We were coming down the front steps of Glenwood School and community center when a lad of about 10 called out, “Miss Ligon, would you like to play marbles with me?”’
“Not this time, Billy. I’m busy,” replied my companion. “Anyway, if I played with you today, I’m sure I would win all of your marbles.”
The lady so addressed was non other than Miss Virginia Ligon, teacher and welfare worker for 23 years in Glenwood industrial community. We had just a little visit together in the schoolhouse and she was taking me to see the school and community playground a little distance from the school building and safely away from all street traffic.
Miss Ligon has played a rather important role in the shaping of lives of the citizenry of Glenwood. It is to her the little children come to lisp their first lessons in the three R’s. After they get a little older and go uptown to school, for Glenwood only teaches through the fourth grade, they come back to keep her informed of their progress. Later the come to for counsel about many things — life, work, and even love. Her home is directly across the street from the school house and she is always available.
The schoolhouse serves as the community recreational center. Several of the rooms are set aside to be used for community and recreational purposes. Here the young people of the community have their prom parties, Halloween festivals and other forms of entertainment and always in the midst of the fun there is Miss Ligon, smiling and, as she says, “feeling not in the least old.”
Glenwood is one of the most attractive industrial communities in Pickens County. The homes have well-kept grounds, with lawns, shrubbery and flowers in profusion. The ladies make a specialty of growing dahlias and roses. Each spring the citizens en masse enter into a vigorous clean-up campaign.
Every two or three years Glenwood puts on a community fair at the schoolhouse. These fairs involve weeks of preparation. The interior of the building is elaborately decorated for the occasion. Here the women assemble their choice canned products, cakes, candles and other edibles, handiwork and flowers. Usually there is an antique department. These fairs are always well-attended, not only by Easley folk, but by many from cities and communities all over the Piedmont section.
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