Editor’s note: Susie Sansom Piper, who died last October at age 98, authored Black History Series for The Reporter over a 42-year period. This year’s series is being written by her granddaughter, Tamara Powell.
This is an excerpt from Seventeen Years in the Blackroom by Susie Sansom-Piper:
Mixed emotions continued to grip the small town of Rockdale in both communities. In 1967-1968, Aycock was no more.
Its 60-odd-year history had concluded. A new era of life in the classroom and out began for me and many others. A formal picnic was held under the trees next to the new Aycock building or directly in front of what is now called Moultry Park, named for my father (Julius Moultry).
At the time of this writing (2018), there are only five living remaining teachers from the former Aycock High. The building still stands unused today on the grounds of what is now, Moultry Park.
Phoebe Lynn Locklin was in kindergarten at the time. She was one of the last students to attend Aycock in the segregated school.
Lynn was born in Rockdale, to the late Billy Ray and Laura Locklin. Both of her parents attended and graduated from Aycock High School.
The third child, in a pack of boys (Ray, Kerry and Kim), Lynn was a treasure as the only daughter. Her parents soon left Rockdale while her father pursued a professional football career.
She began school in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Some years later, when the family returned to Rockdale, they made a lucrative living in various trades.
The boys could often be found helping on the family farm, bailing hay and raising cattle in the country outside of Rockdale. They also followed their father’s love for sports. As a close-knit family, they shared a home for many years with her grandfather, Overton Smith, who lived to be 105. It was tough being the only girl in a house full of male athletes. It required stamina, strength and hard work to overcome a house full of testosterone.
Lynn often did some of the same chores as her brothers.
When she returned to Rockdale, schools were no longer segregated. Lynn attended Rockdale Junior High. She became the second black cheerleader in Rockdale High School. (The first was Deborah Boney.)
This was a great accomplishment because much like other events outside of sports, at the time, it was rare to see representation of any minorities in cheerleading, twirling, or other front-center events.
Lynn was a member of the first junior varsity cheerleading squad which supported Rockdale in the football state championship year of 1976. For two more years she was a varsity cheerleader.
One week out of high school, she attended Neilson’s Beauty College in Dallas. After obtaining her license, she worked in Dallas, Taylor and Rockdale as a hairstylist.
She continued working while pursuing an education degree at Prairie View A & M University and ITT Technical Institute.
Lynn began teaching at Rockdale ISD in 2002 and coached for 14 years. She is currently teaching, health, physical education, psychology and sociology at Rockdale High School. She is married to A.J. Whiteside, has one daughter, Candace, who is a chiropractor along with her husband in the Houston area, and has one new granddaughter.
When asked how she has adjusted and overcome some of the struggles in her life, Lynn remarked “I was well into my adult years before I fully understood this Bible verse which my mother quoted to me on many occasions. It has been my best measuring stick to deal with any situation in life. Matthew 6:33: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’.”
Many times when there were tragedies or just heartache Lynn experienced, she would find comfort just talking with the women in the community who shared similar experiences and provided advice or a shoulder to lean on.
Lynn indicated that she had weathered may storms; but, learned how much a community can make a lasting impression. Her first teacher, Marion Snelgro, along with her father and mother, sparked a desire in her to learn.
At every stage of her life, she was nurtured by her grandfather, Mr. Overton, her family and many loving people in Rockdale. So many of her mentors were teachers in school and church and dedicated their lives to education. This contributed to her desire to follow the same path.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of the shoulders I stand on that makes me the person I am today,” she said.
In recent years, Lynn not only taught and coached, but also took care of both of her ailing parents. As a caregiver, you really have to push yourself to keep going and sometimes it is only you in those midnight hours.
Lynn’s mother Laura, succumbed to her illness of many years in 2015 and her father passed away in late 2019.
SERIES WRAPUP—
And so it is with me (Tamara). I end this February in a new decade (2020) without my loving grandmother (Mama) and my brother (Jerome).
I wish to thank all of you in the Rockdale community who stood with me during these losses. I began this February not quite sure how I would complete this series, nor settled on what may or may not come to my pen.
It is also your contributions that allow people like me to triumph over every dark day and tragedy that comes our way, but feel grateful that I know people like each of you.
Together as a community, we all win. As we end the month of February, I would like to encourage everyone to research and share their history with their children, grandchildren, neighbors and friends.
Educate each other. We are all made up of many pieces and parts of not only our race(s), but our backgrounds, our communities and our experiences. If you ever check ancestry, you will know we are not all just one genotype. My family and I are made up of many different races, all coming together to shape who we uniquely are.
But also, my family is made up of the entire Rockdale community that sowed positive seeds into my life and the life of my family. Taught me to love people regardless of who they are and give back when I can.
My Mama, Susie E. Sansom-Piper, and many others who shaped the African American Community and others in Rockdale, have since passed on. Their contributions to the very fabric and being of the children, families, churches and multiple generations, will never be forgotten.
Their spirits live on in those who are willing to carry the torch and teach others about the vibrant history of the community, the various churches, the resiliency, triumphs, pain and the pride of the community.
The list is not all inclusive; but is representative of just a small portion of the numerous African American citizens that served to make Rockdale what it was and is today. These citizens were instrumental in the community during my child-hood and into adulthood. They served to provide an example of resiliency and triumph over adversity for all to emulate. They didn’t have much, but they had everything:
My great-grandparents, Eula and Julius “Bose” Moultry, Mr. and Mrs. Freddie Gray, Mr. and Mrs. Billy Ray Locklin, Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Tindle, Almond Moultrie, Seewillow Jackson, Alyce Shields, Jennie Shields, Bessie Beals, Ernestine Mays, Mae Joyce Cashaw, Evelyn Moultrie, Ruth Boney, Mr. and Mrs. Archie Metcalf, Professor O. E. Wilhite, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Wesley, Wendell Washington, James Banks, Ernest Phillips, Pollene Neighbors, Mrs. Heart, Mellie Johnson, Mr and Mrs. Ollie Jones, Edna Earl Mitchell, Lucy Brooks, Ardie Williams, Lucy Battle, Dr. Laura Petty-Burrell, James Petty, Bette Williams, Booker T. Washington, Jamie Richards, Frankie McDonald, Tommie Sanders, J.D.Tindle, Robert Anderson, Evaline Anderson, Velma Mitchell and so many others.
Many other role models still live or contribute in the Rockdale Community and serve to carry the torch forward: Barbara McKee, Margaret Green, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bradford, Lon Williams, Doris Phillips, Johnnie Banks, Rev. and Mrs. Willie Phillips, Rev. and Mrs. Dennis Brooks, Elissa Benford-Roberts, Mrs. Obie Mack, Veda Tindle, Sallie White, Liz McQuitter, Theresa White, Angela White, Wanda White, Lynn Whiteside, The Wesleys and Graysons, and many more.
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