The History of the Russell County Vo-Tech Emblem

by

Loretta Johnson

  

The history of the original emblem began in 1966.   As we were working on the Annual for the school year of 1966-67 and trying to decide what to put on the cover, the words FAMILY kept coming up in the conservation.  I suggested that we do something to indicate that we were a family since that was what we kept talking about.   A family crest emblem was mentioned and then the decision of what the family crest should look like became the focus of the group.  It was finally decided that all the trades being taught in the school would be somehow placed in the emblem.  This idea was taken to the drafting instructor, Harold Owens, and his class of students to design our FAMILY CREST.  The results were amazing and that became the cover for our annual.

In 1981-82 school year my daughter, Starr, a drafting student at the “new” vocational school in Lebanon wanted an idea for a bulletin board to enter into the VICA competition.  After much discussion, I got out my old school annual and suggested that the FAMILY CREST might be a good thing to do.  She did that as a bulletin board and won the local and regional competition and took it to state.  Starr gave up attending her Senior Prom to go to the state competition.

The FAMILY CREST is still a part of the vocational school.  Some time after the vocational school moved to Lebanon, the emblem with all the trades was replaced with a Blue Devil, a Tiger and a Pioneer representing the three schools in the county that feed students to the vocational school. This is the new FAMILY CREST for the “new” vocational school.

If you look closely at the cover of the 1966-67 annual, you will see the initials of one of the students who worked on the design and her then boyfriend.  The student was the late Joyce Wallace and her boyfriend Jeter Austin who became her husband.

My challenge to you is to find the initials and enjoy our Family Crest as much as we have.  If you find them, let us know, or if you can’t and would like to know where they are, just ask one of the committee people.