Fire Destroys Oakdale School
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It was April 1969, and spring had arrived. That day had been a typical spring day in Tennessee.
Dogwoods were in bloom, colorful flowers dotted the landscape. The warm days let students know
the end of the school year was drawing closer and closer.
The Class of 1969 also knew graduation was very close at hand as they enjoyed the Florida sun and
fun on their senior trip to the Sunshine State.
On that evening in April, no one in Oakdale suspected that their little world would change overnight,
and that they would find themselves in the same situation that befell Harriman two months earlier.
Sometime around midnight, vandals broke into the school looking for money and food. After
thoroughly looting the building, they set the school on fire to cover their crimes.
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First people on the scene:
Newlyweds Steve and Karen (Summers) Kittrell
(both from the Class of 1966) lived in an
apartment behind Watson's Dime Store and
across from the playground and football field.
Karen was a 1st grade teacher at Oakdale.
They remember their dog waking them up
barking. Karen said that was unusual, but they
did not think anything of it. Steve put the dog in a
back room, and they went back to sleep only to
be awakened by a red glow beaming through their
dining room window.
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They raced to the window to see the school ablaze. Karen remembers being able to feel the heat
through the window even though they were quite a distance from the burning building
Steve and Karen hurriedly dressed and headed for the school. There they found Hollis Eble. Hollis
and Bessie lived several miles from town in the Piney community. Bessie doesn't remember who
called to tell them about the school, but Hollis was at the school within minutes of receiving the call.
Karen's classroom was on the second floor across from the library, and the fire had not reached that
part of the school. She, Steve, and Hollis raced into the building and up the stairs to her classroom
where they grabbed what they could. By the time they got outside, the fire had spread too much for
them to risk another trip inside the building.
Hollis and Steve headed to the gym and the storage rooms where the sports equipment was kept.
There was not enough time to carry things out, so they just threw things out the windows and down
the hill behind the school.
The fire was started by vandals trying to cover their crime. Several guys broke into the school to
steal food and money. One of them realized that he had lost his wallet somewhere in the building.
Knowing that if the wallet were found, they would all get caught and punished. They decided to cover
their crime by setting fire to the building. Karen remembers hearing that the fire was started close to
the typing room.
The vandals left the burning building on foot and headed up the hill behind the school cafeteria
where they hid their loot, planning to return when things had calmed down. However, their stash was
discovered very quickly and law officials waited for the vandals-turned-arsonists to return.
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Getting the News:
Most of the senior class was in Florida when the school was destroyed. Paul and Vera Scarbrough
were class sponsors and chaperones on the trip. Both recall getting the phone call about the school
and having to tell the seniors that the school was gone.
Vera says, "We had a great group, and the kids had worked really hard. Jo Moore Phillips was
president of the Senior Mother's Club, and we had raised a lot of money, doing car washes, candy
sales and the like. When we heard word from home that the school had burned to the ground, I
cried. I had spent my entire twelve years of schooling there. I knew every nook and cranny in that
beloved old building.... where to hang out during high school lunch, be it standing with your rear end
to the radiators in the winter to get warm, or on the high school steps shaded by the majestic oaks in
the summer to keep cool. I knew where to enter and exit for special programs, where to escape if I
were someplace I shouldn't be, and where to sit in the balcony for the best view to watch plays and
programs....that is, unless I was on the stage performing with my classmates. There was a beautiful
old baby grand piano that sat in the auditorium and on many occasions I had the privilege to play it.
There were special places to sit in the library for study hall that could make the librarian (most often
Ms. Hughes) think you were studying. When I returned to Oakdale to teach English, I kept all those
things close in my heart so that I might be a security guard for students who may have had the same
ideas as I."
She went on to say, "After the news sunk in that my alma mater was gone, I sent word to the
students to gather at the swimming pool at the motel (which is where they all stayed anyhow), and
Paul and I told them that someone had broken into the school and set fire to destroy the evidence."
Vera went on to say, "When Paul and I told the students about their school burning, they too cried,
then a dead silence fell on the student holiday the rest of the time we were there. I remember Reba
Croft saying, "Ms. Vera....maybe it's a joke or maybe it's just a dream"....but when the big Greyhound
bus came down the hill into Oakdale and went around under the 'bluff', all the students were up out of
their seats looking to see if what we were told had indeed happened."
Paul said: "When we pulled into the parking lot after our trip to Florida, I felt as if my own house had
burned. I truly loved the old building that held so many fond memories.
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Saving nearby homes:
There were two houses just below the school,
near the playground. One was the pastorium for
Oakdale First Baptist Church, and the other was
the home of Mrs. Chrissy Burris.
Paul and Vera Scarbrough were newlyweds and
were renting the pastorium. Vera recalls, " Hollis
Eble and a group of high school boys not on the
Florida trip were credited with saving our house
with all our new furniture in it. The fire was so
intense that the windows broke and the roof
melted, hanging down in large pieces. Hollis and
company even carried my piano out into the
street and had all of our furniture in the street, as
well, in case our house went, too. They saved
Mrs. Burris's house also, which was next to where
we lived."
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Finishing the school year:
There were several weeks of school left in the year. So Oakdale students could finish the year and
seniors could graduate, students and teachers were bussed to Coalfield School in the afternoons.
Coalfield students had class for five hours in the morning, and Oakdale students had class for five
hours in the afternoon.
Bessie Eble remembers having to travel to Coalfield everyday as most teachers rode the buses with
their students. She says the time at Coalfield was terrible. She didn't like the classroom or the trip
over there every day. She also remembers Hollis going out to Tennessee Tech (his college Alma
Mater) and asking for any old athletic equipment they could give him. Bessie says he received some
equipment, but she can't remember what he was given.
The Class of 1969 held their graduation ceremony at Piney Baptist Church. It was the largest church
in the Oakdale area for seating capacity.
As the months passed, the piles of brick, concrete, and twisted metal were removed. Eventually,
low-rent government housing occupied the site where generations of students studied, made friends,
met their sweethearts, played sports, and grew up. Although the "old" school is no longer there
physically, it will forever be in the memories of those who walked its halls throughout the years.
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