Gudmundsson Reflects On Memories Of The First PCHS Band

Dunmore, WV – This school year marks the 40th anniversary of the first graduating class from Pocahontas County High School. This week we’ll be bringing you stories from those who were part of the inaugural school year either as students, teachers, or administrators.

B.J. Sharp Gudmundsson was a member of the first graduating class from Pocahontas County High School. She talks about her initial feelings when she found out that her and her classmates would be leaving Marlinton High School to go to a bigger school with their rivals.

“Marlinton had a fire that burned the school about two or three years before,” says Gudmundsson, “which sped up the consolidation process. Marlinton High School was actually a fairly good size school so I didn’t think about it as going to a bigger school but rather being uprooted.”

As a member of the first Pocahontas County High School band, Gudmundsson fondly reflects on how the band and the new football team helped quickly bring students together from the high schools.

“We had to get together in the summer,” says Gudmundsson, “because we were bringing together three schools. We had to learn how to play together and march together before that first football game.”

Not having band uniforms that first year forced Gudmundsson and her band mates to be creative.

“We went down to the Marlinton High School band room,” says Gudmundsson, “and we took the pants and hauled them up to the new school. We had them altered and we took medical tap to cover up the orange stripes on the pants. We all looked alike so when we marched onto the field that first game we were a unified group.”

In honor of Pocahontas County High School reaching the big 4-0, Allegheny Mountain Radio is sponsoring a “Back to the 70’s Homecoming Dance” at the Opera House in Marlinton, Friday after the Pocahontas-Bath homecoming football game. Net proceeds will go to buy equipment for WVMR-FM, 91.9, Hillsboro, to help the new station broadcast live coverage of PCHS sports.