In 1902, William Arch Dunavant made the county a deed for a lot to build a school building. This lot began at the north west corner of the church and went west 100 yards and turned south 50 yards to Charlie Haggard's line. The first building built on the lot was a log cabin with a fireplace for heat in the winter. The students sat on benches hued from logs.

The second building was a frame building covered with strips. It was built after the log cabin was torn down. This is where the second generation of Dunavants went to school. Lizzie Maddox was one of the teachers who taught in this building. We couldn't find much information about this building.

The third and last building was built in 1916. It was a frame building covered with weather boarding and painted white with glass windows and wooden doors. The inside walls were covered with pine. The ceiling painted white. A sand box was in the center of the room and a cast iron stove sat in the sand box. Stove pipes went up to a flue at the top of the ceiling.

A stage was at the west end of the building. Chalk boards were on the wall. A long bench was on the stage. We sat on this bench to have our lessons. We had double desks to sit on. There was a place under the top of the desk to keep our books.

We started to school the first of July and went about two months until cotton was ready to pick. We picked cotton until the first of November and went back to school to finish the school year. The school year was 8 months. We bought our books. Most of us used a Little Giant tablet that cost only 5 cents. We used a penny pencil. We didn't have a pencil trimmer. If we broke the lead, we got the teacher to trim the pencil with a knife.

We had a water bucket and a dipper. Everyone drank from the same dipper. We got our water from a spring at the bottom of the hill. Two students went to the spring to get the water. We didn't have any outside toilets. The girls went down the road to the west of the school. The boys went across the road to the east. In the late thirties or early forties the WPA built some toilets on the outside.

We all brought our own lunch to school. The members of one family usually brought their lunch in a large pail and they all got together to eat lunch. In the summer, some of us brought milk and put it in the spring to keep it cool. When we finished eating we got to play until the bell rang. We had two recess periods; one about ten 0 'clock and one about two. We came to school at eight o'clock and stayed until four.

We didn't have any playground equipment. We made balls from the yarn of an old sock and had a stick for a bat. We went to the woods and cut a grape vine for a rope to jump. We all had a good time at recess.

In the winter when it snowed, we didn't stop school. Everyone walked to school. We went rain or shine. At recess we rolled big balls of snow and made two forts. The boys, got behind the forts and had snowball fights. Thegirls made snowballs for the boys to throw. At Christmas the boys went out and cut a big cedar tree and put it up on the stage. We decorated it with strings of popcorn and red balls. We hung gifts on the tree. We had a short program and Santa Claus passed out the gifts. We got off one day for Christmas vacation and that was Christmas day.

One teacher taught all eight grades until 1932. At that time our enrollment increased and another teacher was added. They put a partition in the building and made two rooms. One teacher taught the upper grades and another teacher taught the first through the fourth grades.

In the summer when the revival meeting was held at the church, the teacher took us to church. We also got out of school for funerals. The last year I attended the school, Mr. Weldon Welch was my teacher. Mrs. Dorothy Thompson was the other teacher. When I finished the eighth grade we had to go to Decaturville school to take a test. All the eighth grade students in the county had to take the test at Decaturville. You had to pass the test before you could go to high school. Georgia Sykes, Iona Thomas and Delilah Myracle took the test in 1934.­ We all passed the test.

We had one emergency during our school days. Some fourth grade girls struck a match to some dry leaves and set the woods on fire. We had to help put the fire out.

On the last day of school, we had a spelling bee and an arithmetic match in the morning. In the afternoon we had a short program and got our report cards. The the teacher gave each one of us a stick of candy.

Mr. Noah Milam taught the last school in 1952-1953. The county sold the building and the church got the property.

Mrs. Delilah Myracle, a retired Decatur County school teacher, presented a history of the Dunavant School at the first school reunion in September of 1990. Mrs. Myracle left a copy to be placed in the Decatur County Library before her tragic death in an automobile accident on October 30, 1991. Her two children, Bobby and Anita are pleased that copies of her presentation are being made available to help the Decatur County Library.

Delilah (Dunavant) Myracle was born 02 October 1920. She was married to Edwin Myracle 27 December 1942. He was born 15 September 1920 and died 11 April 2003. Both are buried at Campground Cemetery in Decaturville.
My hope in presenting this story, is to keep this little history alive - so many times these little country schools are forgotten.