Reyburn Peay Vance
(Please click on underlined words for a photograph or other image found on this website with the exception of the last one which appears on rootsweb.ancestry World Connect Project .)
My paternal grandfather, Reyburn Peay Vance, or "R. P." as he was often called, was born 24 September 1901 in Blocher of Saline County, Arkansas, to Robert Campbell "R. C." and Faithy Ann (Roberts Bradfield) Vance. A few months before his birth, his parents separated, and his mother went back to live with her mother (Mary Louisa "Polly" Houser Dickson Roberts) and one of her sisters. Along with Reyburn, Faithy gave birth to his twin brother, Clayburn Lee. [Grandpa's name was spelled Reyburn by my grandmother (Roxie); however, I suspect when he was born it was spelled Rayburn to agree with the spelling of his twin's name.] Faithy died eleven days after the babies were born, and they were raised by an elderly grandmother and a spinster aunt. The spinster aunt, "Aint Nory" as she was called, seemed to be the main caregiver. Her actual name was Mary Lenora Roberts. I knew they lived as children with their mother's family but knew nothing else. After looking at old photographs taken when the twins were small, I found they were raised by very loving people. There is one photograph taking at the Roberts home (probably about 1904) with about 20 people in the photo. There are children hanging out the windows and all the adults are lined up in two rows (with the children on the ends) with the exception of the two little boys sitting right in the middle front row. (Obviously the center of attention.)
Grandpa Vance was always very interested in learning. His father, R. C., had been a school teacher in Saline County as well as his grandmother, Mary Louisa way back in South Carolina. Grandpa did not seem to care for his father at all. The few times I asked him about his father, he told me, "I asked him for some money for school books when I was twelve, and he told me he didn't have any." This story seems odd to me, however, as I recently learned that Grandpa actually graduated from Benton High School rather than the county school where he would have attended while living in the western part of rural Saline County. I do not know if he was living with one of his half-brothers, half-sister, or, perhaps, his father.
Daddy told me that Grandpa was a great runner and won the foot race for Saline County when he was a teenager. (I find that story fascinating as Grandpa was a very dignified man, and I would have loved to have seen him in a foot race.) I have also been told that he worked for a bank in Little Rock and was fired as he had some "no-good" friends who kept coming to the bank. (I had never heard he worked for a bank by he or my grandmother so have no idea if that story is true at all but believe all family stories should be shared just in case some have at least a partial truth.)
Grandpa's family was rather hard to follow as he had two sets of half-siblings as well as a twin brother.
His half-siblings (all children of R. C. Vance) included Almyra Martin Vance Shoppach, Nettie Leah Vance Martin, Eugene Perry Vance, Henry Vance, Robert Harvey Vance, Hubert Carlton Vance, Enoch H. Vance. Henry might have been the same as Enoch H. or Robert Harvey.
His other half-siblings (all children of Faithy Ann Roberts) were Ida May Bradfield Jorden, Essie Maude Bradfield, Herbert O. Bradfield (died before Grandpa was born), and Louisa Elizabeth "Bess" Bradfield. The three Bradfield half-sisters all moved to Texas.
One of Grandpa's first job was as an enumerator of the 1920 U.S. Federal Census. The first family he enumerated in Marble Township, Saline County, was the family of his grandmother, Polly L. Roberts. He listed Polly L. Roberts, Norah Roberts, Eliza Peavy, Clayburn Vance, and Grace Roberts in dwelling 1, family 1. Notice he omitted his own name. He is not listed in the 1920 U.S. Federal Census anywhere. He is seen here riding his horse taking the census.
