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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

turns.”

The kids all knew each other and each other’s brothers and sisters. They knew a lot about
each other’s families. In some ways the students felt that they themselves were all part of the same

family: The Watertown School Family. It was a good feeling.
Most of the businesses that sponsored the 1954 yearbook have long since gone out of

business: The Studebaker, Packard and Nash auto dealerships, Dewey Bullard Dairy, Baumsteins
Drug Store, Soldwell’s Jewelers, Mack Lovette’s Pharmacy, the Lunar Outdoor Theater, Bohrman’s,

Hackney Brothers, Post Office Service Station, and Wade-Persons.
Many of the Watertown School students are still around Lake City: Susan Denmark Greene,
Jack Hampton, Lamar Church, Sim Kirby, Anna May Hampton Gay, Alice Brady and others.

Paul Giebeig left Watertown School to become the first principal of Five Points Elementary

School - where he was to stay for twenty-six years. Jess Arnold became the new principal at
Watertown and stayed until the school closed in the late 1950s. Then Jess became the principal of
the brand new Eastside Elementary School in 1959.

Today, Watertown School exists only in the memories of those who studied or worked there.
It seems all those memories were happy and pleasant.

Buford Galloway Remembers
Buford Galloway was our school superintendent from 1956-68. He is now retired and lives

in Westville, Florida. Recently he was recalling some Lake City-connected memories: “Phillip
Browning and I go back to 1937. He was my agriculture teacher at Leonia High School. One day

Phillip offered to give a one dollar reward to the student who kept the best notebook. I got busy,
compiled a good notebook, and won that dollar bill from P. A. Browning.”

Buford also recalled Pat Summerall: “Before Pat went into broadcasting, he worked in
watermelon fields for Phillip Browning. Phillip worked everybody very hard. I can still visualize

Summerall working so hard loading watermelons in that hot summer sun.”
Buford then told of Vertie Mae Barrett, Richardson teacher and later New Hope principal:

“Vertie Mae and her mother liked to cook. One day I visited their home. They had cooking pots
that had been used for many years and they looked so clean and shiny, like they were brand new.

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