Current, past South Ward faculty, staff urged to attend reunion event at the school Sunday

With less than a month remaining in the lengthy history of the South Ward Elementary/Corbin Intermediate School, which is located on 17th Street, teachers and staff members, past and present, are invited to a celebration in its honor.

The event will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the school.

“If you are a current or past member of the CIS family, please come and enjoy refreshments and fellowship with your former colleagues,” said Corbin Intermediate Principal Bill Jones in announcing the event.

For Corbin native Darva Gibbs, it will be a uniquely special day.

The Corbin native attended school at the old South Ward Elementary School and went on to teach for 30 years at the South Elementary/Corbin Intermediate School.

As a student at South Ward Elementary, Gibbs said the thing she most remembers is the large gymnasium in the basement.

“It had a wooden floor that was used as a skating rink. We would skate down there during school,” Gibbs said adding that the smell of the oil used on the floor permeated the building.

Gibbs said the two-story building was similar in style to the former high/middle school on Kentucky Ave.

“I really enjoyed it because it was big and exciting,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs said when she was in first grade she was in Joanne Cobb’s first class.

“My mother volunteered to having me put in her class,” Gibbs said of Cobb explaining that there wasn’t much enthusiasm for new teachers.

Things came full circle in 1979 when Gibbs joined the staff of South Elementary as a new teacher. Cobb was still teaching at the school.
“It was really neat to be teaching with her,” Gibbs said.

Corbin Intermediate School held fifth and sixth grades until the new middle school opened in 2018.

Renovations are ongoing at the old middle/high school building and they are scheduled to be completed in time for the new school year.

Once completed the renovated building will serve as the new home for fourth and fifth grades. It will be known as Corbin Elementary School. The building will be known as the Corbin Traditional School because of its history.

Third grade will be moving to a new addition at Corbin Primary School.

Corbin Intermediate and the current Corbin Elementary School will both be closed.

No immediate plans exist for either building.