Family Life
Reyburn married Roxie Jane Caldwell 29 January 1922 at the home of her parents, James Monroe "Jim" and Rhoda Malinda James Caldwell, in Owensville, Saline County, Arkansas. The young couple's first child, Gerald Lawrence, was born 14 June 1923. A few years later, their second child, Willie Doyle, was born on 28 October 1926. Sometime between 1926 and 1930, the family moved to Benton and lived in the 500 block of North Street. [1930 U.S. Federal Census shows they owned their home on North Street in Benton.] Apparently, Grandpa had taken up selling cars for Cox Auto Agency. This was during the depression, and it appeared the auto business was not doing very well. He also took some classes at Benton High School 1930-31. About 1931, they also lived in Conway, Arkansas, where he attended classes at what was then Arkansas State Teachers College (now University of Central Arkansas). They may have moved to Sheridan as he graduated from Missionary Baptist College at Sheridan July 1932. He also attended classes (via correspondence) at what is now Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. Reyburn and Roxie bought some property by Roxie's parents in Owensville in 1934 and moved back to the farm where Roxie farmed, and Reyburn began working for Paron School.
Granny used to love to tell me a story about her needing to go to the garden and asked Grandpa to watch me. (I was very young.) She said he was always grading papers or tending to some kind of paperwork. (I wish I could write it the way she said it.) She came back from the garden and, there he was, in the living room with his head in his paperwork. She asked, "Where is the baby?" He shrugged as he probably had totally forgotten about me. She went into the kitchen, and I was up on the kitchen cabinet eating sugar out of the sugar bowl and smearing it on the kitchen windows. She did not say a word to me but went back and chastised him.
One night, Granny and Grandpa were staying at our house in Benton. I was probably about six and John (my brother) about three. John said, "Here, Grandpa, take this." Grandpa never looked up from his paperwork and took what John offered, and WHAM, the mouse trap slammed shut on his fingers. (Why we had access to a mouse trap I do not know.) Another time, Grandpa was asleep and John went in and painted his face with Momma's lipstick. We both got in trouble for for those of those acts of mischief.
One cannot talk about Grandpa without talking about the way he dressed. There is another photograph of the two boys (at about age two or three) standing in front of what looks to be a barn, all dressed in knickers and round-collared shirts each holding a rose. The first time I saw this photograph, I cried as I had never seen a photo of Grandpa as a child and did not even realize there was one. I don't think I ever saw him without a white shirt, tie, wing-tipped shoes and also a suit coat and dress hat when weather warranted. I imagine the influence of a group of women raising the two boys always made him interested in his appearance. I can still visualize him in the garden on the tractor in his white shirt, tie and dress shoes. I don't ever remember seeing him actually doing "farm work," the kind where you get down in the dirt. This was done by Granny and by his twin brother, Clay.
Clayburn Lee Vance, Grandpa's Twin Brother
Clay was Reyburn's twin. He began living with Granny and Grandpa sometime in the 1930s. I don't think it would have been possible for them to have had their farm without his help. Clay was a very quiet individual and hardly ever said anything to me. He was very close to my brother and to my uncle Gerald. My brother's son middle name is Clay after him. Clay was a jeweler in the 1920s and loved tinkering with radios and watches. It was pretty much a given that you gave Uncle Clay any old watch or radio so that he could work on it. He lived in a room on the back of their house which was more like a back porch, and he seemed to like it that way. This is a photograph of Uncle Clay in his little room. On the left-hand wall was a pump organ. I cannot remember, for the life of me, who it originally belonged to. I think it was Granny Vance's mother's (Rhoda James Caldwell). Uncle Clay could play the organ, however, and did play it for me occasionally. He was so shy and had to be encouraged to eat with the family, preferring to eat his meals alone.
Educator
Grandpa's first teaching job was at Mount Flora School in 1923. It was formerly located near Owensville and was a one-room school. He taught 56 students at a starting salary of $60 per month. In 1924, he taught at the Wesley Chapel School, teaching 30 students at a salary of $75 per month. He was elected to teach the winter term but returned to Mount Flora where he received a salary increase. He had attended eight years as a student at Antioch School, Saline County, under one teacher Charles Larley and began teaching there in 1926. He used this study desk. He began working at the Paron School in about 1927 and taught there about one year and left to sell cars for Cox Auto Agency (see above). After his short auto sales career he returned back to Paron School as principal from 1931-32 and returned to Antioch Schools where he taught and drove a bus for a couple of years. [How he did this teaching and also attended at Missionary Baptist College I am not sure; perhaps, some of the schooling he received himself was in the "off school" terms.]
