The Oxford Orphanage
In 1923 the name of the institution was officially changed to "Oxford Orphanage." Lucille Tuttle of Asheville became the first "institutional visitor," later known as "caseworker" and today as “Director of Admissions." Robert E. Ward, a former student of the Home, managed the Department of Practical Electricity. His course was quite popular with the older boys, teaching repai
ring and rewinding motors, armatures and transformers, together with other commercial electrical business. The High School presented its first diplomas in 1922 to a graduating class of ten. Five entered East Carolina College, two attended Woman's College at Greensboro, one at Greensboro College, one at Wake Forest and one entered nurse's training at Park View Hospital in Rocky Mount. By that time there were 11 grades with 122 pupils who followed a course of study closely matched to that of the state. The classrooms in the old Main Building were crowded, long and narrow, and poorly lit. Part of one grade had to be transferred to the study room in First Girls' Cottage ("1-G"). Sixty-five former students gathered in the Masonic Hall on June 27, 1924, to form the Oxford Orphanage Alumni Association. The William J. Hicks Memorial Hospital was completed in 1924, just north of the Administration building. It was furnished with steel furniture and contained an operating room, a chemical laboratory and a dentist's office. The hospital had 70 beds and in time of need could hold 140. On April 9, 1924, Miss Nettie N. Bemis laid the first brick in the foundation of the John Nichols School Building. It was large enough to accommodate considerable increases in enrollment; its designers paid particular attention to lighting, ventilation and sanitation. The school was completed in 1925: fireproof, sanitary, and up-to-date in every respect, at a cost of $85,000. It was accredited by the State Board of Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and educated both orphanage students and city children as part of the Oxford City School System. On Aug. 1, 1928, the Reverend Creasy K. Proctor of Rocky Mount assumed the duties of superintendent. He at once stepped into prominence around the town and county. He organized the Granville County Chamber of Commerce and served as president for two years. He was president of the Rotary and Shrine clubs, and his Masonic affiliations embraced all degrees of the York and Scottish Rites and the Sudan Shrine. He was deeply interested in renovating the orphanage's buildings, and was instrumental in the er****on of the R. Dunn "Baby" Cottage and the Angela B. Duke "Industrial" building. During his administration the enrollment of the home peaked at 393 children. Proctor died on June 25, 1946. After Dr. Proctor's passing, some twenty men applied for consideration for Superintendent. The Board of Directors met in Raleigh on November 25, 1946, and selected the Reverend Alan DeLeon Gray, a Methodist minister and graduate of the Duke Divinity School. Eli Troy Regan, a 1929 graduate of Elon College, joined the orphanage staff that year as the athletic director for boys and served as the first football coach at the orphanage. The team chose the name "Red Devils." Regan served for 42 years at the Orphanage: 14 years as football coach, 14 as principal of John Nichols School, and 14 as assistant superintendent under Mr. Gray. The Oxford Orphanage Singing Class, well known throughout the state, discontinued their travels in 1942 due to World War II gasoline and tire rations. The singing class had not only provided great financial support for the Home, but also was an excellent public relations vehicle. The mid-forties also marked the last St. John's Day celebration for some time, due to the war and the polio epidemic. After the war the Singing Class returned in the form of the John Nichols School Choruses – a boys' chorus, girls' chorus, mixed chorus, boys' quartets, girls' quartets, and so on. Glancing through issues of The Log, the Orphanage's year book, from these years yields records of these groups attending competitions around the state and returning with superiors and other awards. A favorite trip of the Singing Class, Chorus, and later the church choir was the annual Mocksville Picnic, held on the second Thursday of each August. The Eastern Star Ladies and Masonic wives of the Mocksville, Advance and Farmington Lodges collaborate to hold an extremely popular outdoor pot luck dinner, charging admission to raise funds for the orphanage. The children performed a small concert beforehand and afterward enjoyed an afternoon of carnival rides there on the grounds. The Mocksville Picnic was begun in the 19th century and continues to this day. The year 1951 saw the cornerstones laid for Masters Cottage (Jan. 23) and the York Rite Memorial Chapel (Apr. 30), which