Al Forney: Former Student of Pigeon Street School
Al Forney was born in Waynesville in 1954. He attended the Pigeon Street School in his earliest years. Forney recalls how the staff at Pigeon Street School were strict yet loving. Teachers expected all their students to learn because they believed they were capable. Forney remembers playing sports afterschool with his friends in the field near the school.
When Haywood County Schools integrated in 1967, Forney went on to attend middle school at Waynesville Junior High. Upon graduating from Tuscola High School, Forney was a student at Western Carolina University for two years. In 1974, Forney began working for Champion Paper Mill in Canton where he still works today. Forney recalls how, although he succeed academically in the newly integrated schools, the loss of the Pigeon Street School hurt the African American community in Waynesville. People who used to do everything together no longer saw each other quite as much. Today Al Forney is involved with the Pigeon Multicultural Development Center as his wife, Lin, is director of the center.