Editor’s Note: This article is the first in a five-part series during the month of March celebrating Wardlaw Academy’s 40th Anniversary.

“The present of today will be the past of tomorrow; and today, the stepping stones of quality education are being laid for our future generations. These stones have been made possible through self-sacrifice, self-reliance, nonconformity, ingenuity and industry of many patrons. For these dedicated people, we are grateful and pray that each new stone laid will be an attempt at improvement and betterment of this our beginning.” – Wardlaw Academy Yearbook, The Sentry (1971)

JOHNSTON – Saying that a school was started by a pot of hash is a bit of a stretch.

But it’s not as much of a stretch as you might think after talking with one of the men who was there actually stirring a pot four decades ago.

Theo Williams remembers cooking pot after pot of hash on into many long nights during the fundraising process for the school that would eventually become Francis Hugh Wardlaw Academy.

The building that would be built was still months away from completion, but he and other likeminded individuals like him shared a dream and this hash was going to lead them there – one pot at a time. Like many an American dream, it eventually became a reality. And both the current facility located just off of Highway 23 and the approximately 700 graduates who have walked its halls since those days 40 years ago are a testament and lasting legacy to their strength and determination.

But back then very few things seemed certain.

“It sure doesn’t seem that 40 years have gone by since then,” said Mr. Williams on Tuesday. “The situation like it was we were just happy to see it going, and we’re still happy to see it going. If it hadn’t been for the Westside (and the support of people living there) it never would have been built. People like Charles Stone, who was the first chairman of the board, really made things happen. The problem back then was raising the funds, so yeah, we used to cook hash all night back then.We were just doing what we could to make some money. They don’t do it now like we did it back then.”

When he cracks a smile in reference to the way it was done back then, it’s because the pots of hash are something of a legend. These days the fundraisers still go on, just like next Monday when the school will host its 26th Annual Patriot Pride Auction and BBQ.

But the choice meat now is chicken and the hours kept aren’t quite as long.

Williams, who would later serve as chairman of the school’s board, passed on his love for the school to his family as well. Three of his four children are Wardlaw Graduates and he still has six grandchildren parading the halls of the school. And to hear him tell it, he has a bigger stake in the school now than he ever did.

But that’s just a grandfather talking, right?

“I have more of a stake in it now than I ever did, that’s for sure,” he says after mentioning his grands. “We want to make sure we keep it going.”

When talk turns to the school’s future, that’s where he turns to his daughter, Martha Williams

Sanders, a 1982 Wardlaw graduate who has come full circle after recently being elected to serve as the school’s new board chairman following the resignation of Trace Faust and an interim term of service by Reg Williams, Martha’s brother.

You could say that service to Wardlaw Academy is sort of a Williams family business.

And it’s a business they want to see well into the next 40 years.

“We didn’t know that we didn’t have things back then because of the way our parents and the teachers treated us and cared for us,” she said of the school’s early days. “I remember eating on the picnic tables and just being here a lot. But it was because the parents came in and cleaned on the weekends. There were no janitors then. The teachers we had then definitely weren’t teaching here for the money. They did it because they loved teaching and they loved us. It’s still that way today.

“We want to uphold and keep the same Christian values that we’ve always had while looking toward the future with technology and making sure that we have the classes and things that we need for our students to go on and be successful wherever they go or in whatever they want to do. We’ll always have those ‘three R’s’ here, but we want to keep up with new technology and that’s what we’ve been doing. I’d also like to see my daughter and nieces and nephews have their children here to continue the tradition that was started by that first (Wardlaw) generation.”

The stones laid by that first generation have proven solid enough to hold for four decades and counting.

Not too shabby for a few pots of hash and a dream.  

Upcoming Events at Wardlaw Academy

Wardlaw Academy 26th Annual Patriot Pride Auction & BBQ

On Monday, March 8, 2010 at the Wardlaw Gymnasium with dinner from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and a verbal auction at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a Silent Auction and raffles. Admission and BBQ is $10 and take-out plates are available. Call 275-4794 for information and tickets

Wardlaw Academy Community-Wide Open House

March 16, 2010, 5 – 7 p.m.
This is an informal drop-in for potential new families to tour our facilities, meet our faculty and staff, visit with other parents, and learn more about Wardlaw Academy. Registration for K4 & K5 is the evening of Open House and March 17, 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Call 275-4794 for more information.