By Emma Bowen Meyer, For Pendleton News
PENDLETON — A 100-year tradition for the Nowlin family passed to the next generation this school year as Jaidyn Nowlin started kindergarten classes at Pendleton Elementary School.
As the fifth generation of Nowlins to attend Pendleton schools, Jaidyn is thoroughly entrenched in the community, whether he knows it or not.
“The first day I dropped him off, I saw my first-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in the halls,” said his mother Ann Nowlin, a 2006 graduate of PHHS. “It was really nice to see familiar faces.”
Although she has not seen major changes in the corporation since she left the halls of Pendleton schools, her father, Doug, has noted such fundamental changes since he graduated in 1966 that he was left a little shell-shocked.
Having been drafted in 1967, Doug sailed with the Navy for years and met his wife, Andrea. They returned together in 1984 and attended a basketball game for nostalgia’s sake.
“Doug hadn’t realized that they had changed mascots,” Andrea recalled, referencing when Pendleton and Markleville corporations merged into one. “When he attended high school, it was the Pendleton Irish. We were sitting in the bleachers and he said: ‘Arabians? What happened to the Irish?’ A kid in front of me told his mom, ‘There’s an old timer behind us talking about Pendleton Irish.’ That was the highlight of the night.”
“I’m still not sure about that,” he said. “I was pretty devastated. Markleville was the Arabians. But whatever it takes to support the school.”
Doug’s father, Eugene, born in 1912, also attended Pendleton schools, but from service records it appears he left school in the 10th grade to support the family, as he was the eldest child.
Both of Eugene’s parents lived in the community as they grew up. Mary Josephine Crull graduated from Pendleton High School in 1906 — the family even has a picture of the class. Her husband, Charles Nowlin, attended Pendleton schools, but it is unclear whether or not he graduated.
All this genealogy has been researched by Andrea, who was born in Queens, New York, and grew up on Long Island. Fascinated by the way the Nowlins have made the area a homestead, she commented on the differences between living here and in New York.
“It was a culture shock, but it was a very nice culture shock,” she said. “I was into suburbia and out of the rat race. For traffic I’d have to go three miles. I live out in the country and I might have to worry about a runaway cow or a John Deere tractor, but not traffic. I have to go two miles for a gallon of milk. Back east it was within walking distance. This is a nice place to raise children.”
The children now being raised are Ann’s. Jaidyn, 5, is enjoying his half-day kindergarten class and his sister, Seanna, almost 4, can’t wait for her turn to begin. Although he loves reading and coloring and painting, his favorite part of school is when he gets to go outside for recess.