are still in use. The basement of the chapel was used for theatrical productions and assemblies for years, and now holds the education facilities of the Home. Masters Cottage was named because of earlier social conventions dictating that young men be called “Master John” etc, the tradition continued on the campus. The Cottage young boys aged between Baby Cottage and 1-B; it now houses "Independent Living" students who attend college elsewhere but still call the Orphanage home. Construction began on the Creasy K. Proctor Recreation Center on Apr. 6, 1955, the cornerstone laid by Maurice Parham and A. Leon Gray. The building houses a full-sized gymnasium, two large classrooms, large training rooms in the basement and full locker room facilities. The orphanage laid the second cornerstone for the new St. John's Administration Building on June 24 of the same year. The building was occupied in March 1959, eight months before the laying of the cornerstone for the new dining hall and kitchen building, which was connected to the rear of the administration building. Beginning in 1964 the older boys' and girls' cottages were torn down and new cottages constructed. Nine new buildings were completed and named in honor of past employees or benefactors. The cottages were constructed of cinderblock and brick for about $255,000 each. The first floor of each cottage offers spacious living and study areas, as well as a small kitchen, washer/dryer rooms and apartments for the cottage parents. The second floors contain 14 rooms for students and a large central bath and shower room. In 1965 the Royster Building burned. General Royster was a lawyer in Oxford, a friend of the Home from its inception, and the only Grand Master from Oxford. His namesake building housed little girls aged between Baby Cottage and 1-G and was located about where Brown Cottage is today. The girls lived in the Hicks hospital until Brown Cottage was completed. In its later years, Hicks was used to house each cottage as one of the older buildings was torn down and replaced with the newer structure. The Blue Lodge Vocational Building was completed in late 1965, providing a new home for the electrical, woodworking and printing departments. In 1996 several rooms in the Blue Lodge building were converted to house the Sally Mae Ligon Archives, begun at the hands of Mrs. Pat Colenda. In 1968 the old School of Printing building, the School of Electricity and the Shoe Shop along College street was demolished and a modern home constructed in its place. The home first housed the Dean of Students and today houses the Treasurer. In the same year another house was built along College Street next to the Superintendent's house; it has traditionally housed the Chaplain. In 1973 the Oxford Orphanage Red Devils switched from football to soccer due to equipment costs. The football field saw its last use in the fall of 1972, and Brent Stewart was hired as the orphanage's first soccer coach. The large corn field behind the Proctor Gymnasium was levelled and converted into a soccer and baseball field. The original baseball field was located where the Olympic pool is now, with home plate by the farm office and center field to the rear of Master's Cottage. Superintendent Gray retired in 1973. Henry F. Flowers succeeded him, but resigned shortly afterwards. Johnny Ferguson had been chosen to succeed Flowers, but was terminated in five months. The Board selected Robert Winston as superintendent in 1975. Under his administration the old Hicks hospital building was destroyed and an infirmary was installed in the second floor of the St. John's administration building. In 1976 Winston and Grand Master Les Garner reinstated St. John's Day celebration, which hadn't been held since World War II. Initially, the celebration was rather small and held on Sunday – attendance hovered around three or four hundred. The parade lined up behind the Treasurer's Residence, went nearly around “The Circle,” and returned to the field behind Flowers and Regan cottages. The first units included the Sudan Band and the color guard. In following years the parade outgrew the campus, but local churches protested a parade past their sanctuaries during worship hour. The celebration was moved to Saturday, and attendance exploded to its present size. The first entertaining act was to be Frances Bavier, known as Aunt Bea from Andy Griffith, but she took ill and couldn't attend. They then tried to schedule Don Knotts but he had other obligations. They finally settled on Chub Sewell, a lawyer and public speaker from Carthage. In 1974, the next year, a country music act was scheduled. Winston resigned in 1981 and "Gabe" Austell was hired on May 25 of the same year. He left the Home on Feb. 3, 1984, and Don Moul succeeded him on Aug. 1, 1984. Moul left the home on Mar. 29,
