Sixty years ago, Ponte Vedra did not much resemble what it looks like today. Most of the town was huddled around the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, and there were more dirt roads than paved.
Sam Veal, a lifelong resident of Ponte Vedra and first-year student of PVPV/Rawlings Elementary School in 1959, said there were days when the students weren’t allowed to play outside because of wild boars on the loose.
“You got to remember that when I went here, this was a little gravel two-lane road,” Veal said. “There was no bypass. There was nothing to the north.”
The Class of ’59 might have seen some dramatic changes throughout the years, but one thing remained consistent — the school itself. In fact, the building is the oldest public building in Ponte Vedra Beach that still exists.
The school celebrated its 60th anniversary last Friday, Feb. 22. The event hosted many instrumental individuals involved with its success, as well as graduates from the school’s first year in 1959. In attendance were Jean Langston, the daughter of Roy and Alice Landrum; Sid Mickler; Harriet LeMaster; Jenny Veal, the sister of Sam Veal; and Randy Brown. Also in attendance were many veteran educators and bus drivers who have seen the school’s development through the years.
The celebration speaker was Randy Brown, who moved to Ponte Vedra Beach in 1946. His father was the president of the Ponte Vedra Community Association in the 1950s and was instrumental in getting Eunice Pitt Odom Semmes to donate the 40 acres of land for the school. Brown was PTO president and master of fall ceremonies at the school. At the event, he donned a top hat and tailcoat “morning suit” in honor of his history hosting the elementary school’s fall festival in the same outfit.
George McLatchey and Jean Brooker Ellis hosted the evening. Both were fourth-grade students on the first day the school opened in 1959 and were in Mrs. Myra Brown’s class. Years later, both McLatchey and Ellis would grow up and become teachers at PVPV/Rawlings. McLatchey taught from 1971 to 1981 before moving to Nease High School. Ellis taught fifth grade from 1975 to 2008. Both remember their time with Randy Brown, and McLatchey told the audience that night Brown was the inspiration for his career in teaching.
Also noted was Cynthia Prince, who started the Readers Aloud program in 1986. Currently living at Vicar’s Landing, Prince is known as a leader in literacy in Ponte Vedra for founding the program, which brings in a senior from the community to read aloud for 30 minutes a week in every classroom at PVPV. The Readers Aloud Program is still inspiring children today at the school.
The event honored those who contributed to the reputation of the school, but it also served as an occasion to reconnect with old school friends, teachers and faculty. One of Mrs. Betty Hatcher’s strongest memories from that first year involved a young Sam Veal standing up every day at lunch holding his sandwich high while it dripped down his arm. He always yelled, “Anybody else got a peanut butter SAM-ICH?” At the ceremony, Veal honored Hatcher with a PB&J, wrapped tightly in a brown paper bag.
At the conclusion of the event, Kate Zarczynski, the Anniversary Celebration chairwoman, presented a collaboration of photographs of PVPV/Rawlings over the years. The slides of students spanned from the school’s first year in 1959 to today. Over the years, hairstyles and clothing changed, but the student’s smiling faces appeared to cross generations.
