petitioned-off classrooms in the Ellis Ave Elementary School's auditorium.

Thirty-eight classmates and their spouses were in Orangeburg for the three-day celebration of their 55th high school graduation. The classmate who traveled the greatest distance to the reunion lives in California. Included in the Saturday night gathering at Camp Anderson was a ceremony recognizing the 32 deceased class members.

Saturday morning, the classmates joined together in a guided bus tour of the city, which included a visit to the archives building of the Orangeburg County Historical Society.

Dean B. Livingston is the retired publisher of The Times and Democrat. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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