Farm Life School shaped more than education

The iconic brick building once known as the Asa J. Manning Farm Life School has not housed students for decades now. Its purpose may have changed but the building and the amazing people who came and went through those doors are the source of great memories for those who were once students at the historic school.

It would be years later before I understood the role my own family played in the history of the Farm Life School.

I was one of the fortunate ones who attended Farm Life School from kindergarten through sixth grade. As a child, one of my favorite pastimes was to sit in the Farm Life School library and wander through the giant old history books stacked in the corner. Many of them were so heavy, I would struggle to get them off the shelf.

The books were old with ornately detailed covers and their pages were brittle and worn. Sometimes I would find pencil-smudged notes written in the margins. Many of them had been there for decades.

One day I was flipping through one of the books and when I went to the back inside cover, I saw a pencil-smudged signature that looked familiar. I may have been in the fourth grade at the time, no more.

I eased the book cover back to safely get a closer look and there it was, my grandfather’s signature — Oscar B. Roberson.

We were not supposed to be able to take those books from the library, but the librarian let me take it home that night. I could barely carry it on the bus and then manage to not drop it as I walked up the lane when we got off the bus.

I was able to sit and look through that book with my grandfather and hear his memories of checking out the very same book. This was my favorite day as a student at Farm Life School.

Grandaddy Oscar, who was born in 1904, was 75 years old or better when we made this memory. Even then I was a fan of history, but my only regret is I wasn’t old enough to ask more questions.

He began school at Corey’s School which was one of the three that consolidated to form the Asa J. Manning Farm Life School in 1922. This school stood across from the Daniel Road near the modern day intersection the Hollow Pond Road and N.C. 171 in what is now known as the Farm Life Community. Then, the community was called Griffin’s Township.

The other schools that were consolidated to form the school were Getsinger School No. 42 and another known as Hardison’s or Kelly’s Hill — No. 9.

The Getsinger School was located on what is now the E.H. Williams Road across from the original Piney Grove Baptist Church.

The final location of Kelly’s Hill School was beside Raymond Gurkin’s Store near the intersection of Maple Grove Church Road and N.C. 171.

Students also came to the Asa J. Manning Farm Life School from Lilley’s Hall School, which was located on what is now Fire Department Road between Meadowbranch Road and Yarrell Creek Road. Others came from Smithwick’s School closer to Jamesville.

Consolidation of the three schools along with approval to build the brick building was given during the July 1921 meeting of the Martin County Board of Education.

The state building fund contributed $6,000 towards the construction of the school.

The naming of the school had special meaning. Asa J. Manning, who was from the community, served as county school superintendent from 1914 until 1923.

The school opened for its first term in October 1921.

My family tree goes back to the opening of the school where I found my great-grandfather (Oscar’s father), Henry Roberson, on the first local committee of the school along with N.R. Manning, W.H. Daniel, C.C. Coltrain and P.E. Getsinger.

Francis Manning, local newspaper editor and historian, wrote the school was “destined” to have an important role in developing the community that would become known as Farm Life.

“From that time forward,” Manning wrote, “community activities were largely centered in the school and the section (of the county) gained wide recognition as one of the most progressive and cooperative rural areas of the state.”

“The federal government then was beginning to encourage and offer financial help for establishment and operation of farm life type schools,” Manning wrote.

North Carolina’s General Assembly first authorized the concept in 1911. By 1961, there were 21 Farm Life Schools in operation in North Carolina.

In addition to regular academic studies, students received training in modern agricultural methods to promote better farming and home economics. These studies were designed to help improve conditions at home for many and help them better prepare for life after school.

The concept would later be replaced with what was called Vocational Education and now Career Technical Education.

“The school was a success from the start,” according to Manning, “and later gained the North Carolina High School Standard Rating.”

The school was enlarged in 1935 by three classrooms. Thanks to the dedication and skills of those in the community, a gymnasium and lunchroom were also added to the campus.

In a bold move for the time, a teacherage (two-story house) was established on the north edge of the campus. Young teachers came from all over to begin their careers at the innovative school.

The gymnasium is long gone but was the source of countless basketball games and epic haunted houses in the 1970s and 1980s.

Today, the lunchroom is still the home of the Farm Life Ruritanette Club.

In 1952, Farm Life School’s high school consolidated with Williamston High School.

From the day the doors first opened, Farm Life School led the way in education for everyday people.

Skills learned there sent the Greatest Generation off to war and helped them establish a life and living for their families when they were fortunate to return home.

The school turned out everything from farmers to teachers and Major League baseball players. Farm Life School saw the first black female principal in the county who left a legacy of hard work and character that improved the lives of every student who crossed her path.

At Farm Life School, everyone was family. Respect was the universal lesson learned and some of us even recited Bible verses on the school bus — only on Fridays.

The events of the March 2, 1987 Martin County Board of Education meeting changed things. Efforts to keep the school open were unsuccessful and it was decided the school would close at the end of the 1986-1987 school year.

Although sad, that decision could not take away the lessons we learned from the school that shaped a community.