Evelyn Barnes started her life in Haddock, and Evelyn Hill plans to be in Haddock when her time here is up.
“Grew up in Haddock, Georgia; still in Haddock; Haddock, Georgia all my life,” Hill declared recently.
Evelyn Barnes met her future husband, Leroy Hill, through a mutual friend. “He had just gotten out of the Air Force,” she shared. “We were together five years. I had one daughter, Alethea.
“It didn’t work out. And never went that way again,” she said with a smile … and conviction.
Alethea is 56 and works as a bookkeeper at a Macon elementary school. She has a daughter, Erica, who is 28 and also has a daughter, making Hill a great-grandmother of Skylar, 3 years old.
Hill didn’t offer too many details about her childhood years, but she made it clear she enjoyed them.
“Growing up was wonderful, with a focus on education,” she recalled. “I went to elementary school in Haddock at Idella Duncan Elementary. My father, Willie Barnes, was the principal.”
The teenager went to high school at Maggie Califf, where she played basketball.
“I was a forward,” she pointed out. “We played half court ball in high school. We won several state titles at Maggie Califf.”
The JCHS grad went on to play at Ft. Valley State College, and her time there included a rare distinction.
“I was on the original girls basketball team at Fort Valley State in 1966,” she said. “I played all four years. That first year almost killed me. I was used to playing half-court ball, and at Ft. Valley, we played full court.”
Hill didn’t limit her collegiate sports involvement to basketball. She also did the high jump in track and field and played tennis.
She was asked about her tennis game.
“I was on the team,” she laughed. “I was on the team.”
Hill took a break from school when she was pregnant and gave birth to Alethea. She ended up graduating with a Social Science degree in 1975 and went to work at a center for developmental disabilities in Haddock as an instructor.
Working with the mentally challenged
“It was the first time I ever worked with people with special needs,” she explained. “They were not able to come to the regular school at that time. So, we had from, I’d say 5 years old to 40. Primarily we worked with them on selfhelp skills and preparation for the workforce for the older ones.”
The center helped some of the participants learn through ‘on the job training.’ “We actually had subcontracts with different companies,” she said. “We contracted with a pallet company that taught the older ones how to make pallets.”
Hill said there was no cost and no specific timetable for the students.
“They stayed until we were able to try to transition them into the community. There were no age limits.”
Hill worked at the center a total of 12 years — seven as the director — before moving on to another employment-related agency, the Middle Georgia Consortium in Macon, in 1987. She was a counselor at the state job-training agency.
Hill left there in 1998 and returned home to begin her last career job, adult education.
“I started working with the adult education program in Jones County,” she said. “My first job was at the Jones County Jail. I did a year working with the inmates there.”
Hill confessed it was scary when she first walked through the door, with all the inmates. “But it was different,” she added, “because the turnaround time was very short because the prisoners were in and out so much. So none of them actually obtained a GED, but they did get their basic learning skills.”
Teaching adults basic skills
Hill went into the actual classroom in 1999.
“We were teaching them the basic skills, reading, writing and math so that they could obtain a GED — general education degree. And I’ve had them from 16 to the 80s.
“I had one student that was 84 and obtained her GED,” Hill recalled. “She marched across the stage. We had our first GED graduation at the Knox Center in 2003, and when she went across that stage, it was just something to remember. She was working at Mattie Wells (school) in the kitchen, and she would get off work and come to class. That was something she always wanted to do.”
The former director pointed out that it takes different amounts of time for students to obtain their GED.
“They are given an assessment test when they first come in. And, that determines what skills they need to work on more so than the other ones. So, how long it takes, I can’t say.”
To actually obtain the GED, a student must pass a test that contains five subject areas. In addition to the basic three components, science and social studies are included. The program has been effective, according to Hill.
“Our success rate, I would say, would be about 80 percent of our students got their GED. We’ve had students that receive scholarships to go on to technical college or junior college if they want to do that. We’ve had students that went to the military, had students that graduated and working in law enforcement and fire and rescue.”
Hill said there were some who had specific reasons for being in the program.
“We had students that were dislocated workers that didn’t have a GED and needed it to obtain another job. And, some came in really motivated, knew what they wanted to do.”
She also pointed out that the adult education program included classes at different times and in locations other than Gray.
“We had night classes in Haddock as well as here in Gray and at the fire station on Highway 49. Normally in Haddock we would have maybe 10 students and about the same on 49. We had separate instructors for day and night,” she added. “Except for me. I taught day and night. I taught the night classes in Haddock as well. It was rough.”
Things to do besides teaching
Hill decided to call it quits in 2011. “I retired with 25 years in education,” she shared, but added, “I did go back parttime and teach for two years after I retired.”
Other than those two years, Hill has been taking it easy since she retired. One of her staple activities is going to the Senior Center daily.
“I enjoy being with people my age and the activities that they offer here at the center,” she declared one day last week while there. “I come here from about 10 to 12 Monday through Friday.
The retiree said there is a lot going on at the center.
“We have various agencies that come in and give us different resources. We play bingo every day. We engage in exercises every day. We go out to dinner. We go on trips monthly.” Those outings this year include a Macon Bacon baseball game in a few weeks and an Atlanta Braves contest in September.
Hill also does volunteer work at Greater Jordan Chapel AME, of which she has been a member all her life.
“We have the Velma McFadden Food Bank in our church,” she shared. “It’s through the Middle Georgia Food Bank. We’re open twice a month, 10-12 on the first Saturday and the third Thursday, and as needed. If a person is in need of food and calls, we can open up and give them food.”
The great-grandmother also enjoys spending time with Skylar. “I get to see her at least weekly. I drive over to Macon to see them.”
Hill shared that she is a member of Les Dames Magnifique.
“That is a Jones County professional women’s business club, and we meet monthly. It was chartered in 1962.”
There is one pastime that Hill is no longer able to enjoy.
“I am a proud member of the Barnes sisters,” she almost laughed. She and her sisters, Vivian and Debra, were known in Jones County and Middle Georgia for their singing. However, Debra passed away in 2015.
Hill acknowledged that she and Vivian thought about going on without her.
“We tried, but it just didn’t work.”
The sisters didn’t begin singing together until their 30s. “We started in the den at our parents’ house. We were just singing, and we realized we harmonized a bit.” Among the many times they performed during their 20 years together was at a Relay for Life and a Veterans’ Day celebration.
Hill herself is a member of Greater Jordan’s choir. “For as long as I can remember, I loved singing and continue to do so as much as possible.”
She is also a member (and president) of the church’s lay organization as well as the missionary department and pastors aid board.
Hill summarized her simple philosophy of life.
“I love God … and everyone else. To God be the glory.”
