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Education Building – Past, Present, and Future
by Fern Richie
On Sunday, October 25 we celebrated the 80th birthday of West End’s Education Building. When the building was first contemplated, church members desired a sacred and fit space for Sunday School classes. While Sunday School continues to serve as a major Christian formation experience for many, a look back reveals that our Education Building has been “home” to many other groups and activities that have added additional opportunities for education, connection, and healing within the Christian context.
The Education Building has served children and youth in many ways. Vacation Bible School, Summer Music Camp, the Pre-School Ministries, and basketball in the gym all serve to give our young people a place and purpose to learn about our faith and to grow as children of God.
West End Kindergarten inset by Susan Sandlin
On September 8, 1947 West End UMC opened the West End Kindergarten. Members of the church promoted the idea of opening a half – day kindergarten which would serve children of the church as well as the community. The founders had 3 goals in mind when the kindergarten was formed: to provide a high quality kindergarten for the children of the church and community; to establish a scholarship fund which would ensure that children from all economic backgrounds could attend West End’s kindergarten; to assume a leadership role within the Nashville community – even the State – in showing others how to create and sustain a quality preschool program.
Quality has always been a part of the description and expectation. West End Day School was licensed before it was required in 1953 and in the mid 70s was the second preschool in the city to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Throughout the years teachers and administrators have been encouraged to take leadership in professional organizations, to continue their education through participation in conferences and workshops, to mentor other programs who were struggling with the challenges of operating a sound preschool program.
The initial year of the West End Kindergarten was 1947-1948. Dr James W. Henley was the Senior Minister at the time. Mrs. Miller Kimbrough was “chairman of the Kindergarten Board.” Miss Hallie Loftin was “Religious Education Director.” Alma Williams was the first director. Martha Street was the assistant along with Sara Hester, Gladys Mann, and Mrs. John Sweitzer. The largest rooms on the first floor of the Education wing were used as classrooms, those we currently use for four and five year old Sunday School classes. The closet off the Fours class was built as the school’s kitchen.
Some of the children who attended this first year of West End Kindergarten that first year were Bettie Bright, Bobby Evans, Butch Stallings, Ricky Jones, Tip Taylor, Ray Bell, Oren Owen, Sissy Kimbrough, Kittie Sensing, Martin Key, Jimmy Miller, Katie Bensen, Mary Hays Williamson, Frank Winkler, Mary Guess, Bert Phillips, Susan Willingham, Sheila Gore, Frances Holt, Donald Smith, Anne Helm, Billie Shahan, Martha Duncan, George Murff, Martha Duncan, Edwin Anderson, Tommy Bumpus, Raymond Crowe, Steve Harper, Roy Franklin Hinkle, Carolyn Gentry. A picnic att the Wennings, outings to Centennial Park, birthday and Halloween parties, snow scenes, end of the year celebrations were all part of the educational experience.
The goals and aspirations of the founders of the West End Kindergarten guide the work of West End Weekday Preschool today. We continue to offer a high quality preschool program for the members of West End and the community. We maintain a scholarship fund for those in need. Proceeds from the Children’s Clothing sale benefit this scholarship fund. Our teaching staff is educated and experienced. 16 out of 24 full-time teachers have bachelor degrees while 4 have masters degrees. We have a 3 Star license, the highest awarded by the State of Tennessee. West End Weekday Preschool continues to be accredited by NAEYC. We are carrying out the dreams of our ancestors.
Small groups have long served to bring West Enders together to study the Bible, and in doing so, to forge caring and nurturing relationships. I remember my own Disciple I study in the 1990’s. Earl Beasley and Carla Beach were part of that group. We often spoke of how the small groups gave us the opportunity to “dig deep” when it came to trying to understand the Bible. Years later, when I was hospitalized for depression, my Disciple group came to the hospital to feed me with the bread and cup. I knew then that my group not only had an intellectual understanding of the Bible, they were living the Word.
West End has long reached out to the community, and encouraged groups to use the Education Building to further causes for education and healing. Many 12-step recovery groups have found West End to be a welcoming place where people find others who are struggling and who support one another. The first Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting in Tennessee was held in our Education Building and from it hundreds of NA meetings across Tennessee have spawned. Our Education Building has also been home to Tying Nashville Together, a group of people of faith whose aim is to further the quality of life for all Nashvillians.
Prayer, an essential means of grace, takes place on a regular basis in the Education Building. Members of WEUMC have gathered over the years to pray for members of the church, for the church, and for God’s will to prevail in our midst.
Cathy Shull sums up perfectly the meaning of the Education Building: “The Education Building at West End has played a pivotal role in my faith development…it has been a container of God’s grace. It is where I first brought my children for Christian instruction and where my husband and I joined a Sunday School class ourselves in which we began our Discipleship journey. I taught Sunday School for 10 years or so. My faith was further deepened by participating in many Bible study classes in this building, going on to lead some studies myself. I am a different person as a result of my deepening faith that has been awakened, questioned and nurtured – all within the walls of this building.”
So much has happened over the years in our Education Building. It really wasn’t the building that we celebrated last week, but the transformation of people, you, me and many others, that has occurred in the building that we celebrated. Think about what the next 80 years might bring! Let’s be intentional about our Education Building being a place where all can come to learn, to pray, to play, to heal, and to connect in God’s loving grace.
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