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By Tom Boggs

I’ve talked recently with two special folks, one being Irvin Rentz  now of Mobile, and Nell Rose Beverly, now of Charlotte, N.C., and they hold a special place in that they are the last two surviving members of the Linden High School class of 1946.

Nell Rose started school in a one room school house in Half Acre, 7th through 9th in Myrtlewood, and remembers passing algebra at Linden High with tutoring help from her friend, Irvin Rentz. She was a cheerleader with Jean Echols, Mary Coleman Holston, and Phoebe Hinson.

When she went to Huntington College, she said a new world opened up for the innocent young girl from Marengo County, and it was then she met, fell in love with, and married David Beverly from down Sweetwater way.  Although David passed away less than sixteen years later, he left a strong widow and six children, all who prospered.  

It was then that Nell Rose car pooled with Laura Jean Scott to Judson College until graduation 1 ½ years later, and got her first job teaching at Linden.  In 1981 she married Meador Jones, and lived in Dayton until his death nineteen years later, after which she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina.  

Nell Rose has thirteen grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.  One of her sons, David Beverly, Jr, who now lives in Houston, Texas, brought the name back home in 2009 when he was among the first inductees in the newly founded Marengo County Sports Hall of Fame, recognized for his steeler play mainly as a punter at Sweetwater, at Auburn, finishing his kicking career after seven years with the Green Bay Packers. 

Nell Rose says her life was supported by the little church in Half Acre, the Methodist Church in Sweetwater, and the Presbyterian Church in Linden.

Now, her classmate, Irvin Rentz, also from South Marengo County,  not only understood algebra at Linden High, but he was also a baseball and football star.  His last football season was the year World War II ended in 1945.  The Red Devils had a 6-1-1 season, tying the Sweetwater Bulldogs 6-6.  (Not many extra points kicked back in those days).

After High School, Irvin joined the army, and was assigned to the Military Academy at West Point, where he played baseball and football on the post teams.  After the army he played catcher for a farm team of the Cleveland Indians.

Irvin was blessed with five children, and has seven grandsons and seven great grandsons.  Down around Mobile, he worked with a construction company thirty years, officiated High school football 47 years, and youth baseball 40 plus years. 

Interestingly, in 2019, these two survivors had something else in common.  Irvin was inducted into the Marengo County Sports Hall of Fame, just as Nell Rose’s son had been ten years before. 

Yay for these two wonderful folks, and I praise the Lord I was blessed to have had them in my life, just as so many others were blessed.   YAY FOR THE LINDEN RED DEVILS OF YESTERYEAR.