“To seek knowledge is to achieve honor.”

That was the theme of Friday night’s Founders Day program at Thomas Hunter, as the current Mathews County middle school paid tribute to its roots as a school for the county’s Black students beginning in 1927. The pride in the education that Thomas Hunter High afforded to the county’s Black youth in the days before integration was on full display.

People filled the school’s J. Murray Brooks Auditorium (which was dedicated at a Founders Day program in 2015 to the memory of the man who served as the school’s principal from 1933 to 1961) to reminisce with old friends and give thanks. The room was decorated with yearbooks, newspaper articles and other mementoes, with the TV screens also displaying school photos from the past.

Thomas Hunter School graduates Fannie Ware and Leslie Willis were among those who shared their reflections, as well as longtime Thomas Hunter teacher Charlene Small.

The program also included a special recognition o...