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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

Just say yes!... Very soon you may get a call asking you to donate a product or service to

be auctioned off at the Altrusa Gala. If you say yes, you will be helping three worthwhile
beneficiaries: The Columbia Association of Retarded Citizens, the local Public School Foundation,

and Happy House. If you don’t get a call but would like to help, please call 755-8183.
Where is that school?... The forerunner of the very first Columbia High School was called

the Peabody Graded and High School. It was built around 1878 and located somewhere on West St.
Johns Street. Does anybody out there know that school’s exact location on West St. Johns Street?

Was it near the present-day Central Buildings across from the swimming pool? Or was it the old
brown wooden building that burned down in the 1950's? Or where?

Overheard at a local supermarket... A senior citizen said he was a lot stronger in his old
age than he was in his youth: “When I was a young man, I could hardly carry $5 worth of groceries

in both arms. Now I can carry that much in just one hand!”

Some More of the Lost and Found

September 21,1993

Found! One School!... Last week this column asked for help in locating the Peabody Graded
th
and High School, 19 century predecessor to CHS. Thanks to Mary Frances Williams and A. K.
Black, we now know. The school property started at the comer of South Marion and West St. Johns
Streets and extended about two blocks to the west. Duane Thomas’ law building was actually part

of the school. Mary Frances has an abstract of the property and Nell Dukes, who also helped, has
a picture of the building. Thank you!

Lost! One church building!... St. Luke’s Lutheran Church building on East Duval Street
(sort of across the street from Ronsonet Buick) will eventually be razed as part of the street-widening
project. The church began in the early 1940s under Pastor Francis I Fesperman and it was

“decommissioned” August 22, 1993. The church is well known for its outreach programs. They

have maintained a continuous food pantry ministry for the needy. They have coordinated the
ministry at the Veteran’s Home and the chaplaincy programs at Lake Shore Hospital and Lake City
Medical Center through the ministerial alliance. They have helped find housing and work for the

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