June 28, 2004
Stoco School in Lego, WV.
Stoco school where my Grandparents and my mother attended (until she was 8).
Stoco was built around 1925 and housed students from grades K-12 originally. The building has been abandoned for roughly 30 years. The building was not secure, we were able to walk right in. The first room we went into was the gym, it was in terrible shape. My Grandmother cried as she looked around. You could tell by looking at the building that it was a beautiful building in its day. My youngest daughter and one of the other cousin's that were with us told my Grandmother not to worry, that when they grew up they were going to buy the building and fix the school. It is wonderful how the mind of a child works. They see the ache in a loved one and just want to fix it. My daughter, now 12, still talks of how sad this building was and how they are going to fix it to make her Granny happy.
In the writing of this I have found that in 2008 the school was in a fire that left the building a complete loss. I hesitate to even tell this to my Grandmother because I am not sure how she will take the information. She left West Virginia as a young mother and moved to the big city of Chicago. When she speaks of WV, you can hear the love for the home of her childhood and where she gave birth to her children. Often when we speak, there is the conversation of "if the Lord is willing, I want to visit one more time". I truly hope that I can make that trip with her. There is so much more I would like to see and learn about.
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