In 1934, he became superintendent of Paron. They bought some more property adjacent to the farm in 1946. He changed jobs and began working at Rural Dale School in 1946 as principal. His first senior graduation class consisted of Melvin Carden, Roland Gentry, Helen Hicks, and Harlan Hulsey in 1947. After the school was consolidated with Harmony Grove, he became principal for the junior high school, serving for three years. In 1948, he was nominated by his students in the 1948 Best Teacher Contest conducted by the Quiz Kids radio program and Miles Laboatories. In 1952, he was elected to serve as Rural Dale School superintendent.
The Benton Courier
printed an article 25 April 1957:
Among Our Teachers
Revolution Comes In His Teaching Career
Not in his 31st year
as a teacher, Supt. R. P. Vance, Rural Dale School District, has
observed a "revolution" in schools since he first taught a one-room
school at Antioch with 72 pupils, but he isn't positive that it all has
been for the good.
At Antioch, long ago, Mr. Vance said, "We had to
take up around 8 o'clock and stay until around 5 to get through." His
pupils ranged from beginners in the "chart class" to Eighth Graders
tackling algebra.
"It was competition," Mr. Vance said. "Each one was
trying to do better than the other fellow in class. That seems to have
vanished largely from our school system, although it is very much
improved."
Mr. Vance emphasized, "I don't want to appear too
critical. "I am very proud of the boys and girls who go away from here
to high school and college. As a rule, they make good grades." Rural
Dale has only nine grades.
"Possibly," Mr. Vance theorized, "Many
pupils don't realize the value of an educational opportunity which comes
so easily Back in the old days, many of us had a hard way going to
school."
"I feel this way about it, and it has been my personal
experience that the fundamentals, reading, writing, spelling and
arithmetic, must be mastered before the pupils does well."
Fire At
Dedication
Rural Dale has a new plant, tile and brick, "almost
fireproof," which replaced the school building destroyed by fire at the
very time when about 600 persons, including State Education Commissioner
A. W. Ford, were on hand for dedication of a new gym, which didn't burn.
In his 11 years at Rural Dale, six as principal and five as
superintendent, Mr. Vance has led the school to an A rating, but he
quickly declared, "We never would have been able to do that if it hadn't
been for the support of the patrons."
"We have one of the most active
PTA's you will find anywhere. Since I have been here, we have raised
about $10,000, in addition to the tax revenue."
In his 15 years at
Paron, as principal and superintendent, Mr. Vance had the pleasure of
seeing the District become the largest in area in Arkansas at the time,
and in seeing the elementary school acquire an A rating and the high
school a C.
His teaching has been interrupted by his studies, which
have been at Arkansas State Teachers College, the former Missionary
Baptist College at Sheridan, Henderson State Teachers and Ouachita
College.
Teaches Now
Now, Mr. Vance teaches English and social
science five periods and has two left for administrative duties.
Thousands of pupils have attended his classes. "I wish I could have all
of them back for a big reunion," Mr. Vance said wistfully. [As you can
see below, he had that wish come true when many of his students did come
back for his retirement festivities.]
An article appeared in
the Benton Courier, in addition to the one below, chronicling
his teaching career:
R. P. Vance Retires After Almost 40
Years As Teacher
After nearly 40 years in the teaching
profession, R. P. Vance, Rural Dale School Superintendent, is retiring,
effective June 30.
Mr. Vance was 21 when he entered the teaching
profession in 1923 at the Mt. Flora School, which was formerly located
near Owensville. it was a one-room school and he was required to teach
45 pupils at a starting salary of $60 per month.
At that time, a
teacher was hired on the basis of two separate three-month contracts. If
the teacher proved to be satisfactory for the summer term, he was
rehired for the winter term.
