Wagener's water operator, Daryl Cooper was recognized and named "South Carolina Water Operator of the YEAR" by the South Carolina Rural Water Association. Well earned and deserved! We in Wagener are fortunate to have Mr. Daryl Cooper providing excellent service for our town and its people. Congratulations Daryl!
Carol Bodie, pictured with the other inductees for 2018
By Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly
Former WSHS graduate Carol Hoover Bodie was inducted into the South Carolina Basketball Officials Association (SCBOA) Hall of Fame on March 28, 2018, becoming the first woman ever to be inducted. Bodie is a trailblazer in the world of SC high school sports. She was the first female in the state to officiate a high school state final. In 2006, she was awarded as girls’ basketball official of the year and she was the first woman to officiate an all-star game. She’s not sure how many state finals she has done in her 26 years of officiating, but it’s been more than a few.
Previously, Bodie has served three years as a district director and three years as an assistant district director in the SCBOA, responsible for the training and the education of officials, as well as scheduling officials for sub-varsity games, scrimmages, jamborees and holiday tournament games. In SC, varsity scheduling is administered by the SC High School League. The better the official, the better game he or she gets to officiate.
Bodie officiates varsity basketball and volleyball. SCBOA’s regulations prevent officials from officiating varsity basketball games at their alma mater, so she has not officiated a game at WSHS; however, Bodie has officiated several varsity volleyball games here. She’s been calling high school volleyball for 16 years and she did the lines in college volleyball for 2 years.
“I’ve made a lot of friends over the years,” Bodie said, referring to other officials. “They’re like family.” It is this “family” that Bodie credits for getting her through her husband’s recent illness and death after nearly 40 years of marriage.
By Valerie Sliker, Courtesy Wagener Monthly
The A.L. Corbett Class of ’65 hit the road once again bound, this time, for the SC State House. It was a breezy, cool first-of-Spring day with the white tea olive blooms and the pink Judas tree buds surrounding us as we gathered at the foot of the Wade Hampton monument.
The class took seats in the balcony to observe the House of Representatives as they concluded their deliberations for the day. Before closing, Representative Bill Taylor introduced the Class of ’65 and had them stand. Taylor highlighted the class history from the one-room schoolhouse and being the last of the segregated schools. The representatives gave the class a standing ovation.
When the House adjourned, the State House photographer took an official photo of the class with Representative Bill Clyburn and Representative Joe Jefferson outside between the columns on one of the State House porticos. The class then had thirty minutes in the comfortable main lobby to chat with these legislators as well as with Representative Lonnie Hosey.
Representative Bill Taylor, coming from a television interview, then guided the class into the emptied House to explain the legislative process. He took the time to explain the traditions, the mace, the Well, and the speaking and voting process.
“I’m privileged to serve you and represent you in the House,” Taylor began speaking with the class. “It looks chaotic from up in the balcony, but there is a lot going on. I have a bill about driving under the influence of electronics. We voted on the education committee today. It has had 4 sub committees and it will be on the floor when we come back.” The House is taking a furlough until April 3.
Class of '65 Reunion Bus Tour
Article by Valerie Sliker, Courtesy Wagener Monthly
The A. L. Corbett High School Class of 1965 celebrated their 50th reunion on Friday, June 5, 2015 through Sunday, June 7th, 2015. Back in the day, the school did not have the funds to publish yearbooks and the class lamented the fact that they had no yearbooks to look back on, so they created one, a current one, the A. L. Corbett High School Class of 1965 – Fiftieth Class Reunion which they gave to each classmate at the reunion.
The Class of ’65 was the last group to have attended one room schoolhouses before the state consolidated into multiroom structures in 1954. In light of this significance, they thought it was important to place this memory book in the Wagener Library, the Wagener Museum, the A. L. Corbett Middle School and the Aiken County Museum where it is available to the public.
Thirty-nine students graduated from A. L. Corbett High School in 1965. Most of them had transferred there in seventh grade and had come from the Sardis Elementary School in Salley, SC. Sardis was built in 1954 when the state consolidated one and two room schoolhouses into multiroom structures. The one room elementary schools in our area also included Cedar Grove, Friendship, Gum Ridge, Jerusalem Branch, Oaki Nora, Ocean Grove, Perry, Piney Grove School (in the Skillet), Round Top Colored, Snowville, Union Academy, Union Hill, and Wagener Colored Elementary.
Sardis taught black students from first grade through sixth and was a feeder school for the A. L. Corbett High School in Wagener. Sardis Elementary closed in 1974, soon after school integration in 1970, and its students were bused to A. L. Corbett.
The Wagener Police Department has reinstituted well-being checks, a system in which a registered town resident receives a weekly visit from a police officer just to check up on their well-being. Officers will visit with the resident and ask if there's anything he or she needs weekly and after a severe storm. In some situations, this has proven to be a life-saving service. WPD Chief Greg Stanford said the well-being checks are advantageous to a small town, reminiscent to a time gone by and "one of the more enjoyable parts" of his job. A resident must call the town hall to be placed on the list for a well-being check.