Cramerton holds onto its school traditions with reunion
By Steven Jones
November 29, 2007 Gateway Gazette
Growing up in mill villages in the 1930s and ‘40s was tough, according to Hugh Johnston, Cramerton High graduate and president of the alumni group 45 Forever.

As a child, his parents worked in textile mills all across the area, moving from one town to the other as the natural boom-and-bust cycles of the local economy forced some mills to close and others to open.

Johnston and his family bounced around, working where they could and struggling to keep food on the table and the family fed.

Until they moved to Cramerton.

“Up ‘til then, we’d been poor. After moving to Cramerton, we had money,” Johnston said.

But, perhaps the best thing about living in the town built by textile engineer Stuart Warren Cramer was going to school at Cramerton High.

In 1924, Cramerton graduated its first class. In 1969, it graduated its 45th.

Now Cramerton High alumni want to share their legacy with the rest of the world.

The thing about Cramerton High...
For Johnston and other graduates of the original Cramerton High, the school was an inspiration and a community. Growing up in mill villages all over the place, Johnston said coming to Cramerton was a joy.

“We ate better, dressed better, had recreational facilities, better teachers,” Johnston said. “It was just an ideal place for young people to grow up in.”

Cramerton High was founded as part of Cramer’s model mill village in 1910, when Cramer bought Cramerton Mills from industrialist J.H. Hays, according to the town’s Web site.

He immediately constructed mill homes and facilities for his workers.

Cramer was dedicated to improving the lives of his workers and their children, Johnston said.

“He’s quoted as saying, ‘We make a little cloth down here but children are our most important product,’” Johnston said.

In keeping with the quote, Cramer built Cramerton High with quality in mind.

He paid teachers a supplement to compete with larger communities and schools, hiring what Johnston said were some of the best educators he’d ever had.

He built top-notch facilities, including a gymnasium complete with an indoor pool, a billiards room and a bowling alley. The gym is still used by the town of Cramerton as a recreational facility, Johnston said.

Cramer also built the area’s first fully lighted ballfields, so night games could be played.

“We had as nice a facility as in the whole country,” Johnston said.

It paid off, too, according to Johnston.

Cramerton High graduated all manner of successful young adults.

In Johnston’s class alone, about 50 percent of its graduates went on to college. Many of them served in the armed forces.

Even during high school, the kids turned out all right. They excelled academically, Johnston said, and athletically, winning several state championships.

Which wasn’t bad for a graduating classes as small as 41 students, like Johnston’s class, the Class of 1945.

In fact, Johnston said, the school did so well athletically that some of the bigger schools in Charlotte and Gastonia stopped playing them altogether.

“I think they underestimated Cramerton ‘til they started getting beat,” Johnston said.

And then
In 1969, Cramerton High closed down. The Cramerton Elementary School stayed open, until 1994, and a new school was opened in 1995. But alumni like Johnston didn’t want to let the hallowed halls be forgotten.

In 1987, Johnston was living in Dixie Apartments, years after graduating. He had kept in touch with eight other graduates from the Class of 1945 — they called themselves the Tramps — and they started talking about getting a reunion together.

As they did, other members from other classes discussed joining in, until finally they had all 45 graduating classes represented, from 1924 to 1969.

“It just kept spreading,” Johnston said.

Altogether, Johnston said, there were about 1,000 graduates. Johnston and others set up committees, gathered names and got organized.

Finally, in 1989, 45 Forever was organized enough to hold its first reunion on July 4 at the Sheraton in Charlotte. At the first reunion, 45 Forever honored the school’s founder, Stuart Warren Cramer.

Following the first reunion, 45 Forever held two more. In 1991, the group honored its teachers and principals. In 1994, Forever incorporated, organized more and updated its records to include everyone’s address, Johnston said.

Now, on Dec. 1-2, 45 Forever will hold its fourth reunion, which Johnston said is important to the organization. Less than 10 years after the first reunion, 45 Forever’s memberships has more than halved, dwindling to about 450 members.

“We’ve lost a lot to attrition,” he said.

The group’s oldest graduate comes from the class of 1938, a little more than 10 years after the school’s founding.

Also, Johnston said, the group will have to make some solid decisions about the future and its legacy.

Some 45 Forever members want to turn the old Cramerton High gym into a museum honoring its storied graduates and heritage. The museum will consist of displays and exhibits that will not interfere with the gym’s current function as a recreation center, Johnston said. The city has already signed off on the idea, he said.

This reunion will also give the organization a chance to see if there’s enough interest to continue with the plan from all of 45 Forever’s members. Also, Johnston said the group might establish an annual meeting to continue with its activities and plans.

Looking back and looking ahead
After spending 11 years in Cramerton schools and graduating in 1945, Johnston said the memory of the high school and what it meant to him is still strong.

“If you wanted to know everybody, you knew everybody,” Johnston said. “You (got) exposed to your seniors, your juniors, your heroes, role models.”

Johnston said the school and the community featured a sense of belonging and security that probably doesn’t exist anymore.

And now, 45 Forever will continue to honor that and the legacy of its graduates for as long as possible, he said. Hopefully, the museum will be a part of that.

“We want to make it into a real showplace that will attract national attention,” Johnston said.

It can’t happen soon enough, he said.

“We’ve lost a lot of people,” Johnston said. “We were afraid we’d lose too many if we put (the reunion) off six months.”