For decades, the halls of Woodlawn Elementary in Sapulpa were filled with school-aged children before and after school as they ran through the activities of the day. The halls were filled again on Thursday afternoon, but there weren’t many school-aged children. Instead, it was grown adults who used to attend or teach at the school who were seeing the place one last time before it was scheduled to be demolished as part of the new construction for Sapulpa Jr. High and High School.
The building had been erected in 1955, replacing an aging Woodlawn school built in 1909.
John Mark Young started at the school when the building was only a year or two old. He said he tried finding the classrooms he used to attend, but wasn’t sure which one was where. “I can remember the name of every teacher I had in this school, but the place has changed so much, I can’t remember which classroom I was in,” he said.
LaNell Russell taught first grade at the school for less than a year in 1966 before she left to become a stay-at-home mother for several years. Her first time at Woodlawn was short but memorable…