The next year, Mr. Vance taught at the
Wesley Chapel School in Jefferson Township. he signed a contract for $75
per month to instruct 30 pupils. He was elected tot each the winter
term, but returned to Mt. Flora, where he received a salary increase.
In 1925, Mr. Vance returned to his home school at Antioch, where he was
born and reared. The next year, he moved to Paron, where he taught a
class of 30 pupils. Mr. Vance left the teaching field for a few years,
returning to Paron in 1930. The system had undergone a major change for
those days. There were two teachers instead of one.
Mr. Vance played
an active part in the consolidation of the Paron School District, which
saw the construction of a new school building. He served as principal at
Paron during 1931-32, later returning to Antioch School, where he taught
school and drove a buss for a couple of years.
In 1934, he became
superintendent of schools at Paron, which became the largest
consolidated school district in the state, area-wise.
He remained at
Paron until he joined the Rural Dale faculty in 1946. Mr. Vance served
three years as high school principal at Rural Dale. After the school was
consolidated with Harmony Grove, he became principal for the junior high
school, serving for three years.
In 1952, Mr. Vance was elected to
the post as Rural Dale School superintendent.
Mr. Vance is married to
the former Roxie Jane Caldwell. They have two sons, Willie of Benton and
Gerald of Crows Station.
"I am proud to have lived in the transaction
period from the old one-room school system to the modern one," Mr. Vance
said. "I have dedicated my life to the teaching profession and have
enjoyed every part of it."
As to his future, Mr. Vance will be idle.
He and his wife have farming and timber interests and raise livestock
near Owensville. He plans to keep busy looking after them.
"I have
thought of my former pupils thousands of times," Mr. Vance commented,
"and have often wished I could have an audience of the pupils I have
taught. This would be a very happy reunion."
At the closing exercises
of this year's school term, Mr. Vance was honored with a "This Is Your
Life" program. Many memories concerning Mr. Vance's childhood and
teaching career were recalled. Members of his family, relatives
and friends were on hand to enjoy the occasion with him.
"It was a
complete surprise," Mr. Vance said.
From the Saline County
News, 24 May 1962, page 1:
Arch Elliott on the
left presents R. P. Vance with the book,
This is Your Life....
At the conclusion of the exercises [graduation], Mr. Vance, who only a few
days before had announced his resignation, was recalled to the stage and
Mrs. Virgil Williams told him that there was a surprise in store for him.
Arch Elliott, chairman of the board, as master of ceremonies, inviting Mr.
Vance to be seated, told him, This Is Your Life.'
Many memories,
dear to Mr. Vance were recalled during the evening. Present to enjoy the
occasion with Mr. Vance were his wife, and their two sons, Willie and Gerald
and their families and many other relatives and friends including
Mrs. K. E. Gilbert, Benton,
Vance Jernigan, Malvern, W. R. Sheets
and others.
Former students of Mr. Vance were introduced and included
Sheriff Rogie Hester, who said,
"I was either the best or the worst pupil Mr. Vance had, because there were
only two who graduated in my class." This was Mr. Vance's first graduation.
Judge Mel Carden, Rep. Virgil
Fletcher and Cletus Turbyfill, all former students were introduced and
related short stories of their school days until Mr. Vance. A letter from
former student, Dr. Paul Hogue
was read, also a letter was read from
Mrs. Ethel Coultrip, a former member
of the Rural Dale faculty.
Interesting mementoes of past years were
shown and included a bell, 150 years old or older, belonging to Mrs. Vance's
family, which Mr. Vance used many years to announce the opening and closing
of school. [I remember when Grandpa's school burned, I offered him my "little
play bell" to use for school as I was so concerned that the students would
not know about class beginnings, endings.] Pictures were shown of a desk
which he used as a student and again as a teacher in the same school, Old
Antioch. Many family and school pictures were shown to the delight of Mr.
Vance and the congregation.
