Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

• • SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2006 v % . •• , ; ,• , : Old school * ' ' < '■*'W\ ' » v 's >*£?'. ' ,> » Donated land has been used for education for more than 153 years By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Journal Lifestyle Editor In 1853, America was at peace, and the small town of Perry had only been in existence for 32 years. 1 m y ■- * mM wt v Special to the Journal Fannie Killen Norwood on her gradu ation from the Perry School in 1881. Wait for the beep - answering machines have the upper hand I knew I was in trouble the second I started talking. I had called a new friend to invite her to a program at church, and got her answering machine. I took a breath, waited for the beep, then tried to leave a nice, welcoming, “we’d sure love to have you” type mes sage. Instead, I left a rambling, confusing, “I sQre sound like an idiot” type message. It involved me talking all over myself trying to explain the meeting, who would be there, adding, “oh, did I men tion what time it is?” and, “just come as you are” and my son calling, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” in the background. Sherri Martin The Front Porch smartin@evansnewspapers.com When I could ignore him no longer, I finally said, “Excuse me” to the answer ing machine, covered up the phone and tried to sound like a good mother while threatening him to within an inch of his life if he did not quit interrupting me! Lifestyle That was the year that Samuel Dodderidge Killen made a deci sion to donate some of his land for the building of a school for youhg ladies, the Houston Female College. He also provided a gift of SSOO to get the school built. His generous gift had a stipu lation, which was that if the land ever stopped being used for educational purposes, it was to revert to his heirs. That never happened, though, because the land Killen donated has never once stopped being used for education. The Houston Female College, which at one point had 85 stu dents and taught a curriculum that included science, literature and embroidery for sl2 per term, became the Perry public school, and was eventually replaced by another Perry school, the brick building on Main Street, which now serves as the central office building for the Houston County Board of Education. On Tuesday, Norwood M. Davidson, Killen’s great great-great-grandson was in Perry to present a portrait of Samuel Dodderidge Killen to jffw. ftv V ft I mean it! Or go to your room! When I finally hung up, how I wished I could have a “do-over” for that message. I know as soon as she lis tened to it she thought, “I’m never going back to that church, as long as that crazy the Houston County Board of Education. Davidson, whose home is in Mcßae, also brought an 1854 catalogue from the Houston Female College, school pictures from the 19th century, and a wealth of memorabilia including a hand-written roster of the men from Perry who went mm i* &MNI I I HhJi . Special to the Journal The Killen home is still standing on Main Street, and has been remodeled and restored over the years. It is now Watson Hunt Funeral Home. Martin woman is there.” Would someone please help me out here? There has got to be some way to prevent these types of situations. Whenever you have to record your outgoing mes sage on your own answering machine, you get the chance to listen to it and make sure it sounds okay. If you call a business, such as the power company, to report a problem, you have the opportunity to listen to the message you leave to make sure it’s correct. So why, why, why can’t someone give me that option when I call and leave a mes sage on another person’s answering machine? off to serve the Confederacy in the Civil War andSßture of a group of bundled up ladies and gentlemen taken during “the blizzard of 1898.” Samuel Killen was one of those who went off to serve, and was for some time a prisoner of war, See LAND, page 6C Unless I am trying extra hard to sound ultra-profes sional (and believe me, it takes extreme mental effort for me to do that), I either come off sounding like the aforementioned rambling idiot, or I talk so fast in an effort to get through with the message that no one can understand what I’m saying. Therefore, I wish that after leaving a message, a voice would come on and say, “If you are pleased with your message and would like to save it, press one. If you realize you left out vital information, press two. If you realize you sounded like a complete fool, and BECTUN c would prefer nobody on the face of the earth ever hear this message, press three.” I would never leave anoth er crazy message again, thereby not scaring off inno cent people from my church. I also would be sure not to leave a snippy message to my husband, one that I regret the minute the words leave my mouth. Think of the relationships that could be saved! And I would have the opportunity to gather my thoughts, slow down my tongue, and sound like a completely reasonable and sane person on a regular basis. Or at least on somebody else’s answering machine.