Shirley Bryant Roberson shows the names of families arranged on tree leaves, the center piece of the new McFarland School Museum, which was dedicated during the school’s biennial reunion Friday.

(Monitor photo by Phil Major)

On the 40th anniversary of the McFarland School reunion, a museum dedicated to preserving the legacy of Mineola’s Black school was unveiled Friday.

McFarland graduate Shirley Bryant Roberson (Class of ’61) first began compiling the school members who had served in the military.

While it was an impressive list, she soon realized there was a need to expand the collection to include the numerous contributions of McFarland students in government, education, the arts and more, and to honor the teachers and administrators who built a strong foundation.

The museum takes up a room in the entryway of the McFarland gym (on S. Stone St.), and Roberson already has it filled and will be looking for more space.

She asked those in attendance at Friday’s luncheon to send their memorabilia.

“This is just the start,” she said.

Among the museum’s highlights is a tree in the center of the room, the work of one of her daughters, Urisonya Flunder. Each leaf is inscribed with the name of a family from Mineola’s Black community.

Roberson was inspired to create the museum after touring the national African American museum in Washington.

It includes the only yearbook ever produced for the school, in 1956, and several football game programs for the McFarland Bears, who usually played their games at Mineola’s field on Thursday nights.

There are numerous photos of McFarland graduates and notations of their many successes.

In dedicating the museum, Roberson thanked the parents and teachers of the students.

“Teachers effect eternity,” she said.

She thanked Tim and Maxine Hancock who purchased the school property from the district and then unselfishly donated it, the Meredith Foundation for helping to fund its renovations, the McFarland Foundation (“They take care of this building like it is their own,“ Roberson said), and all those who helped put the museum together, including Carl Foster, who remembered the names of so many of the families.

The museum’s mission is to preserve, collect, interpret, commemorate and celebrate, she said, to show appreciation to the parents, teachers, neighbors and friends.

“The McFarland/South  Ward School cultivated a school-community of fellowship, love, camaraderie, mutual respect and support,” Roberson wrote of the museum’s mission. “The members of the McFarland/South  Ward School community have given birth to a small, but proud nation of individuals who have collectively shaped and molded our society in a most profound and lasting way.”

Roberson described that many families experienced what she described as a “dream deferred.”

Her father, though college-educated, could not get the type of job commensurate with his education. But he stressed education for his children, and all six became well-educated and successful in education, medicine, engineering, business and the legal profession.

The reunion began in 1983 – 17 years after the school closed – and was held every three years until 1989, when it was changed to a biennial event.

The last reunion was held in 2019 – the 2021 reunion was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though an interim picnic was held last year.

Once this year’s event concludes, the organizers will consider whether to move to an annual gathering.

The first reunions drew about 150 attendees, a number which held steady for several years.

The last few have drawn closer to 100, though 125 were expected for the banquet Saturday.

McFarland classes generally ranged from 15-20 members.

The final graduating class was in 1966, after which the students transferred to Mineola schools.

The last of the McFarland students completed school at Mineola in 1977.

At Friday’s luncheon, the oldest graduate to attend was Sam Pruitt of Dallas, who graduated in 1955, and is now 86.