Coming Out of the Dark Into the Light
Ovie Elaine Boleyjack Bell was born to George and Annie Boleyjack of Triune, Tennessee. She is the fourteenth of fifteen children. She attended Kirkland Elementary School from first to eighth grade. She also attended Natchez High School for one year before being transferred to College Grove High School during the integration, from which She graduated in 1970.
Addie Marie (Ridley) Ogilvie lives in Trine, Tennessee. She is a Born-Again Christian. She is the second child of her parents, James Ridley and Araminta (Shaw) Ridley. She was married to Frank James Ogilvie Jr for forty-three years. She has two daughters, Valerie and Dr. Candace Ogilvie, one son, and one daughter-in-law, Frank and Sara Ogilvie; and four granddaughters, Libbie, Addie, Kennedie, and Frankie. She attended Kirkland School, Natchez High, and College Grove, as well as Draughn's Business College. She is a very active Member of Green Grove Primitive Baptist Church as well as in the Nolensville, Triune, and College Grove communities. She enjoys singing and sharing her faith with others.
The Williamson County Historical Society (Tennessee) is proud to present "Coming Out of the Darkness," a history of the Black communities of Triune, Kirkland, and College Grove, told by individuals who grew up there. Members of the Society encouraged Elaine Bolyejack Bell and Marie Ridley Ogilvie to canvass the eastern section of Williamson County, asking for personal experiences of those who attended Kirkland School, to collect family histories, and to donate photographs of families and individuals. This "grassroots" effort resulted in a 300-page documentary of life in these communities, including photos of Black schools before the 1954 consolidation with the new Kirkland School (1-8), and histories of the Black churches in these three communities. A vital contribution to the educational history of Williamson County is the revelation of personal accounts from a Black perspective on the 1967 school integration. The Society encourages other Black communities in the county to follow suit.
