Gravely school holds opening

By Kipp Hanley

Published: August 21, 2008

Thursday was a very special day for the Haymarket community and for the U.S. Navy.

On a beautiful August afternoon, a standing-room-only crowd came out for the Samuel L. Gravely Jr. Elementary School ribbon-cutting. Cars were lined up for nearly a half-mile down the road as people flocked to honor the first black man to be named a U.S. Navy Vice Admiral.

It was a day filled with patriotism as the U.S. Navy Band played "God Bless America," the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard presented colors and many of the student chorus wore the signature sailor cap and held miniature American flags.

"I have all the confidence in the world that this school will stand for excellence, just as it did it its namesake, Admiral Gravely," said Prince William County Schools Superintendent Stephen L. Walts.

Gravely, who died in 2004 at age 82, was a pioneer in the black community. Not only was he the first black man to serve as vice admiral, but he was the first black man to command a major naval warship, the USS Jouett, and the first to command a U.S. fleet, the U.S. 3rd Fleet.

After a speech by Rear Admiral Julius S. Caesar, widow Alma Gravely thanked everyone for coming and told everyone how pleasantly surprised she was for the school system to honor her husband.

Alma Gravely, who lives in Haymarket, said it was only appropriate that her husband's name be on a school when the last public talk he gave was at a school off Linton Hall Road in Prince William County.

Attendee Dr. Ken Hinson, a retired Navy captain, said he respected the Gravely family for their kindness to him many years ago when he was just an ensign, or junior officer.

"He and Alma welcomed a brand new ensign with open arms as if I was a person they had known for ages," said the 60-year-old Hinson, who met the Gravelys in San Diego and who now works for the Prince William County school system.

One of two new elementary schools in the county to open this fall, Gravely will hold 850 students and feature many learning tools such as a media center. It will also contain memorabilia donated by Alma Gravely and an American flag that was flown over the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.  on Aug. 8.

The flag will be a permanent part of the campus.

Walts said that current and future students will be better historians just by knowing who their school was named after—an honor that would've humbled an already humble man, assured Caesar.

"If he were here today, he would be crawling up on a ladder trying to take that name down, because it's not about him," Caesar said. "Because that's the type of man he was."

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.