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 Sam Reed (third from the right) entertains some of his former agriculture students and Dyer County Fair board members with stories from the past. The crop exhibits building at the fairgrounds was named in his honor Thursday morning. Joining him during the ceremony were (from left): Ralph Henson, Jimmy Hester, Tommy Reed, Larry Gibson, Paul Finley, Reed, Neely Pritchett and Eddie Anderson. Reed began teaching agriculture at Newbern Consolidated High School in 1945 and transferred the following year to Dyersburg High School, where he remained for about 20 years. He established the DHS FFA chapter and organized student efforts to create the fairgrounds on Harrell Avenue. He later served as DHS assistant principal and was elected city school superintendent in 1967. He retired in 1985. |
His driver for the day, Larry Gibson, had other plans. Once Reed settled into the golf cart, he was whisked past the entrance to Sorghum Valley, despite Reed's objections, and taken to the Crop Exhibits Building.
Several men and women - many of them Reed's former students - gathered outside the building to pay homage to a man who taught them about agriculture and giving back to the community.
 Eddie Anderson, Sam Reed and Larry Gibson reminisce about Reed's teaching career at Dyersburg High School. Anderson and Gibson are among Reed's former students. Reed moved to Middle Tennessee but he returned Thursday to savor the Dyer County Fair's sorghum making demonstration and the flavor of Sorghum Valley. [Click to enlarge] |
Anderson lifted a sign declaring the Crop Exhibits Building as the Sam Reed Building and Reed began to cry.
"Oh, thank y'all. Thank y'all. Thank y'all," Reed said as Anderson hugged him. "Bless y'all. The main thing y'all done was to make the Dyer County Fair and Dyer County community worthwhile and a good place to live and a goal for others to shoot for."
Reed, 87, taught agriculture classes briefly at Newbern Consolidated High School and for about 20 years at Dyersburg High School. He became the DHS assistant principal in the mid-1960s and was elected city school superintendent in February 1967. He retired in 1985. Reed established the DHS FFA chapter and organized student efforts to create the fairgrounds on Harrell Avenue.
Reed finally made it to Sorghum Valley, a small frontier-type town built on the edge of the fairgrounds in the trees. On Thursday, Reed watched volunteers press the juices from sorghum cane and then cook that juice until it became molasses. He watched Jimmy Hart, John Buchanan, Sam Griffin and Baxter Sanders, all of Troy, turn corn into hominy.
Reed liked what he saw - and was impressed by the efforts of his former students.
Larry Gibson, one of those former students and a fair board member, attributed much of the fair's development to lessons learned in Reed's company decades ago.
"Everything you see out here that we have tried to do - the background of our ability - came from this man right here and what he taught us when we were in ag (classes) with him in the '60s, I might say," Gibson said. "He taught us how to get involved in the community and to give back to the community."
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What a great tribute to a person who was tremendously deserving!!!
Sam Reed has never received the recognition he deserved. I taught in his system here for his entire superintendency. His contributions go far beyond being an agricultural and community leader.
Few know that he was the leader--the one essential link--in bringing about the peaceful and orderly integration of our schools.
He was gruff and straightforward and he mispronounced some words, but his large frame houses a heart to match. His decisions were final and they were always made with our school and our community foremost.
In 1970, when I was new to Dyersburg, my mother died of leukemia. When I returned to school after the funeral, Mr. Reed called me aside. I was about as despondent as an only child could be. He said he wanted to share something with me. He told me about the end of WWII when he was overseas and everyone was celebrating the end of the war and preparing to return home. Sam Reed received word that his mother had died here in West Tennessee. "So, you see, Wallace," he said, with tears in his eyes, "I know how you feel right now." How could I ever forget that?
I last saw him last winter at the Dyersburg football banquet where we sat and reminisced. He's a great man, and I am proud that I know him.