Norma Kimzey & Ernestine Upchurch: Supporters of the African American Community
Norma Kimzey is a Scottish immigrant who came to Haywood County in 1968. She taught first grade at Hazelwood Elementary School and remembers Ms. Osborne fondly. After the consolidation of the Pigeon Street School, Ms. Osborne was assigned to teaching the second grade at Hazelwood Elementary School. Coming from a multicultural atmosphere in Scotland, the primarily white demographics of the segregated South came as a cultural shock to Kimzey. She recalled, "I remember feeling and thinking how would it be to be the only black person in this all-white environment...there were fewer kids in Ms. Osborne's class, and of course we were all loaded with thirty-plus kids. One day, I just thought 'well I wonder what's happening with that'".
Ernestine Upchurch worked for the Department of Public Welfare and assisted the children of Pigeon Street School. She has contributed greatly to collecting the history of the Pigeon Street School and its prominent alumni and staff such as Ms. Osborne. Her detailed information about Pigeon Street School can be found in the History of Haywood County Schools located in the Haywood County Library, Pigeon Street School, and with the Haywood County Schoolboard.
