The Oakdale School in 1930.

A Vocational School At Oakdale

By Miss E. E. O'Connor - Founder Of Oakdale - 1930

In a beautiful little valley near Oakdale, Kentucky, in Breathitt County, just across the road from the L. and N. Railroad lies Oakdale Vocational School. Fifteen years ago missionaries came into this vicinity and began preaching until a work was established. Eight years ago in their mission hall they started a grade school. Christian workers have taught this school from year to year. It has grown not only in numbers, but in better methods and standards. The whole community of Oakdale has felt the effects of the mission and school teaching. What was once known as one of the most terrible spots for moonshine and shooting in the whole country is fast becoming a peaceful, law-abiding community.

Feeling the need of a building better equipped for school work, the few missionaries launched out by faith and began to plan for a larger and better school. Alex Wilson gave the land for the school, while other citizens of the community gave either money or labor. Passing by on the railroad last fall one could see excavation being made; later on the forms were filled with concrete, and soon the foundation was complete, and the the walls of a two-and-a-half-story building were erected. By April the outside of the building, to all appearances, was finished, although the inside work went on for several months.

On July 5, 1930, the building was formally opened by a big community day, and on July 22nd, the school opened with an enrollment of 80. On the first floor of the building are four class rooms, a library, and an office. All eight grades and the first year of high school are being taught. The principal of the school is Glen B. Rhodes, who, with his wife, came from Pennsylvania this summer. Mr. Rhodes teaches the seventh and eighth grades and some of the high school subjects. Miss Mildred E. Norbeck of Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, who has been in the mountain work for six years, teaches the high school. Miss Myrtle M. Anderson of Mercer, Pennsylvania, who taught the school as a whole two years previous, now teaches the first three grades. Miss Ethel Lucas of Bird Island, Minnesota, teaches the intermediate grades. Miss Harriet Francis, R. N., of Ohio, cares for the health of the school.

The second floor of the building is used for dormitory rooms. These are occupied by the teachers and the girl boarding students. The large half-story, as yet unfinished, is used for storage. The basement contains a dining room, kitchen, storeroom, manual training room, laundry, coal room, and furnace room.

At 8:00 each morning as the bell rings, the large gate opens, and the children are admitted to the playground for half an hour of play on swings, a slide, a croquet court, and a ball diamond. At 8:30, the chapel service is held, sometimes jointly by having all classes meet in the large assembly room, sometimes by each teacher in her own room. In addition to their ordinary school subjects the students are taught publish school music and art by Mrs. Rhodes. Sewing for the girls and manual training for the boys are taught in the upper grades. Since the mission school began the Bible has always been taught, and in our new school it is given a more prominent place than ever. Individual piano and art lessons are given to those desiring them.

Visitors are welcome at all times and to any class, but especially to the chapel services. Oakdale Vocational School, while built for the mountain boys and girls, is first a school for God's glory, built by faith in God and continued by consecrated workers with a deep love for God and a perishing world.

The school in 1939.

Miss Elizabeth E. O'Connor in 1939. - A founder of Oakdale.

The Founder Of The Oakdale Vocational School

By Price Tudor - 1930

Miss E. E. O'Connor, in her very interesting article concerning the Oakdale Vocational School, has very modestly kept herself in the background and has failed to mention many points of interest touching herself and her work in founding this school.

The reader who is acquainted with this community can visualize some of the difficulties which this noble woman has had to overcome. Oakdale is only a small flag station on the L. and N., and in a thinly settled community. The community is a backward one, with very poor roads, no churches and only a small district school. Many of the smaller children in this community were unable to attend school at all in severe weather, and religious instruction was almost an unknown quantity.

Miss O'Connor, in the comparatively short time she has been in this district, has worked wonders. Laboring under handicaps that would compel most of us to give up in disgust, she has, with the help of the fine body of Christian workers who are her assistants, built up a splendid school. She has a small, neat "meeting house" where services are held each Sunday. Several Sunday Schools in neighboring communities have been started and maintained by herself and her assistants. The fruits of the labor of the organization she has built up are daily becoming more apparent. The long rides on horseback, over almost impassable roads, to attend the sick and to comfort the relatives of those who have been called in death; the weary months and years of labor and self-denial, have won them the love and respect of all with whom they have come in contact. Her work is established on a firm basis, and she can now reach out after the larger sphere of service which is her aim.

In closing it might not be amiss to state that a great many pupils attending this school are orphans or of very poor parentage, and it is necessary for Miss O'Connor to feed and clothe them as well as to take care of their education. For this it is necessary that she have assistance, and any organization or individuals desiring to contribute to a benevolent enterprise can find no worthier institution to assist than this one. Gifts of clothing for children, books for the school library, canned fruits and foods, or of money would be greatly appreciate by this school, and should be made direct to Miss E. E. O'Connor at Oakdale, Kentucky.

Miss O'Connor in 1930.