Historic figures plan reunion at E.C. Glass

By Alicia Petska

Published: October 9, 2008

Three E.C. Glass graduates will reunite Saturday to share their memories of that school’s desegregation — an event in which they had very different perspectives.

In 1962, the names of Owen Cardwell Jr. and Lynda Woodruff were well known in Lynchburg. The two teens made local history when, on a cold winter morning in January, they became the first black students to enroll at the all-white E.C. Glass High School.

It was a day of drama and controversy and bravery for many. Patricia Wild, a white student and senior at the time, woke up that morning with slightly different thoughts on her mind.

“What would I use for a coat on such a wintry day?” Wild, now a writer living in Massachusetts, recalls thinking in her new book, “Way Opens: A Spiritual Journey.”

“The week before, when driving back to Lynchburg after a week’s skiing near Pittsburgh, I’d carelessly left my warm woolen coat in a restaurant in Pennsylvania. … An unexpected snowstorm and the petty, trifling concern over a missing coat; these I clearly remember over forty years later. What I cannot remember is any conversation or discussion of what was about to happen …”

Decades later, in 2000, Wild would be inspired to write to Woodruff and Cardwell about her memories of that year and her shame over her inaction.

The three began a regular correspondence, which became the subject of “Way Opens.”

On Saturday, the trio will take part in a panel discussion hosted by the Legacy Museum of African-American History. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 11 a.m. in the Legacy Activities Center, 405 Monroe St.

The three will discuss their disparate high school experiences. Each currently lives outside of Lynchburg.

Woodruff, who was 13 when she started school at E.C. Glass, went on to become a professor and founding chairwoman of the physical therapy department at North Georgia College & State University, where she recently retired.

Cardwell began a career as a Baptist preacher and founded New Canaan International Church in Richmond. Four years ago, his church started the New Jubilee Educational and Family Life Center, a child development center and ministry.