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Apartment complex’s namesake recalls life at Dunson

Richard W. Wolfe grew up in the Dunson community where he raised his family, including his son, DASH Founder Ricky Wolfe. Now, the old Dunson School where Wolfe's children obtained their elementary education has been renovated into an apartment complex named for the elder Wolfe, former plant manager at Dunson Mill.

Richard W. Wolfe grew up in the Dunson community where he met and married his wife and where they raised their four children, including DASH Founder Ricky Wolfe. Plant manager at Dunson Mill for 14 years, the elder Wolfe was honored in late 2007 when the renovated Dunson School was named for him: The Richard W. Wolfe Apartments at Dunson School. With nostalgic pride, Wolfe, 83, reminisces about his youth at Dunson.

“Baseball back then was your social life,” he says. “There was a baseball field behind the school with a grandstand, and every Saturday afternoon we’d have about 500 people there. I played second base for Dunson, and when we played Dixie [a neighboring mill village school], it was a real rivalry.”

The octogenarian vividly recalls the first time he kissed the girl who eventually would become his wife. “We did all our courting at either Dunson Methodist Church or Dunson Baptist Church,” he says. “With our parents’ permission, we’d go to church where we’d meet our girlfriends. I had a girlfriend I later married, Marian. She was 13 and I was 17 when we first started our puppy love. I was walking her home from the Methodist church one night and when we were about halfway there, I kissed her on the cheek and she took off. I don’t know what she thought... She ran all the way home.”

Marian was enamored. While her boyfriend was serving in World War II, she remained in LaGrange, waiting on him for three years. They married on January 18, 1946—exactly two weeks and four days after his return to the states. They had been married 55 years when Marian died in the year 2000.

At 83, Richard W. Wolfe often visits the apartment complex that bears his name to reminisce with residents who recall with similar affection growing up at Dunson. “Many of them are back in a neighborhood where they have many roots,” he says. “They feel at home.

“I was heartbroken when I heard they were going to push down the old school,” the elder Wolfe recalls. “It was really a landmark, the center of the community along with the two churches and baseball field. I’m very proud of Ricky and all that he and DASH did to save the school. Ricky never forgot his roots. He wanted to come back to LaGrange and do what he could to make a contribution to his home community, and that’s what he did. He’s been a fine son.”

For Bobbie Delaney and Joe Daniel, the one-bedroom units at The Richard W. Wolfe Apartments at Dunson School are a blessing. “They hit the nail on the head as far as my income,” says Delaney, a retired carpenter who learned that the school was being remodeled into apartments for senior citizens while working on a crew to renovate them.

“I’d been renting a room; now what I pay for this whole apartment is less than what I paid for that room,” he says. “When I lived in that room, I felt like I’d never have my own place again. Now I do.”

Joe Daniel was living alone 30 miles outside of LaGrange when his daughter, Tina Brown, heard about the Richard W. Wolfe Apartments. Daniel is disabled, and his daughter wanted him closer so she could better care for him. Now he lives only two miles from her. “My father is very happy here,” says Brown. “He feels safe and secure and his health has improved. He exercises more and mingles with other residents. They all watch over each other, and I get peace from knowing that. I tell people this is a community within a community.”

The elderly lady didn’t give him her name as she squeezed his hand in gratitude, but Ricky Wolfe will never forget the kindly face of the resident who approached him shortly after moving into the apartments at Dunson School. “I am 79 years old,” she told the DASH founder. “And this is the nicest place I’ve ever lived.”

The mission of DASH is to revitalize and make sustainable LaGrange's once vibrant neighborhoods by eliminating substandard housing, creating socio-economic diversity, encouraging homeownership, inviting economic development and engaging residents in active community leadership. For additional information about DASH or its initiatives, contact us at (706) 298-0221 or visit online at http://www.dashlagrange.com.

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