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Members of the Valdese Parent-Teacher Association dressed in costume for a school event 50 years ago. Hvac Heat Exchanger

Abbie Hildebrand, center, retired 50 years ago after a 36-year career in education. She was the lead teacher of the George Hildebrand Kindergarten at the time of her retirement. Also pictured, left, is Ann Huffman, a teacher in the kindergarten, and Nadine Townsend, who took over Hildebrand’s position following her retirement.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Corpening won a stereo from the Lake James Community Center 50 years ago during an event to raise funds for the center’s new building.

East Burke High School is pictured under construction 50 years ago.

Two Drexel High School students have been suspended indefinitely after they were accused of setting off fireworks in the spray-finishing room of the industrial arts building at the school, causing it to catch on fire last Wednesday.

Officials investigating the incident originally thought the fire was caused by a spark from an electrical cord.

Harold Clark, the school’s principal, said he began hearing rumors shortly after the blaze that four male students had been setting off fireworks there. The students reportedly had opened a window next to the exhaust fan in the building and lit what is believed to have been an entire package of firecrackers and tried to throw it out the window, according to Marvin Sawyer, Burke County fire marshal. It is believed that the fireworks package hit the window ledge and fell back into the room, where it exploded, igniting vapors and other flammable material located nearby.

“The exhaust fan sucked the initial flames outdoors,” Sawyer said, who noted that the four students might have been badly burned otherwise. The instructor and 11 other students in the class were in another classroom at the time of the incident.

Officials are still investigating the identity of the other two students allegedly involved and announced that the remains of the building will have to be destroyed. No one was hurt during the fire.

US Sen. Samuel J. Ervin Jr. (D-NC), as a nominee of the North Carolina Press Association, has been chosen as the inaugural recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award, which honors public officials who defend and preserve the freedom of news media.

Ervin’s nomination received seconds from journalism representatives from around the country, testifying to his staunch defense of Constitutional rights, particularly of the First Amendment, which guarantees to the people a free press.

Ervin is chair of the US Senate Constitutional Rights Subcommittee and introduced in the last Congress a bill to shield journalists from forced disclosure of confidential sources. He also is noted for his staunch insistence upon responsibility in media and “co-equal” right of a public official to criticize the press and broadcast media.

The award will be presented to Ervin during Mass Communications Week Feb. 11-16 at Texas Tech University during a banquet Feb. 16. It is sponsored by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, the Texas Association of Broadcasters and the university.

When two boards meet for the free exchange of ideas and information, the experience may be broadening for both.

This appeared to be the case last night as the Burke County Board of Commissioners and the Burke County Board of Education held a joint dinner meeting at the Rainbow Inn. A group of interested citizens attended the meeting as well.

Here and there were sharp exchanges, politics, personalities and the reaching beyond for views of long-range planning to address problems both boards face as Burke County grows.

It was pointed out that the documented cost figures for the two new high schools was not a budget request, but a financial analysis given to commissioners at their request. The school board budget request will be presented to commissioners later this spring.

The theme of the meeting was highlighted in the opening blessing given by Commissioner John Branstrom: “Open the doors of communication in what has to be a common endeavor.”

After 36 years of teaching, Abbie Hildebrand is retiring due to physical disability. She is in her fifth year as head teacher at the George Hildebrand Kindergarten.

Due to Hildebrand’s various activities in educational associations and her status as a master teacher, she was labeled an educational institution unto herself by Ervin Hallyburton, personnel director for Burke County Public Schools.

A native of Burke County, Hildebrand earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Asheville Teaguers College in 1935 before returning home to teach at George Hildebrand School. She also earned a master’s degree from Duke University in 1941. Her educational experience includes teaching at Valdese Primary School and serving six years as principal of Jonas Ridge Elementary School.

Hildebran’s position will be taken over by Nadine Townsend.

Interested residents of Burke County came out in spite of the bad weather and were favorably impressed with the United Christian Shelter Children’s Home during an open house event Sunday afternoon.

They were welcomed to the facility by the occupants of the home, who will, on a temporary basis, care for Burke County’s abused and neglected children. Greeting visitors also were representatives of area churches that will help to maintain the facility and employees with the Burke County Department of Social Services, who previously had no place to house these children when the necessity arose.

Wayne Hitt, a curator at the History Museum of Burke County, shows what has been updated at the museum since it closed in March of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This article is sponsored by the History Museum of Burke County, where the archives of The News Herald are stored:

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Willow Tree AME Church in Morganton is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a yearlong slate of events:

Find out what happened #50YearsAgoInBurkeCounty:

"'Sankofa' means that one should seek knowledge and engage in the patient, intelligent examination of the past as a way of informing the future."

Student in hot water over bomb scare (Monday, Jan. 15, 1973)

Members of the Valdese Parent-Teacher Association dressed in costume for a school event 50 years ago.

Abbie Hildebrand, center, retired 50 years ago after a 36-year career in education. She was the lead teacher of the George Hildebrand Kindergarten at the time of her retirement. Also pictured, left, is Ann Huffman, a teacher in the kindergarten, and Nadine Townsend, who took over Hildebrand’s position following her retirement.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Corpening won a stereo from the Lake James Community Center 50 years ago during an event to raise funds for the center’s new building.

East Burke High School is pictured under construction 50 years ago.

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