E.C. Glass graduates reunite in effort to piece together two sides of desegregation

Patricia Wild has never forgotten the first day she saw Owen Cardwell Jr.

It was 1962, and Cardwell, age 14, had stepped into the cafeteria of the all-white E.C. Glass High School.

Or rather, he stepped into the cafeteria of what, until that day, had been the all-white E.C. Glass High.

The events that followed would weigh heavily on Wild’s conscience for years to come, and form the foundation of the Massachusetts-based writer’s new book, “Way Opens: A Spiritual Journey.”

The book, printed earlier this year by Warwick House Publishers in Lynchburg, tells the story simply and poignantly: Cardwell, the sole black student in the room, walked a solitary path to a lunch table. He selected a spot and plopped down his tray.

Immediately, all the other students got up and walked away.

“Owen sat down to eat alone,” Wild, a senior at the time, recalls in her book.

“I knew what had happened when German citizens remained silent in the face of Hitler’s oppression. … I knew I was supposed to walk over to Owen’s table and sit beside him.

“But I did not.”

A young girl who did not yet grasp the importance of the societal sea change happening around her, Wild never would share a cafeteria table with either Cardwell or Lynda Woodruff, the two students who desegregated E.C. Glass.

On Saturday, though, the three of them sat elbow-to-elbow in a crowded room in the activities center of the Legacy Museum of African-American History.

The museum hosted a panel discussion with the trio entitled, “Working Toward the Beloved Community,” a reference to a Martin Luther King Jr. quote about what he envisioned the result of the Civil Rights movement would be.

Cardwell, now a Baptist minister living in Richmond, confessed to only “vaguely” recalling the lunchroom scene that had proved so pivotal for Wild.

“That was one day for her,” he said. “It was a regular occurrence for me.”

Cardwell and Woodruff, who recently retired from a teaching position at a university in Atlanta, have spoken often of those early days of desegregation and the heavy weight they carried as trailblazers for an entire race.

“Way Opens” marks the first time their stories have been interlaced with the experience of one of their white peers, however.

The genesis of the book began eight years ago, when Wild was moved to write to Woodruff and convey her own personal tale of lingering shame and regret from that era.

Woodruff, who was just 13 when she enrolled at E.C. Glass, recalls being underwhelmed when first reading those words.

“I thought it was not my job description to soothe someone else’s guilt,” she recounts with some reluctance. “That was my first reaction.”

But, she added, “Patricia’s letter was unique. It’s probably why I responded.”

Woodruff did indeed reply, and also put Wild in touch with Cardwell, who she had remained friends with throughout all these decades.

The three have since developed a friendship that has forced each to reconsider their high school experience through the eyes of another.

“When I met Lynda and Owen, there was so much I didn’t know,” said Wild, who recounts in her book how she came to the realization there was a system of White privilege that existed with a capital W.

“They’ve been schooling me for eight years,” Wild said. “I hope they keep schooling me.”

“She’s been a pretty good student,” joked Cardwell.

The three spoke at length about the journey they found themselves on, a journey that has them sometimes still disagreeing about ideas of race and education and the path the future should take.

“I just want to say Lynda and I profoundly disagree on some things,” Cardwell said amiably at one point.

“Surprise,” joked Woodruff.

Carolyn Bell, a board member with the Legacy Museum and one of the organizers of Saturday’s packed event, said the commingling of these conflicting viewpoints was one of the draws of the discussion.

“I don’t think there was one specific conclusion that was arrived at today,” Bell said. “But we heard a lot of different voices, and I think that’s what the idea of the beloved community is about. Hearing different voices and listening to those voices.”

“Maybe we had an experience of the beloved community today.”