Posted by Gary M '66 on 10/26/2007, 4:37 pm, in reply to "Great family memories" So glad you could connect with your DNA blood lines to find that you and Robert L. Sweeney were related. Wilson High School had 2 principles covering the first 42 years of the schools existence. Your grandfather was one of them. Since his retirement from that position in 1950, a period of 57 years, there have been no, less than 12 people who’ve held the same position. When you change the captain of the ship that many times… there are going to be lots of problems. Times have change in general and WWHS is no exception to that rule. I attended Wilson High from 1962-66. Many of my teachers worked under your grandfather and spoke fondly of him. Apparently he had a whistle he always wore around his neck and he would go out in the hallways just after classes had changed and blow the whistle at students who were tardy to class or just hanging around. He also wore tennis shoes and would run down the tardy ones and chase them into class! It must have been the grand faux pas of the day to have Dr. Sweeney blow his whistle at you! Many times I heard older teachers say…”That would never happen around here today if Bob Sweeney was still running the ship”! As I said, it was long before my time but his reputation outlasted him. Regarding the words to the Alma Mata, they have long since vanished. The current Wilson High is simply a façade of the former school. Portsmouth is one of the most economically strapped cities in Virginia and the students at Wilson High are representative of that very impoverishment. I, along with thousands of my fellow classmates, left Portsmouth many years ago and the remaining decaying city is not a pretty site. People from Portsmouth will always tell you that “things are looking up”. But the truth is, they’re not. Wilson High School no longer has a band, orchestra, chorus, and a fraction of its competitive sports teams and a football team that’s lost 28 in a row. There’s no money, no parental interest (70% of the students come from unwed mothers in single parent homes), and a general class of student that is uneducatable. For many years, the school lost its accreditation… although I’m not sure if it is or is not currently accredited? The bottom line is, if your grandfather was around today, he’d be hanging his head low and wondering what happened to the worthwhile institution he helped build and foster to excellence? Gary M.
70.155.70.112
Hi Sue,
WWHS Class of ‘66
Portland, Oregon
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