Gave Her Life for Beaufort Schools Miss Nannie Geoffroy and St. Pauls Academy by Amy Muse The Mailboat, Spring 1991, Vol. 2 No. 1 p. 3 Reprinted from The News & Observer, January 30, 1949 and brought to The Mailboat by Mrs. Rosalie Wade In our continuing effort to record the histories of the many schools that have served Carteret County, we have included here an account of the legendary Miss Nannie and St. Pauls School. The influence of this institution reached far beyond the town limits of Beaufort. Many families from Down East and other rural areas of the county, possibly beyond, enrolled their children in this academy even when it meant boarding their youngsters in town. The benefits of this fine educational program provided many of Carteret Countys youth with a strong foundation of discipline and academics. Many went on to successful careers in varying fields, and later returned to their homes to teach, or fill the need for doctors, lawyers, judges, engineers, and community leaders. Beaufort: Mrs. Nannie Pasteur Geoffroy, almost everyone agrees, did more for education in this town than anyone else, and yet she fought the establishment of public schools just as hard as she supported her own private school. Such was the conflicting character so strong that several generations of students still remember her vividly, more than a decade after her death. Her death certificate stated: Born July 21, 1865. Died December 20, 1936. Occupation: Educator. Total time spent in occupation: Life. Within that life- span falls the history of what is generally understood as St. Pauls School of Beaufort. It was her child, her life, and when she was found dead in the bathroom on that December morning, she was beginning something like the 14,700th day of thinking, working and talking the school. The school died that day too. The next morning was Monday. The children flocked into the public school that Miss Nannie had fought fiercely 22 years before. To take care of them the teachers went to the public school too. The buildings went to the vestry and wardens of St. Pauls Episcopal Church. The school was torn down, the original dormitory was renovated to serve as a parish house, the wing of the dormitory was made into an apartment house and dwelling, the old chapel was made into a house, the Geoffroy home was sold. The exact date of the beginning of the school is cloudy, but a deed made between Mrs. Geoffroy and the vestry and wardens in 1910 included the following statement: Whereas from time to time since 1897 an old copy of The Telephone carries Resolutions of St. Pauls School signed Nannie P. Davis (Geoffroy), Emma D. Mason, Julia Read. Universal Education Beaufort had a multiplicity of private school before the public school as it is now. As many as eight advertised in a single copy of the old Telephone in 1883, when the population was barely 2,000. That which made St. Pauls different was Miss Nannies determination to turn no one away for lack of money and to do a better job than had been done before. As one of her pupils says, Education was almost her God, and she had an obsession for helping others. Around the turn of the century a small, wiry, earnest little boy held out a bill to Miss Nannie. He said he wanted $5 worth of learning. Miss Nannie was no type to draw little boys to her. Through some imbalance of her glands, she looked and talked like a man -- a hard, stern man -- and there is a stout-hearted citizen in Beaufort today who will tell you that just by rolling her eyes at him on his first day in school, she made him decide to forego education for life rather than quiver under her gaze. Her dress of those early days helped none -- a black skirt, shapeless grey sweater, a mans shirt complete with stiff collar and tie, heavy, flat-heeled shoes, and a mans hat. That $5 Went Far She made no tender advances to the boy with the $5, but he was not fainthearted. She had what he wanted and although he could not have put it in any but little boys words, he knew that her life was dedicated to finding some way to make education available for everybody and had faith that she would help him. She did. She even found a way to make his $5 stretch through university and see him established in profession. It is said that Miss Nannie literally never refused to help a child. News like that spreads fast and homeless or motherless or problematic or just poor children were continually dropped on her from kindergarten age to those of the stature of men and women, yet the school was neither a reformatory nor an orphanage but a school in which those who could were expected to pay tuition, and many did. When he did not, it was a matter between him and Miss Nannie -- all were treated alike ... The School A little red chapel back of the church with its rows of benches and an altar in the east, where services were read on cold Sundays was the first home of Miss Nannies school; but her vision called for something larger and by 1900 the cornerstone of the school building was laid ... Miss Nannies ideals were high, and she fought compromise. More of an administrator than a schoolmaster, she gathered about her good teachers from all over the East whom she contacted through church friends or met in her travels. They either felt as she did or she indoctrinated them so that thoroughness and habits of work were enforced. Algebra was started in the 6th grade. Latin in the 7th, Greek, French or German, plane and solid geometry followed. There was no tapping of interests such as the progressives talk about. The course was outlined and the child took it. When a boy or girl survived until he reached the senior year, he carried eight subjects -- and everything had to be learned with precision. Plenty of Work As if seven and eight academic subjects were not enough, boys and girls worked. They heaved coal, took out ashes, cleaned buildings and grounds, whatever had to be done, and even subjects considered as frills were added to the curriculum with proper teachers for each -- art, cooking, sewing, carpentry, printing, and music -- all for nine months a year for 12 years. Physically the buildings shone. The red paint of the old chapel was re-reddened each summer and the white trim re-whitened. The white of the other buildings was kept white, window panes replaced, fences repaired, tennis and basketball courts were trim, inside and out things were maintained efficiently. A waist high picket fence surrounding the buildings restrained as effectively as a prison wall with armed guards. Boarding students stayed within except when under the chaperonage of Miss Nannie or one of her teachers. One line of communication was left open with the outside; visiting across the fence was tolerated. This made it possible for town children to cement friendships with those inside by taking their pennies and nickels and running to the store for them. Any story of the school must be told to the sound of marching steps for the children marched everywhere and marched with precision. The bell rang a long time in the morning bringing everyone hurrying to get in line before it stopped -- that made the difference between being on time and tardy. From then on the children marched -- to chapel, to classrooms, to recess, out at the close of the day, on walks through town, and on Sundays to church. Religion, Too All this education was not effected