The History of Sunset Gap - page 7
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In
the early 1950's, to better make use of limited resources and
materials, the counties began to consolidate rural elementary
schools. As county road systems became better, buses were able
to transport children from some of the more isolated communities.
The enrollment at Sunset Gap was affected by these consolidation efforts; and by the mid fifties, the Board of National Missions would no longer provide a teacher. The school thus began to rely on the counties for a teacher. By 1960, the enrollment failed to meet the needed requirement of 30 and school classes were discontinued. The Board of National Missions had been expecting the Sunset Gap School to close for some time. Yet, by the late fifties, the school program had become only one of many programs considered to be important at Sunset Gap. As early as 1956, Oscar Clark had written in a mission report: "Tennessee, like other states, is consolidating schools. In the communities where all the schools have been removed, I find the community spirit dead with nothing to hold it together. Communities in this area are looking to Sunset Gap for help in solving the problem." Thus the transition from school to community center did not take place in one year's time. The transition of this school as the center of the local communities' social life was the natural foundation for the change in name and identity. |
The
Board of National Missions sent a young minister, the Rev. Robert
K. Davis, to serve as the director of Sunset Gap, when a series
of heart attacks forced Oscar Clark into his second retirement in
the early sixties. Even as a young seminary student, Bob Davis was most interested in the education programs of the church, especially as they related to young people. With the arrival of Bob and wife Kaye, the focus of the Center's programs shifted markedly to children and young people. One of the first programs initiated by Bob Davis was a very active Boy Scouting program. Scouting immediately began to involve boys and their fathers in a range of activities that emphasized outdoor skills, leadership training and community service. |
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