Wilkes County Training School's Class of 1961 held its 45th reunion at the end of last month and members gathered at White Columns in Thomson for the celebration. The Wilkes County Training School's Class of 1961 celebrated its 45th reunion on June 30 and July 1, 2006, with a picnic, tour, and banquet.

The class ventured to Elijah Clark State Park for a fun-filled day of picnicking and other outdoor activities beginning at noon on June 30.

At noon on July 1, the class toured the Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High/Middle School facility which was Wilkes County Training School in 1961.

The banquet held at Best Western White Columns Inn in Thomson and began at 6:30 p.m.

Members of the class attending the reunion along with their guests were James Thomas Bradford of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Betty Virginia Booker Jones and Ann Dill Brown of Atlanta; Mae Helen Burns Mays and James Louis Mays of Stone Mountain; Gloria Jean Combs Mims of New Haven, Connecticutt; Katie Mae Davis Zellars of Baltimore, Maryland; Rosa Mae Hampton Durrah of Riverdale, Georgia; Samuel Harris of Dolton, Illinois; Alvin Delano Hill of Wichita, Kansas; Ben Allen Hull of Cincinnati, Ohio; Frank Jones of Florence, South Carolina; Rosa Marie Mattox Hubbard of Elberton; Fred Douglas Mays of Hillside, New Jersey; Norman Gene Parker of Omaha, Nebraska; Frank Styles of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Ralph B. Willis of Glenwood, Illinois; Elease Wilson Smith of Newark, Delaware; George Howard Wingfield of Brooklyn, New York; Dan Wilkerson of Tignall; Robert Louis Bankston of Rayle; and Shirley Anderson Willis, John Robert Jackson, Carlton Kendrick, Kay Frances Miller Finnell, Tom Wylie Richardson, Bertha Mae Sims, Rosetta Smith, Mary Williams, and Curtis Willis - all of Washington.

Former teachers of the Class of 1961 in attendance were Mrs. Thelma McLendon Dill of Decatur, Georgia, and Mrs. James Ella Mays of Washington.