A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Reunion to celebrate the Life and Legacy of Covington’s Lincoln-William Grant High School


By Vicki Prichard
NKyTribune Contributor

Louisville attorney Walter “Skip” Bedford was fresh out of high school, a member of William Grant High School’s last graduating class, when one of the school’s basketball coaches offered him a bit of wise counsel.

“Coach David Johnson took me aside and said I needed to do something more than hang out in the streets,” says Bedford.

Johnson told Bedford that the University of Kentucky was the place for him.

WGHS photo of Walter "Skip" Bedford

WGHS photo of Walter “Skip” Bedford. (Provided photos)

“I had wonderful parents, so the seed was already there,” says Bedford. “I graduated from high school in ’65 and went to UK in ’66. It was the beginning of a lifetime of love with education, which had begun at Grant.”

On Friday, July 31, Lincoln-William Grant alumni will come together for the Lincoln-William Grant High School 50th Reunion Life & Legacy Celebration at The Gardens of Park Hills. The event is a celebration of the last graduating class, of which Bedford was president.

The celebration and festivities continue through August 2.

Classmates are invited to revisit the “projects,” and surrounding communities, participate in what has become a traditional “Old Timers Weekend” at Randolph Park, right behind Lincoln-Grant School, and recognize the 200th anniversary of Covington (COV200).

After heeding Johnson’s advice, Bedford went on to be among the first African Americans to graduate from the University of Kentucky’s school of business and economics, and one the first 20 African Americans to receive a law degree from UK’s College of Law.

Indeed, Bedford and those who matriculated through Lincoln-William Grant School, might have had little choice where they attended school in Northern Kentucky, but the education they received was a strong one, taught by quality educators.

“I started looking into the background of the teachers and saw they had masters and some PhDs,” says Bedford, whose mother, June, is an alumna of Lincoln-William Grant. “It was a time of Plessy vs. Ferguson, segregation, and there wasn’t much of a choice, but we didn’t miss out at all from a teaching standpoint. Academically I was prepared to do what my freshman classmates at UK were prepared to do.”

Bedford began his education at Our Savior on 10th Street in Covington, which was the school African American Catholics attended at that time.

June Bedford WGHS photo, class of 1947

June Bedford WGHS photo, class of 1947

“My mother saw a bit more advantage to attending her alma mater,” says Bedford, whose mother was a WGHS graduate of 1947. “I’m the eldest of 14, and education was a big thing in my house.”

Though one sister died, the other siblings all graduated from high school and half his remaining siblings have at least one degree, some have more.

In 1866, the Lincoln School was established in Covington to educate African American children in primary education. In 1874, the Kentucky Legislature passed a law providing education for the Commonwealth, mandating that “white and colored schools shall be forever kept and maintained separately.”

In 1876, William Grant High School was established to provide secondary education. Grant was a Covington resident and member of the Kentucky State Legislature, who, during his campaign, publicly supported building a school for black students on Seventh Street. By 1932, a new building for those children was built on Greenup Street, ultimately developing a talented teaching staff.

As the proclamation by Rep. Arnold Simpson (D-Covington) states, “Young men and women matriculated and became graduates of Lincoln-William Grant School. Further that graduates of Lincoln-William Grant School have participated in all areas of the Community and abroad as Physicians, Educators, Attorneys at Law, Judges, Served Honorably in the Military Services of these United States and Public Service and other meaningful activities and Citizenship in these United States of America.”

Lincoln and Grant marker IMG_0540_zpsb80f9113 WGHSDeborah Grant Storm, Treasurer of the Lincoln-WGHS Life & Legacy Celebration planning committee, remembers a simpler time.

“It was like a little Mayberry city,” says Storm. “You know how they say everybody raised you? You just didn’t get one spanking, you got six, because the person where you were when you got in trouble spanked you and then you got home and got a spanking. Everyone looked out for everyone. We were all poor and we didn’t know it. We didn’t know it until later, and then we said, “’How did we get through that?’”

The celebration, which expects to see several hundred in attendance, has alumni returning from as far as California and Arizona.

“We want everyone to be part of it since we were the last class to graduate,” says Storm. “After this year, we want to start being an alumni reunion.”

Barbara Bannister, who, like Storm, now lives in Cincinnati, says she still has a deep connection to the school.

“Most of us lived in the neighborhood, some were bussed from Latonia and Peaselburg – it was the time of segregation,” says Bannister. “It was a close-knit community. I lived on the west side of town and the school was on the east side of town, but you kind of knew everybody in the neighborhood and parents looked out for children in the neighborhood. It was a safer time for sure.”

Lincoln and WGHSmagnet

Though Bannister left William Grant after her junior year to attend Holmes High School, she realizes that she received a good education in her time at WGHS.

“I did not graduate from William Grant High School, but I still have a deep connection.”

Bannister suggests that the closeness of the community perhaps stemmed from the circumstances of the time.

“I believe that it was because of the segregation and we were forced in that situation,” says Bannister. “We didn’t have any other choice at the time. We all lived together, played together, went to church together. Everything was right there in that little space we were in.”

As the tight-knit, successful alumni of Lincoln-WGHS come together to reflect and celebrate, they’ll also be paying their success forward by way of the establishment of the Lincoln-WGHS Scholarship.

To qualify for the scholarship, a recipient must be a generational, biological heir of a graduate of William Grant High School, or an individual who at any time attended Lincoln or WGHS, if otherwise qualified as a relationship with a former student, administrator, teacher or support staff.

They must also be able to provide evidence of being a generational or biological heir. In addition, they must provide an acceptance letter to an accredited two- or four-year college in the United States.

Tickets for the event are $60 and discounted rates are available for some groups. For more information, contact Shameka Parrish-Wright at 502-778-1675, or email at bedfordlaw@bellsouth.net, or call Deborah Grant Storm at 513-200-7870.


Related Posts

Leave a Comment