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HENRY C. CREECH Community: Pine Mountain Settlement School<\/h3>\n
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Friends & Family: Portrait photograph of Henry Creech as a young boy. [Vl_37_1194.jpg]<\/p><\/div>Henry C. Creech was the sixth of nine children born to two of the\u00a0most prominent citizens in the Pine Mountain community. His father, William Creech, Sr.<\/a> was highly respected for his character, wisdom and initiative and his many practical skills that benefited the community. Sally (Dixon) Creech<\/a>, Henry’s mother, was loved by her friends and neighbors for her kindness, pioneer skills and common sense. Most important, both fervently wished for better schools for mountain children. Accordingly, they supported Miss Katherine Pettit<\/a> and Miss Ethel de Long<\/a> in the founding of Pine Mountain Settlement School by making a crucial donation: 136 acres of land for its campus. Many members of the Creech family and subsequent generations honored the legacy of Uncle William and Aunt Sal through their\u00a0generous donations of assistance, funds, land, and supplies to the School. No more so than Uncle William and Aunt Sal’s son, Henry Clay Creech.<\/p>\n The list of Henry’s contributions to Pine Mountain Settlement School is long and varied. According to the 1943 Pine Mountain Family Album<\/a>,\u00a0he was present at the earliest stages of the School’s formation:<\/p>\n …Henry as a very young man was present at the table when Rev. [Lewis] Lyttle<\/a>, itinerant mountain missionary, brought Uncle William the good news that the “quare women” would come to start a school on Greasy creek. Ever since then Henry has kept the interests of the school close to his heart.<\/em><\/p>\n Throughout the process of establishing the School, Henry escorted visitors over the mountain to see for themselves the possibilities for building a new school in the Pine Mountain valley.\u00a0He offered some of his own land and furnished lumber for the buildings which he also helped construct, including Big Log<\/a> and the Creech Cottage<\/a> (for his son, James Charles and wife, Ruth). He also assisted\u00a0his father in writing letters<\/a>\u00a0to the co-founders. In a letter<\/a> dated as early as 1912, he urged the future co-founders, “We want you to hurry and come and build that school.”<\/p>\n Ethel de Long’s correspondence during The Road<\/a> construction indicates that, as of March 1921, Henry Creech was in charge of the camp for the prisoners who worked on The Road, also known as The Laden Trail. However, he resigned as camp supervisor in June 1921 because, as Mrs. de Long explained in a letter, “he did not feel that he had the backing of the prison authorities.”<\/p>\n Henry was active in raising money for the first PMSS buildings.\u00a0Evelyn K. Wells<\/a>, former PMSS secretary (1916-1931) and acting\u00a0director (1930), wrote in her “Record of Pine Mountain Settlement School 1913-1928<\/a>,” that Henry Creech and Bennett F. Lewis, a son-in-law of Uncle William, canvassed the community for pledges for the School. They were successful in getting about\u00a0$400 worth of pledges, as well as promises of timber and labor.<\/p>\n Henry’s keen interest in the School did not end once it was established and in operation. In fact, his involvement with the School was lifelong. He was often called upon by the School staff to assist with maintenance, provide advice and to participate in special events. All his activities with the School were in addition to raising, along with his wife, their eight children and farming the land given to him by his father. The following are examples of the efforts Henry made to carry\u00a0on the work and spirit of Uncle William and Aunt Sal.<\/p>\n Henry was a\u00a0member of\u00a0the\u00a0PMSS Advisory Board at\u00a0its beginning in 1913 and continued to serve, along with his brother Columbus<\/a>, as late as 1943. According to the 1997 issue of Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School<\/a>, he was the “first Creech to be elected a Pine Mountain Trustee….”<\/p>\n When a\u00a0community health cooperative,\u00a0known as the “Good Health Association<\/a>,”\u00a0was organized in 1934, Henry Creech was elected president. it began with fifty-three families paying ten dollars a year, which ensured them of the doctor’s services whenever they were needed.<\/p>\n As a board member of the Cumberland Valley Rural Electrical Cooperative Corporation in the early 1940s, Henry gave the School’s\u00a0Co-op students<\/a> “first-hand information concerning the organization, business, and progress of our REA cooperative.” He also supervised a crew<\/a> of approximately 14 men who cleared timber from the rights-of-way for the project.\u00a0A “Dear Friend” fundraising letter of 1948<\/a>, signed by then Director H.R.S. Benjamin<\/a>, credited him\u00a0for bringing the REA to the valley.<\/p>\n When the School needed farming or medical equipment, Henry was there to help. November 1946 Notes<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n …[W]e have the new distinction of part ownership of the county’s only threshing machine. with our good neighbor, Henry Creech, we have purchased a small, second-hand thresher which has already proven its versatility by threshing with equal ease dried seed beans and timothy hay.<\/em><\/p>\n November 1949 Notes<\/a> told of Henry’s assistance with neighborhood fundraising for the shipping and installation of a large X-ray unit that was donated to Pine Mountain by a Louisville doctor.<\/p>\n Also in 1949, Henry worked with\u00a0Harlan County officials, PMSS staff, and educators at Berea College to facilitate the transition of the boarding high school program to the Pine Mountain elementary school. (Notes – 1997<\/a>)<\/p>\n The school attends a stir-off [Sorghum\/Molasses] at Henry Creech’s, 1946. [nace_1_046c.jpg]<\/p><\/div>One of the delightful events of the fall season at Pine Mountain was the\u00a0gathering of community and School at a “sorghum stir-off.” The visitors stood in line at a huge vat containing juice extracted from sorghum that was boiled into a sticky sweet molasses-like treat. This process and event took place annually at Henry and Delia Creech’s place. PMSS Notes 1944<\/a> states, “When sorghum is plentiful, and the weather is right it is Henry’s good custom to invite the whole school for an evening “stirring off.” Notes 1948<\/a> recalls: “The syrup was just right and some of us kept on dipping our cane stalks into the vat until we had a little more than was good for us!”<\/p>\n Later in the spring, Henry Creech furnished a different kind of syrup to another annual outdoor event. “…a Dogwood Breakfast became an integral part of the Spring meeting of the Board of Trustees. For the Board breakfasts, Henry Creech furnished maple syrup<\/a>, “made at Uncle William’s sugar camp. William Creech, having discovered the grove of mature sugar maple trees on Pine Mountain’s north side, started the tradition of maple sugaring\u00a0and Henry\u00a0carried it on for another generation.”<\/p>\nHENRY C. CREECH Community: Sorghum Stir-Offs & Maple Sugaring<\/h3>\n
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HENRY C. CREECH Community: The Creech Family<\/h3>\n\n\t\t