From the Moderator

Maybe some of you are wondering why I got started with this project in the first place. Well, one day, several years ago, I visited the Cherry Road School website to see what they had to say about my Aunt Marion. I was surprised to discover that the answer was, not much at all. Then I Googled Marion Parsons and nothing came up. Then it dawned on me that there were no public records of Marion to speak of and certainly nothing contemporary in cyberspace. I began to realize that the story of Marion Parsons and the little one room schoolhouse in the chicken-coop in my great grandfather's cherry orchard would soon be lost unless I did something about it.

I've been sort of the unofficial family historian for the last 30 years and a number of documents, pictures, and letters have been put into my care. I've saved them and even started working on a project like this a long time ago. But life happens and I was busy raising my daughter and working.

Now that I'm back on the project, I've discovered something. You see, I've always thought that my Great Aunt Marion was, well, just my Aunt Marion. Also, she was Aunt Marion to my siblings, cousins, and my father and his siblings. Marion never had any children of her own. But what I've discovered is that she is not just my Aunt Marion, she is everyone's Miss Parsons.

I got a call the other day from a Cherry Road School Alumni who had graduated 8th grade there sometime around 1945. She said to me, "She inspired everyone to be their best, because you never wanted to disappoint Miss Parsons." That brought tears to my eyes because I know only too well how true that is. I've remembered vividly my whole life the time I let her down. I'll never get over it, but each time I think about it, I learn something new.

If anyone following this blog would like to be a Guest Blogger, if you have a story to tell, please contact me at: schoolhouse2@comcast.net and we'll make arrangements. Put "Cherry Road" in the subject line of the email.

Thank you one and all for participating. I look forward to any "comments" anyone would like to leave.