Finding Mom at 15 Years Old in a Digital Yearbook Online
I remember growing up, my mom talked proudly about her High School in Winchester, Virginia. I had some vague images in my mind when she would talk about it. I had seen the family movies taken of the columns, steps, and splendor during the Apple Blossom Festivals, I had also seen a few postcards of the place. Of course we made trips to Winchester, and I saw it, but it was a school. As a kid, it’s hard to get excited about school. Indeed had learned later, it was voted “the most beautiful public high school in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
State of the art facilities and a fully comprehensive and dedicated athletic program, along with an award-winning fine arts program including theatre, chorus, band, and visual arts truly do set Handley apart. In fact, John Handley High School was recently named the most beautiful high school in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Those accolades continue inside the school where a thrivingly active student body and dedicated staff truly embody the characteristics of what it means to be a Judge.
Although he never lived in Winchester Judge Handley’s love of the town and its people developed through friends and acquaintances living in the town. Upon his death, Judge Handley bequeathed $250,000 to Winchester to be invested by its leaders. When the investment reached a value of $500,000 it was to be used to build a library [the Handley Library]. In addition, the remaining amount of the estate was to be accumulated for twenty years and was to be used to build schools for the education of the poor. The trust was to be governed by the Handley Board of Trustees, created in 1896 by an act of the Virginia legislature. John Handley High School was built by the use of funds from this trust.
So a hint on one of my ancestors arrived to me from Ancestry.com, and I went to take a gander at it, but as I was looking at it, I saw an image of someone named Juanita Fletcher. My mom’s name, but not her face. It apparently was from an old online yearbook. So it made me wonder if I could find a picture of her from Handley High School. I picked a year I thought she would be there, as I knew she spent some time in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and later the family moved to Baltimore. I chose 1944, and wouldn’t you know, that was the only year that they didn’t list. So I went a year up, 1945. It was fun seeing the old hairstyles, smiling faces, and nicknames for the seniors. There was a name and a face for each senior. Unfortunately, as I turned pages, the other grades only had group pictures and no names. That was going to make it harder to find her. But I did.
Perhaps she had some sadness. But she was loved and important enough during some tough times that someone wanted her signature in their yearbook.
It makes me a little sad to think about how I didn’t get to show her an old yearbook when she was still alive. She might have enjoyed looking at old familiar faces and the memories of the High School she loved so much. I love thinking about her before she was a mom. She gave so much of herself as a wife, mom, and grandmom, even great-grandmom. Looking at her face makes me think she wouldn’t trade any of us for anything in the world, her true contentment on earth was loving us and anybody else who graced her doorway.
