Alumni celebrate historic Black schools

Jerome Brown, the reunion chairman, left, who graduated from Dunnellon High School in 1972, talks with Dorothy Sherese White Dennard, right, who graduated from Dunnelllon High School in 1987, at American Legion Post 58 in Dunnellon, Fla. on Saturday, May 24, 2025. Former students from the once segregated Hardrock and Booker T. Washington Schools joined with graduates from DHS, from which many of them graduated after integration in 1968. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.

Eighty-nine-year-old Nyle C. Churchwell Sr. was one of the honored guests at the 2025 Hardrock, Booker T. Washington, Dunnellon High School reunion held in Dunnellon over Memorial Day weekend.

The reunion weekend included a fashion show on May 23 and a day of fellowship, line dancing and lunch at the Wall-Rives American Legion Post 58 on May 24, with a black-tie dinner that evening at the Marion Oaks Community Center.

The long running reunion cerebrates the history and heritage of two local historically Black schools, Hardrock and Booker T. Washington. The gathering also includes many Dunnellon High School alumni who completed high school at DHS after integration opened formerly all-white schools to Black students in 1968, according to an extensive history written by a reunion organizer, Dorothy Sherese Dennard, DHS Class of 1987.

The Hardrock School dates back to 1890, when several black men formed a grade one to six school and named it Hardrock after the phosphate mining industry in the Dunnellon area. Willis Alexander Jr. served as principal in the late 1930s and his work with the Marion County School Board resulted in it becoming a senior high school. The first graduating class was in 1940.

The school expanded its number of grade levels over the years, offering eight grades before a fire in the 1948-1949 school year destroyed the building. After the fire, “Classes were held in buildings owned by Alice Bell Simmons until a new school building was completed. The school was rebuilt on a new site and was renamed Booker T. Washington High School. It opened in 1950,” according to the history provided by Dennard.

Churchwell, who attended the segregated Hardrock School, was likely the senior member of the 2025 reunion, with a 1953 graduation year from BTW.

Churchwell said Hardrock burned when he was in the fourth grade and he feels the fire was possibly set by arsonists. He said that after the fire, the community opened up for students to attend classes in “churches, dance halls and the Masonic Lodge.”
“Segregation was a way of life,” Churchwell said.

After he graduated from BTW, Churchwell joined the U.S. Air Force and served as a radio operator. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta and Prairie View A&M University in Houston and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. He worked with the U.S. Postal Service for 55 years in the Houston area. He was accompanied at the reunion by his daughter, Jacquelyne Churchwell, a native of Houston.

Jacqueline Doby, at the midday event on Saturday, was one of the educators who taught at Booker T. Washington High School in the mid-1960s. She later taught at Ward-Highlands Elementary in Ocala.

“These are our roots; where it all began,” Doby said about the people and schools celebrated at the reunion.

Leo Thomas ,84, Booker T. Washington Class of 1959, was clearly enjoying meeting and reminiscing with longtime friends at the reunion. He was class valedictorian. He said students at the school learned their lessons or teachers would “tell your parents.” He said he “enjoyed” his school years. He went on to earn his associate’s degree from the then-named Central Florida Community College, now the College of Central Florida, and worked as a heavy equipment operator.

A number of reunion attendees at Saturday’s earlier event attended Booker T. Washington High School but finished school at Dunnellon High School during integration in the late 1960s.

“This is our heritage and learned values. Our teachers were like parents,” said Carla Williams, one of the organizers of the reunion.

Williams attended BTW and completed high school at DHS in 1974. She now lives in Tampa and serves as director of community engagement with Hillsborough County Public Transportation.

Jerome Brown, a reunion organizer, attended BTW and completed high school at DHS in 1972. He is a retired Marion County Public Schools educator and principal who served at schools including Dunnellon Elementary.

Varice McIntyre-Smith, DHS class of 1971, attended Booker T. Washington until 1968, when she began studies at DHS.

“It is important to remember the good and bad times. Both sides had problems adjusting to integration,” McIntyre-Smith said.

Among the attendees were Wayne Hunter, BTW and DHS alumnus; Deloris Gunter-Anderson DHS Class of 1969; Ronnie Brown DHS Class of 1974; and BTW alumnus David Branton. Derrick Terrell led the reunion attendees in several line dancing sessions and Reginald Walker was DJ “Mr. Grove” for the reunion.

Darry Brown attended BTW for 10 years and graduated from DHS in 1969. He is a veteran of 30 years’ service in the U.S. Army and a Vietnam War veteran who was wounded and received the Purple Heart medal.

Aaron Edwards, a U.S. Army veteran and Bronze Star recipient who served in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, graduated from DHS in the 1980s.

Anita Williams graduated DHS in 1973 then earned her associate degree at CFCC. She worked for 37 1/2 years at CareerSource in Ocala. She said her mother went to BTW in the 1950s.

Al Washington went to BTW for 10 years and then to DHS in 1968, where he graduated in 1969. He said most of the former segregated school students changed over to DHS in 1968 but some students had left for DHS earlier, perhaps around 1965. He said the Black students going to DHS “didn’t have a lot of problems” and looking back at the integration era he had learned “people are the same.”

Washington served in the U.S. Navy and his aircraft carrier was stationed off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He had a career with Florida Power and now serves as pastor of Mount Olive AME church in Dunnellon.

Washington called the Dunnellon area “his place in the sun.”

Deborah and Horace Blanford were accompanied at the reunion by Horace’s sister, Joann Young, a 1966 graduate of BTW. Horace graduated from the school in 1963 and later retired from Merita Bread; Deborah graduated from DHS in 1969 and later retired from AdventHealth. The couple, married 48 years, have a son who is a minister with the Salvation Army. Horace called Nov. 22, 1963, when Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated, was “the worst day” in school.

Dennard’s history provided more insight into BTW, such as, “Booker T. Washington saw many accomplishments, such as the football and basketball teams earning many wins, championships and trophies; school clubs and organizations of first-class status; and teachers, parents, families and friends helping make the school what it was.”

Principal Vernon Simpson told the 1962 graduating class, in part “it is my hope that among you will be some who will be the ‘first’ to discover or bring about some desirable changes” to society.

Organizer Bobby “Cookie” Scarlett attended Booker T. Washington School for grades one through eight and then relocated to Fort Lauderdale and graduated from Dillard High School. She was employed by Florida Power and Light.

Scarlett said sales of a colorful historic 2025 reunion program will go toward student scholarships.

The reunion is about “who we are,” Scarlett said.

To learn more, find the reunion group on Facebook at fb.com/groups/517987242406047/about

Old School Reunion

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