Saying goodbye to Harding

By Tim Yovich

Graduates recalled many memories at the old Harding High School.

WARREN — The emotions inside Warren G. Harding High School were upbeat Saturday evening as graduates who had spent some of the best days of their lives said their final farewells.

Abatement of hazardous materials such as asbestos will begin in mid-June followed by the wrecking ball to bring down Harding, except for the historic facade, that has been graduating students since 1926.

In the fall, students will turn a new chapter in the city school system as they attend a new Harding adjacent to the old building.

Before the 15th annual awards banquet for induction into the school’s Alumni Hall of Fame, many had the chance to walk through the historic building for the last time as 100 current students gave tours, sang and provided music.

One of the graduates, 90-year-old Olga Chaley Morrison of Austintown, hadn’t seen the school interior for 70 years. “I had to go,” she said of her visit.

She recalled while attending classes that Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president to get the country out of the Depression.

She recollected that she was once called to the principal’s office and told that if she washed pots and pans in the school kitchen, she would get free lunches. Morrison declined the offer, however. “I was too proud,” she said.

As it turned out, it was her father who had asked the principal for the favor of trading work for food because money was at a premium for their family.

Eighty-year-old Robert Nader, of Warren, is a 1946 Harding graduate.

Nader said he’s remembered mostly for playing football. It was 1944 and Nader didn’t travel on the one bus the team used to get to Canton McKinley High School. His uniform was on the bus, but he was an extra player and had to find his own way.

He got a ride and Harding was losing 19-0 just before halftime.

Nader was put into the game and recovered a McKinley fumble. Harding went on to win the game 27-26.

“What I ever did in life, people remember me for playing football,” he said.

Nader went on to become a Warren City Council member, Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge and jurist on the 11th District Court of Appeals.

His brother, Paul G. Nader, was one of those named to the Alumni Hall of Fame. Besides being an attorney, he was a founder of Avalon Lakes Golf Course and was instrumental in the planning and development of Avalon Inn in Howland.

Making her way from Cleveland, Mary Culver Wallace walked the halls as she once did before graduating in 1949.

“There were a lot of good teachers, and you did get a good education,” said Wallace, who went on to graduate from college and is a retired schoolteacher. “There was a good atmosphere here. You felt a part of it.”

Wallace, who is black, however, also recalled the racism in Warren and at Harding.

World War II was won, and the economy was booming. Nonetheless, Wallace recalled that blacks couldn’t use the swimming pool and nearly all city restaurants were off limits.

Her father, James Culver Sr., was active in the NAACP and worked to break down racism. The end of war helped the battle against racism, she recalled, as her father and others pointed out the blacks had fought in it as had whites.

Her brother, Fred A. Culver, who died in 2007, also was a Hall of Fame honoree. He was the first black in Warren to become an Eagle Scout. He served as a captain in the Army and became an attorney.

It was the first time back to Harding for 36-year-old Denise Delida since she graduated in 1990. She became an accountant and is now a homemaker with three children in Howland.

She fondly recalls singing in the chorus and playing on the tennis team. Delida still keeps in touch with some classmates, especially one who is a neighbor.

Like may others attending the event, Delida favors razing the school.

“I like old buildings, but you have to move on,” he said.

yovich@vindy.com