![]() ![]() ![]() “Surprisingly enough, I think this younger generation has no idea what the rural community has to offer and what takes place out in farming communities where our food industry and products come from,” Lloyd said. His parents, Rufus and Louise Lloyd, were hard workers and he said having to work on the farm taught him “about the land” and the importance of caring for the things that give life and help people survive. Lloyd’s humble beginnings in Carver’s Creek shaped his life. Lloyd is also a member of the First Missionary Baptist Church in Elizabethtown and serves as chair of the deacon board. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., the Boys and Girls Club, the Bladen County College Advisory Board, Bladen County Smart Start, the North Carolina League of Municipalities, to name a few. Some of his other accomplishments have been serving on countless boards and in civic organizations in the county. When he retired in 1993, he continued his service on the Elizabethtown Town Council. Lloyd simultaneously served on the Elizabethtown Planning Board for 35 years while he worked in the school system. I’ve just enjoyed giving my community in Elizabethtown and Bladen County services.” “The people that I have grown to know are great people,” Lloyd said. Some of Lloyd’s favorite memories as an educator are the ones where he made long-lasting relationships with his students and people he worked with. “You had to adapt to the change and move according to what was in the best interest of the students and the people that you had to work and deal with.” “I can’t truly say in our area it was a major issue, but like other places it was there,” Lloyd said. Lloyd believes the transition was “successful” despite the various forms of discrimination in the area. Schools in the county were fully desegregated by the end of 1971. In Bladen County, the school system was established in August of 1839 and by the 1960s, there were nine schools for Black students and eight schools for white students. We didn’t have a whole lot of issues and the movement was very smooth.” “We had teachers from the Elizabethtown schools to move in, it was a challenging experience and a great change that took place here. “At the beginning of integration, it was a totally new experience,” Lloyd said. ![]() He taught a generation of students from all backgrounds and walks of life and by the 1970s, he taught and helped even more students from all over the county. He remembers the different changes that took place throughout his career in the school system. At Clarkton Middle School, and later at Bladenboro High School, he served as assistant principal. Lloyd taught social studies and earned a master's degree at Fayetteville State University in administration and supervision. “I’m consistently seeing and talking with students that I taught here and still have that close relationship with them and the parents, can’t forget about them.” “I was always a people’s person I enjoyed working with people and being around people,” said Lloyd. He then moved to Elizabethtown to teach elementary and middle school, a job he truly loved. In 1961, he began teaching at Spaulding Monroe High School, now considered West Bladen High School. Lloyd, now 82, has an education career spanning 34 years. The oldest of seven children, Lloyd grew up knowing the value of hard work, determination and caring for his neighbors. He grew up in the Carver’s Creek Community, a small farming township located several miles from Elizabethtown. ![]() For as long as he can remember, Lloyd always wanted to be an educator. ![]()
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