Former students attend 22nd class reunion

Cockerill/Foxtown-Union Schools have been closed for decades, but the memory of them still shines.
Former students, their families and friends gathered Saturday for the 22nd Cockerill/Foxtown-Union Schools Association banquet and dance at the Franklin Community Center and Heritage Museum.
“We may not have had the big history that some schools had, but we were taught our lessons in a respectful atmosphere,” said Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Jack Strukel, association president. “I think we were the lucky ones.”
Cockerill School District 100 started in 1882, when it was first known as Fairview Elementary School. The name was changed to Cockerill in 1921. A high school was added, but closed in the 1940s. Because of decreasing enrollment, Cockerill District 100 and Curranville District 107 were united in 1947 to form Foxtown-Union, which was housed in the old Cockerill Elementary School Building. The district continued educating students for 60 years.
A new feature was started Saturday as 15 persons associated with the district were inducted into the new Cockerill/Foxtown-Union Schools Hall of Praise.
“People have wondered why we didn’t call this a Hall of Fame,” Strukel said. “I think it’s because us coal-mining folks don’t want to be strutting it that much, but praise means that you’ve done something good.”
Inductees into the Hall of Praise were as follows: The late Wayne Allai, educator, coach, business leader, PSU football promoter and longtime Cockerill/Foxtown-Union Schools Association member; the late Harry J. Bowlus, Cockerill superintendent of schools, coach of the famed Cockerill High School girls championship basketball team and founder of Bowlus School Supply; Charles “Chuck” Broyles, winningest head football coach in the history of Pittsburg State University and PSU athletic director; the late Donald Ginardi, nationally recognized medical doctor; Martin Golob, Cockerill Schools administrator, teacher, coach and Crawford County business leader; the late Lebro Grisolano, area teacher and coach, former Pittsburg mayor and Kansas commander of the American Legion; the late Tracy Fiorucci Kirsch, Cockerill elementary teacher, school administrator and longtime association member; the late Matt Mattivi, teacher, coach and principal of Foxtown-Union School; Arnold McAlpine, famed Cockerill High School athlete, educator, coach and youth leader in Wichita; the late Agnes Iori Robertson, member of the Cockerill High School championship girls basketball team and AAU basketball player; the late August Rua, southeast Kansas community leader and businessman, supporter of PSU athletics and philanthropist; William W. Strukel, three-time Crawford County sheriff who also spent 19 years as chief enforcement officer for the Kansas Alcohol Beverage Control Commission; the late Ted R. Taylor, Cockerill superintendent of schools and later longtime superintendent of Girard schools; the late Mary Wilson McKay, Cockerill elementary teacher; and the late Joe Winchester, Cockerill superintendent of schools and later a respected educator in Pittsburg.
Broyles said he was pleased with the honor. Noting that his old school building is now home to the Rockin K, he said he was glad the place is now a restaurant rather than a saloon.
“It used to be hard telling my football players where I went to school,” Broyles said.
Most senior alumni present was Lucy Tersina Hamisak, Frontenac. “I graduated from Cockerill High School in 1934,” she said. “I walked from Franklin to school every day, 2 1/2 miles, and it didn’t matter if it was raining or not. I was valedictorian of my class.”
A dance with music by the Johnny Zibert band followed the program.
Strukel thanked all of those who helped with the reunion, then closed with group singing of the school songs “Rah! Rah! for Cockerill” and “Cockerill Will Shine.”
“We’re all intelligent enough to know that time takes its toll on all of us,” Strukel said. “But it’s my personal prayer that we will all still be in the earthly kingdom and able to attend the next reunion on July 18, 2009.”