By ELTON ENGLISH

My debut on life’s stage at Georgia Ridge during the second term of Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth President of the United States. The people thought the name Coolidge was a personification of prosperity.  When I was about six weeks old, Aunt Cora gave birth to twins that were tiny.  The smallest died at birth, and the mother didn’t have enough milk for the surviving baby.  The doctor told the family that the baby must have mother’s milk to survive.  George and Julie English, my grandparents, brought their daughter and grandson to their house and sent for my mother. My mother, their daughter-in-law Mary Slack English, stayed there and nursed the both of us until Clinton, my first cousin, was strong enough to digest cow’s milk.  My father knew the situation called for tremendous sacrifice by the family, trying to hold things together and work the crop.  Dad made the two-mile journey about every two days to see his family, by walking the path up the mountain, by the waterfall, and across the fields to his parents’ house.  He was happy, knowing his nephew was out of danger, to get his wife and baby settled at home again.  My mother was concerned, along with my father, about where I would attend school.  Neal School had consolidated with Center Hill, and the children around the Thompson farm had to walk four miles.  Pleasant Ridge had consolidated with Joy, and the children had to walk three and a half miles.  Ben Sullivan,  our  neighbor,  thought  something  had  to be done.  He said, “These babies, when they reach school age, should not walk that far.”  Besides, he owned a farm at the end of the county road, against the mountain, north of the Thompson farm.  He thought there should be a school on Georgia Ridge for the children there and also for those in the north end of the valley.  Ben (his friends called him Uncle Ben) began working toward getting a district for this section, but he met opposition from county officials.  Uncle Ben enlisted the support of his neighbors and the people on Georgia Ridge.  He developed the motto “Sullivan can do” to engender support.  By mounting a pertinacious effort, he finally got the district approval.  The county officials assigned to Georgia Ridge the designation of District 94, and the people, with the help of the board, named it Sweet Springs. Consequently, the Sweet Springs School building was built on the east end of Georgia Ridge in 1927.  vvv