Here's to Willard — Presenting Willard Moxley (center) with a plaque commemorating the scholarship founded in his honor are Lewis Porter (left) and Joe Irwin.

Class of 1957 honors former teacher with new scholarship

The Sparta High School class of 1957 recently decided to honor their former teacher in what seemed an especially fitting way — by establishing an ongoing scholarship in his name.

Willard R. Moxley taught for 30 years, mostly at Sparta High School, which became Alleghany High School during his career. In fact, the class of ‘57 was the first one he taught.

He began his career in 1951, teaching seventh grade at Sparta Elementary School. Moxley taught only one year there. He did not teach during the 1952-53 school year, then went to the high school in 1953. There his students included those he had taught in seventh grade. Moxley taught several different subjects, and most of his former seventh-grade pupils were in his high school classes during at least two or three different school years before they graduated in

(Above, left) Moxley pauses for a photo with his wife, Edith Moxley, at their home near Sparta. Moxley was an educator in Alleghany County from the early 1950s until the early 1980s.

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