In closing the program, Mrs. Virgil Williams
presented a gift to Mrs. Vance and a large painting of the Rural Dale School
to Mr. Vance. Mr. Vance expressed regret at leaving the school and expressed
appreciation to the community for the many kindnesses shown him during his
stay as superintendent, and also for gifts and the book, This Is Your
Life. [It should be noted if my memory is correct, he actually ended
up working one more year.]
This book is still in our family's possession and one of the most cherished items (in my opinion). This book was actually obtained from the company that produced the TV show, This is your Life.
As an adoring granddaughter, I loved to go stay with Granny and Grandpa. The most fun was when Granny and I would go with him to school, and I would get to spend the day there. I remember one day getting to play in the playground with the older kids. As a five-year-old, I was in awe of them. They had trips to the Arkansas State Fair, and I was allowed to go with the school on some years. I am so very glad that Grandpa is not able to see the ruin that his loved Rural Dale School has become on Highway 70 in Saline County. It is just a shell of the school buildings that he was so proud of.
Grandpa was considered a very strict disciplinarian but a fair man. It was not unusual to be sitting on their front porch on a Sunday afternoon and a former student of Grandpa's would show up with his/her family. (They did not have a telephone until about 1963 so most people came unannounced.)
Grandpa was a Democrat and told me one day that he expected me to be as well. We all went to see President Kennedy when he came to the Arkansas State Fair in Little Rock, and Grandpa was able to shake his hand. Before he died, he told me that he believed he had fulfilled all his life's wishes. He said he had a wonderful wife and sons, got to shake the hand of his beloved President Kennedy, saw us go to the moon, and had grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Retirement
After his retirement, he and Granny Roxie had planned on traveling (a life-long ambition--they loved the ocean); however, Grandpa had a simple surgery from which he never recovered. He became an invalid, with Granny lovingly caring for him for nine years. For several years, he could not walk without the aid of a walker and, at the end, could not walk at all. He was extremely thin, weighing only about 80-85 pounds, when he passed away as he could not eat without becoming ill. His illness was very hard for me as I had such a huge respect for my Grandpa and, due to this illness, he lost much of his dignity. He also had suffered from debilitating migraine headaches and became unable to use one of his hands to write. Grandpa used to tell me that he thought that was caused by those headaches.
Grandpa entered the hospital late May 1973 and died away 2 June 1973 at Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton, Arkansas. He is buried in Owensville Cemetery, Saline County, Arkansas.
Obituary
Reyburn P. Vance dies at 71
Reyburn P. Vance, 71
of Owensville died Saturday at a local hospital.
He was born September
24, 1901, at Blocker Post Office (Antioch) in Saline County, the son of
the late Robert and Faithia Roberts Vance. He was a member of Owensville
Baptist Church.
He retired from the teaching profession in 1963 having
taught for 40 years at Paron and Rural Dale schools.
Survivors include
his wife, Mrs. Roxie Caldwell Vance; two sons, Gerald Vance and Willie Vance,
both of Benton; one brother, Clayburn Vance of Benton; two half-sisters,
Miss Maude Bradfield and Miss Bess Bradfield of Dallas, Texas; three grandchildren,
Mrs. Brenda Richardson and John Vance, both of Benton, and Mrs. Patti Denison
of Hot Springs; and two great-grandchildren. Funeral will be at 3 p.m. Monday
at Owensville Baptist Church. Burial will be in Owensville Cemetery by Ashby
Funeral Home of Benton.
Pallbearers will be D. L. Ziegler, Darrell Williams,
H. W. Harris, Rogie Hester, Walker Barnette, James W. Elliott, W. R. Sheets,
and Miles Tillery. Honorary pallbearers will be Charles P. Greenway, Dr.
Curtis W. Jones, Jr., Dr. Drew Agar, Dr. F. Paul Hogue, Virgil Williams,
Arch B. Elliott, Virginia [should have been Virgil] Fletcher, C. M. Carden, Charles E. Lambert and
Cletus Turbyfill. [from Benton Courier]
