The Landon High School Alumni Association & Memorabilia Room

Posted on December 13, 2012 By Editor Senior Residents

By Laura Jane Pittman
Resident Community News

If you mention the word “Lionette” to an older resident this side of the river, chances are they will know exactly what you are talking about. Chances are they either were a Lionette or had a sister, cousin, aunt, mother, grandmother, or friend who was.
The Landon Lionettes were the “best precision drill team Jacksonville ever had,” recalled Carolyn Knopf Graham, Landon High School Class of 1944, a member of the Landon High School Alumni Association board of directors and a former Lionette herself. And you can find a plethora of Lionette photos, pins, and paraphernalia in the Landon High School Alumni Memorabilia Room – along with anything else you can think of from the bygone days of one of Jacksonville’s premier high schools. “Landon High School was one of three high schools in the city, along with Jackson and Lee. And Fletcher was at the beach,” said Reed Tillis, who graduated from Landon in 1953. Tillis is also a member of the alumni association board of directors and helps maintain the school’s memorabilia room along with Graham.

Landon High School, which opened its doors in 1927 and had its last graduating class in 1965, taught and shaped Jacksonville young people through war, depression and many generations of students.

The first graduating class in 1928 was made up of former Duval High School and Immaculate Conception School students, who came together to form Landon High School. There are Landon graduates represented in every major profession in the city, from businessmen and women to doctors to lawyers to judges to politicians. At least three Landon High School graduates went on to become president of their classes at the University of Florida.

After the school was converted to a middle school in the mid-1960s, there was a need for a place to store the high school stuff – hence, the Landon High School Memorabilia Room was born. It is housed in an office suite near Regency Square Mall on Atlantic Boulevard and is the birthplace of the Landon High School Alumni Newsletter, which is sent monthly to more than 550 alumni. The newsletter is sometimes more than 10 pages long and is full of letters and memories sent in by graduates, along with alumni information and obituaries.

“Mark Blankfield started the memorabilia room, and Carolyn has been helping maintain it since 1988,” said Tillis. “We have yearbooks dating back to 1930 and going all the way up to the last graduating class. People who graduated in the earliest years have written down their memories and submitted pictures. In 1932 to 1937, the school didn’t produce a yearbook to save money because of the economy.”
The room has books, photographs, paintings, uniforms, blankets, pins, rings – even a wooden paddle hanging on the wall that reminds Tillis of people yelling “Ow!” from the office when it was in use.

For Graham, a wall of Lionette photos and albums of the group’s impressive football game formations evoke memories of director Kathleen Turner.
“We would gather each Monday, and she would lay out what we would do on Friday. By Friday night, we had to be ready with our tennis shoes spotless,” Graham laughed. “She would sit up in the bleachers and could tell who was out of step. If you danced perfectly every time and never missed a step, you received a special pin.”

Graham and Tillis visit the room several times a week to organize the memorabilia, work on the newsletter and receive visitors. Landon High School alums often drop in to reminisce, look through items in the room or donate their own personal items to the collection. Occasionally, people come in looking for pictures and information about parents or grandparents.

The Landon High School Alumni Association also hosts regular meetings – getting together for breakfast at a local restaurant and hosting all-alumni spring and holiday parties. The functions have had attendees from as far back as the graduating class of 1930.
The 2012 Holiday Party will be held on December 15 at San Jose Country Club. For more information about the Landon High School Alumni Association or its memorabilia room, contact Graham at (904) 724-2951 or Tillis at (904) 704-2252.

If you or someone you know is age 70 or better and has a history of living in the San Marco/St. Nicholas/San Jose areas, please send contact information to Laura Jane Pittman at [email protected] to be considered for a future WWW column.