Wall erected in honor of Belgreen grads
By Staff
Tilda Sumerel
For the FCT
Work is well underway on a wall honoring Belgreen High School graduates.
Six students became the first alumni of the school when they graduated from Belgreen High School in 1925. Since then, more than 1,500 have graduated from Belgreen.
The Belgreen Alumni Association is now completing a project to honor all of the school's graduates.
"About six years ago, we decided to erect a 'Memory Wall' on the school campus that will be a lasting memorial to our graduates," said Gary Hargett, former Belgreen Alumni Association president and chairman of the Alumni memory project.
"Many of the older alumni have passed on. The old school building has been replaced and we wanted to do something to remember the graduates of our school."
The "Memory Wall" is being constructed on the front lawn of the school near the auditorium. When finished, the brick wall will be capped with limestone slabs made locally at Alabama Limestone Works at Rockwood.
"Although we are very pleased with the new school buildings, the new gymnasium and cafeteria, it was a sad time for many of us when the old school building was torn down. We felt we were losing part of our history at Belgreen," Hargett said.
"When the construction of the new school building began and the old building was demolished we collected, cleaned and stored some of the brick from the old building. We wanted to do something with the old brick to help remind us of the former buildings. "After a lot of thought and planning, we decided a good way to do this was to use them in constructing the memory wall. We discovered the brick were very weathered and would not be suitable for the wall itself but we found they would be suitable to pave the courtyard in front of the memory wall."
Plans are to place the names of graduates who have contributed to the project and their year of graduation on engraved tags on top of the wall. Organizers are hoping that future graduates will add their name to the memory wall also.
"We plan to add a fountain, benches and landscaping in the future. The wall was designed to be easily added on to so the project may grow in years to come," Hargett said.
The wall will be completed in the next few weeks. The space in front of the wall will be bricked and the wall will be lighted so visitors to evening events held at the school can take a moment to reflect on their memories of attending school at Belgreen.
All graduates of Belgreen, as well as their family and friends, are invited to purchase a name tag to be added to the wall in honor, or in memory of graduates, by sending the name, year of graduation and $50 to: Belgreen Alumni Association, c/o Belgreen High School, 14420 Hwy. 187, Russellville, AL 35653 or by contacting Gary Hargett at 256-332-7239, Tilda Sumerel at 256-332-1489, or Carol Humphries at 256-332-9392.
Money collected will be used to complete the project and to fund scholarships the Belgreen Alumni Association award each year to two graduating seniors. The association would like to thank all who have helped in the project.
