Walker Gamble High alumni plan reunion weekend

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Betty Gamble Rose graduated from the former Walker Gamble High School in 1961, and now lives in Fort Washington, Maryland.

She will be one of many former students attending a reunion weekend Sept. 26-28 at the school, which is now known to the New Zion community as Walker Gamble Elementary School.

“We try to hold this reunion about every three years,” Rose said. “We’ve been successful at that about three or four times. It’s a legacy for the community, and it’s great to be able to come back and be on the grounds where we got our start. It’s our former stomping grounds.”

“It’s also good to see your fellow schoolmates and classmates and people in the community, and just to have a time to continue to remember what happened in that community,” Rose added.

Walker Gamble High School opened in 1953, and will be 61 years old next month, Rose said.

“It was about 10 church schools that consolidated to form Walker Gamble in 1953,” she said. “At that time, the school taught grades K through 12. This was prior to us integrating, so it was a predominantly black school.”

The school remained largely unchanged until 1970 when the schools in Clarendon County integrated.

“At that time, we then moved over to East Clarendon High School, and this became an elementary school,” Rose said. “As you can see, this school has a very long and storied history. And we want to remember that history. That’s part of the reason for this reunion.”

Rose said she and her fellow Walker Gamble graduates enjoy knowing the school is now “all inclusive of all children in the community, be they black, white, Hispanic or whatever ethnicity.”

“Walker Gamble Elementary School covers all these groups of children,” she said. “That’s what makes me proud, that we’re still able to educate our children at a school I loved so much and that did so much for me so many years ago.”

The schedule for the reunion weekend includes a meet-and-greet at the school starting Friday night in the gymnasium.

“We will come together and catch up that night,” Rose said. “Saturday morning we will have a prayer breakfast at Howard Chapel AME Church, which is one of the churches that consolidated to form Walker Gamble.”

Saturday evening, the school will be the location of several events.

“We will have a walk through of the school,” she said. “We will just be putting our feet back on our stomping ground.”

A community program from 4-5 p.m. is planned, with current Walker Gamble Elementary School Principal Sheila Floyd planned to speak, along with educators from the school’s past.

“The last part on Saturday will be our ball. This is for adults only,” Rose said. “This is our opportunity to socialize. We will have several presentations as well.”

The weekend will close Sunday with a service at Oak Grove AME Church in Lake City.

“That is also one of the church schools that consolidated into Walker Gamble,” Rose said.

Rose said time is limited to RSVP for next weekend’s reunion. For more information, call her at (240) 308-0224.