Alla alums still meet annually, Celina Record

Alla alums still meet after more than half a century Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Jun 9, 2016 It’s been six decades since Jim Hollandsworth and Helen Perry graduated from Celina’s Alla School in May 1956. The two, who met at the school in fifth grade and became sweethearts in high school, were married the following month. They’ll gather Saturday with some of their former classmates and other alums of the long-gone campus during the annual Alla School reunion. As in previous years, the reunion will be held at Celina High School, 3455 N. Preston Road, site of the former Alla School building which saw its last students graduate in 1957. The school was founded and built by wealthy Celina residents Dr. Moses and Mary Jane Hubbard as a living memorial to their adult daughter Alla, who fell ill and died in 1889. The Alla School opened seven years later with three teachers and 108 students in nine grades. The original building was used until the early 1920s, after which a new facility was constructed and additional grade levels were added. The school consolidated with Celina ISD in 1958. The building continued to house Celina students until it was torn down in 1981. A historical marker at Celina High School notes its significance in local history. About 50 people are expected to attend this year’s Alla reunion. Alumni in attendance will be introduced and those who have died since the last reunion will be recognized. “It’s getting fewer and fewer each year,” said Jim Hollandsworth, who owns Jim’s Auto Supply store on Celina’s downtown square. In 1955, he played catcher on the Alla Black Cats high school baseball team. “It was a small school and you knew everybody,” said Hollandsworth, whose father Oscar was a member of the Alla School Board. The Hollandsworths have been in charge of planning the Alla reunions for several years, but said they don’t mind the work. “You get telephone calls from school buddies,” Helen Hollandsworth explained. “I get to talk to a lot of people.” Count Betty Merritt among them. One of 10 members of the class of 1949, the Celina resident (whose maiden name was Fielder) has attended many Alla reunions. She said she enjoys seeing “all the old friends that I used to go to school with. A lot of people bring pictures and we just talk about old times and current times.” She remembered the day in 1952 when a tornado struck the Alla building “and blew away the gym up there. But that was after I had graduated.” Merritt, who is the grandmother of Celina High School graduate and Cleveland Indians pitcher Ryan Merritt, also recalled how the Alla and Celina districts were “big rivals” before the consolidation. Helen Hollandsworth said alumni at previous Alla reunions have discussed “how they hated to have to go to Celina (schools). … I’ve heard some of the kids that had to change (schools) say that they really, really dreaded it.”