ATHENS-Students and staff in Athens who lost their school teams and mascot never lost their school spirit.
This weekend, Trinity School students and staff will proudly don their purple and gold and share their panther pride with the City of Athens for the bi-annual Trinity Grand Reunion. The Class of 1966 is hosting a dinner/dance, parade, African/American Heritage Tour of Limestone County and block party for the attendees. Shelbye Hobbs, Class of 1966, said about 250 out-of-area Trinity students and staff are coming for the reunion.
The community is welcome to them on Saturday, September 3, at 10 a.m. 
for the Trinity Grand Reunion Parade in Downtown Athens. The route is from Lincoln-Bridgeforth Park, east on Washington Street, around The Square to Brownsferry Street then to Hines Street and end at the park.
Missionary Mary Wells helped establish Trinity School in Athens after the Civil War to educate black children. Trinity School survived fires, location changes and financial struggles to operate continuously until 1970 when it was closed amid integration. Its final home was on the Fort Henderson site on Brownsferry Street, a Union fort built with the help of ex-slaves during the Civil War. Those ex-slaves became soldiers who fought against Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest at the fort site.
Ex-slaves also found their education on the site once Trinity School located at the fort. The Limestone County Board of Education eventually took over operation of the missionary school, and it served as the only all-black high school in the county.
During integration, Trinity’s students were sent to predominately white schools in Athens and Limestone County, and over time, the school fell into disrepair. The late Councilman Jimmy Gil and the Class of 1966 kept the school spirit going by hosting a bi-annual reunion. This is the 10th reunion his class has hosted.
In addition, the Athens-Limestone Community Association, City of Athens, 
Limestone County and other community supporters raised funds, obtained grants and donated services to save the remainder of the fort and part of the school and build the Pincham-Lincoln Center to serve the community once again. The center opened in December 2015. For some Trinity students and staff, this will be their first look at the renovated site.
During the 2014 reunion, Gill said the reunion is vital to those who attended Trinity because, “Our school may have closed, but we have retained our identity as Trinity students.” Gill died earlier this year from cancer, but organizers are determined to keep the event going.
“This reunion was near and dear to Jimmy Gill’s heart, and his presence is going to be missed by all of us,” Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks said. “But Jimmy would expect us to get to work and carry on. I commend the Class of 1966 for ensuring this event continues. The history of Trinity is important and needs to be celebrated.”
Marks has proclaimed September 2-3 as Trinity High School Grand 
Reunion and Homecoming Weekend in Athens. The proclamation asks citizens to “join me in recognizing the outstanding achievements of the many successful graduates of Trinity High School, who have brought numerous honors to themselves, their families, Trinity High School and the entire community.”
Lucy Lincoln, widow of Trinity graduate Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, will be the parade’s grand marshal. Her husband was an author, theologian, ordained Methodist minister and a professor of religion at Duke University. His book “The Avenue, Clayton City” won the Lillian Smith Award for best Southern fiction in 1988. In a 2014 interview with Duke Today, Lucy Lincoln described her husband as having “a large capacity for love.” Her interview can be watched online at: https://today.duke.edu/2014/10/carrying-legacy-c-eric-lincoln.
TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL REUNION AND HOMECOMING, 2016
WHEREAS, the school at Athens, Alabama, called Trinity, was organized by Miss Mary F. Wells and was so christened in 1865, and as its patron saint, she should have a special place in all our hearts; and
WHEREAS, during Trinity School’s early years of existence, its pioneers endured many hardships and had their faith severely tested as the first three school buildings were destroyed by fire; and
WHEREAS, there have been numerous graduates from Trinity High School who have distinguished themselves through successful careers in their chosen fields; and
WHEREAS, beginning Friday, September 2nd, 2016, and continuing through Saturday, September 3rd, 2016, the Trinity High School Class of 1966 will be hosting the TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL GRAND REUNION AND HOMECOMING, 2016; and
WHEREAS, former Trinity High School students and staff members from 1924 to its closing in 1970, will assemble at ten a.m. on Friday, at Village View Methodist Church to kick off their “10th Grand Reunion,” a banquet on Friday night in Athens, Alabama, at the Limestone County Valley Event Center and will culminate their activities with a parade on Saturday morning, a picnic, tour and block party Saturday evening:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM R. MARKS, by virtue of the power vested in me as Mayor of the City of Athens, Alabama, do hereby proclaim September 2nd, 2016, through September 3rd, 2016, as TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL GRAND REUNION AND HOMECOMING WEEKEND in this community, and I call upon the fine people of this community to join me in recognizing the outstanding achievements of the many successful graduates of Trinity High School, who have brought numerous honors to themselves, their families, Trinity High School
and the entire community.
GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND SEAL OF THE CITY OF ATHENS, ALABAMA, on this, the 2nd day of September, 2016.