without religion. Chapel was not something dispensed with in the first fifteen minutes of the day. True the day began with chapel -- Miss Nannie leading, unless some guest speaker were available. This was characterized by prayer, scripture reading and many hymns. Miss Nannie countenanced no half way measures in anything. Some has said, When she said MARCH, you marched; when she said STUDY, you studied; she said PRAY you prayed; when she said SING you sang. Consequently when she announced The Churchs One Foundation or Onward Christian Soldiers and led off with her deep bass, no one mumbled or pretended. They all sang every word. As a result some say that today they can repeat word for word scores of fine old hymns of which most of us know but a few salient phrases. At 12 oclock the student body again marched to chapel for noonday songs, prayer, and scriptures. On Sunday all were marched solemnly in to fill an entire section of St. Pauls or the Methodist or Baptist churches. Christ is Risen . . . Discipline was hard. Miss Nannie was feared. Everyone felt her power. Id rather be called before the Supreme Court of the United States than before Miss Nannie and Miss Apperson (principal) at the same time was an expression of a common attitude. In a corner of her office, switches always stood, long, heavy switches. She was never intimidated by the size nor temper of a boy. When whipping was the therapy indicated, she gave it; when a task was given no one dared trifle; when the line marched in, no one pushed or whispered; if a lesson was assigned, it was learned; if it was society night, everyone attending; if something was placed before a child to eat, he ate it. Adolescent boys and girls lived together in one dormitory -- boys on one floor, girls on another -- but not so much as a rumor of unseemly conduct was ever heard. Miss Nannie herself was abstentious regarding personal pleasures. Her only movie was to see the documentary of her kinsman, Louis Pasteur. Her school program allowed little time for recreation, but boarding students danced every Friday night and the town students joined them semimonthly. Circulating about the town the next day, the latter told stories of their conquests painting the occasion in such a light that students of the Beaufort High School felt inferior and underprivileged socially. Many a boy and girl did most of their courting under the eagle eyes of Miss Nannie and her teacher. Paying the Bills ... Come summer with school over, Miss Nannie was off to the northern parishes and in the fall a succession of barrels and contributions would come in from churches she had visited. A sad picture she must have painted of the poor people of Beaufort, who toiled at the uncertain work of wresting an existence from the sea, if the barrels bore testimony of her persuasiveness. Clothing she collected could be distinguished from anything local. Friends came out from time to time in citified clothing that resembled nothing carried in Beaufort stores. A familiar insult among children of the day was the taunt, Must have been in Miss Nannies barrel when a boy or girl strutted in a new outfit. Some in their sixties today twinkingly use the expression when a new suit or dress is above local standards. Poor, Poor Beaufort! The world was big 50 years ago and the North farther away, but in time stories began to filter back that made the natives wince. A beaufort woman in New England heard about the poor people of Beaufort who got their living from the rocks (oystering) preceding a collection for the school; in New York the son of a prosperous Beaufort family swayed for a moment in amazement when a collection was taken to help someone from home whom he recognized by name; a Beaufort woman sat in the row in a Washington church when a plate was passed for contributions for her home. With the infiltration of these stories, there was considerable murmuring about them. In the minds of those resenting the exaggeration of their poverty and the exploitation of it, in building up a private school, the barrels became each a Pandoras box. For years they were blamed for every case of chicken pox, scarlet fever, whooping cough, or measles that developed. An ordinance passed by the town in November 1916 was undoubtedly influenced by this resentment: No second hand clothing could be shipped in without a certificate from the local health department at the point of origin saying that it had been thoroughly fumigated. “Loved Her Students The physical equipment and operating expenses over a period of 40 years represent a considerable sum of money -- no records are available to show just how much. Miss Ellen Apperson, who worked with Miss Nannie for 17 years writes, I remember the long hours she spent at her desk writing to those she thought could and would help her ... Her entire life was St. Pauls School and the boys and girls there. Her interest in them did not stop when they left. She followed them through college with what financial help she could give them. They never ceased to be a part of the school family. When one of her boys sent a telegram telling of his graduation from college, she read it in Assembly, and as her students looked up they saw tears streaming down her cheeks. All her funds were used for her boys and girls. Wit them she established a school that was to only the last important private school in Beaufort but the most important of all time. The competing Beaufort High School of the Methodist Church lamented. The Episcopalians of Beaufort have their church school and without an exception members of that church patronize their own school. This is as it should be. The Methodists of Beaufort have their church school ... yet some of our good Methodists patronize the other school. This is as it should not be. Graduates Are Loyal Most of those who entered the school from any denomination and were able to take it are downright in their loyalty. One of four brothers who went from her to enter the Episcopal ministry and who was at one time her Principal writes, She was like a mother to me, and I loved her like a son. One [student] ... now married to a successful business man in the western part of the state writes. To my mind she is the most influential person Beaufort has produced, and her influence was all for good. Another says, I feared her, but her good opinion was more important to me than anyone I ever knew. Miss Nannie was born in Beaufort. Her mother was Sallie Pasteur of Florida, where her father -- a Confederate soldier -- first met her. Miss Nannie married M. R. Geoffroy of Beaufort. They had no children. Mr. Geoffroy was ill at the time of his wifes death, and his death followed shortly thereafter. Approached about Miss Nannie, persons usually begin, They say she had a lot of tricks, but she meant a lot to this community; Her methods were frowned upon, but she got results; She ruled by fear, but I loved her; She misrepresented things, but no one will ever know how much good she did. Their first clauses are usually spoken hesitantly and are acknowledged hearsay; the clauses introduced with BUT are spoken with conviction that comes of personal knowledge and in these lie the story of her greatness -- her life was one of service, and her memory is dear.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 10:32:08 +0000
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