Paula Raymond is a volunteer responsible for maintaining the history of the schools in Bladenboro. From band recordings to uniforms to yearbooks - it is like walking back into the school system of the past in Bladenboro.
FACES OF HISTORY
Bobby Ludlum is a local veteran who built the armed forces wing of the museum with the help of other veterans who have now passed. Shown posing next to a mannequin that is wearing the uniform that Ludlum wore while serving our country.
There is a separate room within the museum that houses and preserves all the trophies that were earned by Bladenboro athletes and students.
The Bladenboro Historical Society and Museum located at 818 S. Main Street holds many treasures and memories. It has a staff of volunteers working to continue to preserve history and ensure a legacy.
In the historical wing that houses all the school information and memorabilia is a mannequin that is wearing an actual outfit that was worn by a teacher in Bladenboro the year the high school building was built.
BLADENBORO – There is a small group of volunteers that help to make decisions concerning the Bladenboro Historical Society and the artifacts in the building. As we posted in part one of this story, the bottom line, is they want to keep the building open and there are precious lives that have put everything into this project so that it will be a lasting legacy to Bladenboro and the generations to come.
“We got the Golden Leaf grant to begin with,” Joyce Walters said. “It was enough to put a roof on the top. In the early years of the collections and the projects, Sam Pait was the curator, but it is not known who wrote the early grants.”
“We have been able to get some good grants through our commissioner, Charles Ray (Peterson), “Ricky Walters said.
The small group of aging citizens are not too proud to ask for help, and one of the biggest needs at this point would be someone experienced in grant writing. The second thing that would help out is to find a few businesses that would be looking to find good quality office space inside a living legacy.
We spoke a little about Ricky Walters – the president of the Bladenboro Historical Society and this story will introduce the others that are faithfully fighting to keep the doors open and the lights on.
“I’m the oldest one here and I’ve been here since 2000,” the senior member of the group at 92 years of age, Margie Bridger said. “We have done a lot here. We were all downstairs to begin with. As they renovated the building upstairs, we kept moving up. It was a long process.”
Bridger who has seen her share of projects accomplished in the 25 years she’s been on the board talked about her heart and her vision for the future. To her, she said it’s never overwhelming.
“I just look forward to coming out here every Saturday,” she said with a spark of joy in her eyes. “This is my love. I love this building and I love this town.”
As for her longevity, she said that she loves to stay active.
“I like to walk,” she said. “I try not to sit down. I have a sign on my refrigerator that says ‘sitting will kill you,’ so, I try to stay on my feet. I live in a three-story house and I climb those steps three times a day. I think that’s good exercise. Right now, I’m going through my files. I have collected so much in the last 20 years. I am trying to clean out the files to the point that if it doesn’t pertain to this building or the town, I need to get rid of it. Because I am a packrat.”
Bridger was born in Bladenboro and has lived there all of her life. Most of the things in the museum, she actually remembers.
“I was born in out in Galeed Church in ’32,” she said. “It’s about 1 mile out of Bladenboro. I married a local boy; we raised four children.”
Different people are sort of the headmasters of their respective rooms. Margie is one of the experts in the history of the town of Bladenboro and she knows the artifacts, history and memories in that room.
A newcomer to Bladenboro who has fallen in love with the area and the historical society monitors the Bladenboro School room with all things from the education system in Bladenboro. Each room monitor can give you valuable information and candid stories about the memories in their room. For a newcomer, Paula Raymond had to be a quick study.
“I’m learning every time I come and each week I try to cover every small area,” Raymond said. “I’ve been here about 10 months and I was born in Wilmington. I retired schoolteacher and I had an interest in volunteer work.”
Raymond taught at the elementary school level and also music. All the volunteers have considered working at the historical society a labor of love.
“Yesterday I was sitting at the dentist office and flipping through a magazine,” she said. “At the last board meeting they were discussing several items and it just jumped out at me that was about awnings. Normally I generally wouldn’t have noticed that but I read every single word because I’m trying to make a list that may be helpful down the road.”
As for favorite things in the museum, each person seems to have something that jogs the memory or proves very interesting.
“I like the schoolmarm,” Raymond said. “There’s a mannequin that has a real ‘old-timey’ school outfit that was worn by a real school teacher. I think that’s interesting for the kids to come in and see.”
According to Bridger, the schoolmarm outfit was donated by a lady out in the Center Road area and it has been a part of the museum for the past decade. She was a local teacher.
“My father’s family are from Brunswick County,” Raymond said. “I actually lived down in Myrtle Beach before I came here and it was a bit crowded for my taste. I am much closer to my dad’s people. My mom’s people were from Piedmont, North Carolina and I lived up there for six years.”
Bobby Ludlum is a veteran who has a passion for the military memorabilia and runs the military museum within the confines of the old high school. He actually began his portion of the museum in 1993.
“I’m the only one left that was here when we started it,” he said. “All the others have crossed Jordan. All were veterans that helped start this. We do have some people from other areas at times, but the organization was all veterans. It was a lot of hard work. We’d find out about something that somebody might possibly have, we’d go talk to them and we’ve had real good luck in coming up with responses to that.”
All branches of the military are represented in those rooms and outfitted with elaborate displays from soldiers on stretchers, nurses in uniforms of the time and even a paratrooper who had just landed to the battlefield.
There are even uniforms there actually worn by Ludlum when he was in active service to his country. As he walks through the museum now, he knows every story and most of the servicemen who were fighting.
He admits that it’s hard walking through the exhibits remembering friends that have passed. As he tells the stories of the heroes he gets tears in his eyes.
“My favorite is probably the back room,” Ludlum said. “Me and Jim Lane, retired Army, we basically built that room by ourselves. We built the petitions and we built them in the shop. When we got them out here, we couldn’t get them in the elevator. We had to carry every one up the stairs. But… they were in sections, so we put them together. I’m glad I was a little younger then.”
The next plan is to build a Desert Storm exhibit.
In the third and final part of this story we will meet more of the board members and hope that you will visit the museum soon to forget about your troubles today and take a journey into yesterday where it’s all preserved at the Bladenboro Historical Society.
Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To see more of his bio, visit him at markdelap.com or email him. Send a message to: [email protected]