Konnarock Training School: Its Spirit Lives On by James E. Gay (review)

well together to create a wonderful story that will appeal to all ages. It will draw toddlers who like to be read to, as well as older children reading on their own, and will be appropriate to those of any age who are owned by felines. -Jane Wilson James E. Gay Konnarock Training School: Its Spirit Lives On. Lynchburg, Virginia: Warwick House Publishing, 1998. 141 pages, illustrated. Notes, bibliography, index. $22.90. In his Konnarock Training School: Its Spirit Lives On, James E. Gay narrates the development and contribution of this Lutheran mission school serving the students and communities of southwest Virginia. Relying on archival materials, reminiscences, and interviews with former staff and alumni of KTS, Gay describes the everyday activities of the school, the background of its mission, and the importance of the school's efforts to improve the lives of students and families in Smyth County and Washington County, Virginia. From 1924 until its close in 1959, KTS sought to fulfill the goals of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA) and its Southern Mountain Mission, in an effort to "minister to the spiritual, mental, and physical needs of the children of the Appalachian mountains." Konnarock Training School was the inspiration of Kenneth Killinger, a Lutheran layreader (later a prominent pastor) and Mrs. B.E. Scherer Copenhaver, a cousin of Dr. J.J. Scherer, president of the Virginia Synod. Killinger and Copenhaver successfully portrayed the needs of mountain people in southwest Virginia to the Women's Missionary Society and the ULCA Executive Board, resulting in the hiring of Mary Phlegar Smith, a teacher of English and Psychology at Marion Junior College. After surveying the area and visiting the mountain missions of other organizations, Smith determined that the greatest need was to open a training school for girls. L.C. Hassinger, a local lumberman, donated 225 acres of land for the school, and in the fall of 1924, Miss Smith opened KTS in a rented house, with six girls as boarding students and eight others as day students. In 1931, the Iron Mountain Lutheran School for Boys was opened, providing skills in shop, horticulture and farming. KTS also engaged in extensive outreach efforts in the local community, offering a three-week vacation Bible school in the summers and the services of a full-time physician 63 and nurse. These medical professionals actively pursued a campaign of prevention, offering clinics in nutrition, dental care, midwifery, and child care. Both Lutheran schools enjoyed a cooperative relationship with the Washington County public school system that included the sharing of facilities and faculty, as well as financial support from Smyth County's school board. By the 1950s, however, school consolidation and road improvements, as well as the success of KTS's medical outreach efforts, had largely ended the need to continue the mission of KTS, which finally closed in 1959. Readers of Konnarock Training School will find an interesting story of hard work, perseverance, and faith recorded in these pages. The alumni and staff of KTS demonstrate their devotion to their alma mater with annual reunions long after the doors of the school had closed. Unfortunately, this narrative is only about KTS and there is no comparative discussion with other mission and settlement school efforts that were also taking place in the southern mountains. Nevertheless, while there has been increasing attention given to the settlement school movement in Appalachia, much work remains, including thoughtful analysis of the many mission school initiatives in the region. This book tells the story of one such school, and is recommended for all regional collections documenting educational and social reform efforts in Southern Appalachia. -Shannon Wilson 64 ...