1971

Sandra Tortt Riddell graduated from Henrico High School in 1971. During her time as a Warrior, Mrs. Riddell participated in choir, the drill team, and also in many clubs and organizations (Riddell). She loved being a Warrior and doing all the fun things that came with it, including the dances, pep rallies, and the football games(Riddell). Mrs. Riddell feels that being a Warrior is a special thing meaning that Henrico has more, and better technology(Riddell). ­­­ She saw Henrico as her job because it was an opportunity to learn and take all the information she could. She said, as a woman you have to be “strong and wise” (Riddell).

After high school, Mrs. Riddell went off to college at the University of Richmond for her first year, then transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University for her final 3 years. She graduated from VCU with a degree in Education in 1979. Her education deepened as she attended night school to get her Master’s degree. After college, Mrs. Riddell became a teacher and a librarian. She taught for 32 years at schools in Henrico County.

Tortt- Riddell, Sandra (Sandy). Personal Interview. 27 Feb 2019.

1976

Fred Laube graduated from Henrico High School in 1976. When Fred was attending Henrico he joined the baseball and soccer team. Fred and both of his teams were very talented. When playing baseball him and his team won a baseball tournament and with soccer they never lost a game. Those were the two major sports Fred joined when he was in high school, In fact he still has his baseball jacket till this day. Fred also had mentioned how his friend Mike had made the soccer team at the school, which Fred helped with by being one of the first people to join. This is the reason Henrico has a soccer team today!

Fred now owns a construction company; Duke construction, in which he said that Henrico did not help him find that passion. He discovered that on his own! But when talking about careers, Fred had given some pretty great advice to the students about success in life. “You gotta gotta go out and motivate yourself. Work hard,” is one of the many important things he said.

1976

Patrice Pillow, formerly known as Patrice King, graduated from Henrico High School in 1976. Mrs.Pillow participated in gymnastics and loved to attend all the games and dances with her friends. She was also a gym aid. Mrs. Pillow loved being a warrior and believed it took mostly mental strength to be a warrior and everyone has their own role as a warrior. The word she used to describe henrico was awesome.

After Henrico, Mrs. Pillow became a gym teacher. She was influenced to be a gym teacher in 7th grade by her school gym teachers and because she always liked to play and participate in activities.

Pillow, Patrice. Personal interview. March 1, 2019

1978

Sharon Kelly graduated over 40 years ago in 1978. During her years at Henrico High School, Ms.Kelly was known as an athletic student.She loved her experience here at Henrico High School. She liked to participate in activities after school; she mainly participated on the Gymnastics team and the Softball team. She says that Henrico has changed a lot, “back in the day” as she would say Henrico was a friendly place, it was very school spirited, also it was very competitive with other schools. She says that Henrico definitely shaped her into the women she is today.

Ms.Sharon Kelly is a now retired school teacher. Now she is a gymnastics coach at Douglas Freeman. She wants to come and teach gymnastics here at Henrico however, we don’t have a gymnastics team anymore. Ms.Kelly’s name can be found in the hall of fame located near the gym.Her advice is to stay active and join an activity. She says ‘if you just come to school do the work to just go home at the end of the day then you might not like it vs someone who participates in activities at school.’

(Kelly.Sharon Personal Interview. March 1 2019.)

Dana Washington graduated from Henrico High school in 1979. Ms.Washington is currently working in her home as a hairdresser but she use to work in Carytown. She specializes in Japanese hair straightening. Art and drama influenced her occupation. Ms washington told us that she enjoyed her time at henrico. We asked Ms.Washington what it took to be a warrior, she said “ have a lot of integrity” (Washington).

As we got to the end of the interview we asked Ms.Washington a few more questions, we asked Ms.Washington what advice would she give to future warriors, she told us “follow your dreams”.We also asked her what clubs or activities would she recommend for upcoming students, Ms.Washington said “ be in everything you can join”.

Washington, Dana. Personal interview. 1 March 2019.