Last week, another part of history in the parish came to an end with the demolishing of the home next to Kinder High, often referred to in the past as the “principal’s house.”
Long ago, principals had to reside in the parish they worked in, and Superintendent Kent Reed explained this is the last place the school board owned for use by its school principals. A few years ago, a similar home was torn down in Reeves due to age and costly repairs.
Reed recalls growing up in the parish. When his dad was principal in Oberlin, he referred to the house in Kinder as the Armand house. At the time, Lester Armand was principal in Kinder, and he and his family lived there. Reed often visited his friend, Troy Armand, there while growing up.
He said then there were principals Stuart Buck, Charles Nevils, Becky Tholkes and David Troutman. He said Tholkes and Troutman chose not to live in the house.
At the time, Mark Andrus was hired as head football coach, and he was allowed to live in the house. Reed recalls Jeff Wainwright was named head coach in May 2003 and Reed became principal in July of 2003. Wainwright, who worked at Kinder High for about seven to eight years, was allowed to live in the house. Reed said he didn’t need it. When Wainwright left, present Coach Bret Fuselier took the job but didn’t need the house. He said they looked at the staff and offered it to Skip Pickle. He and his family lived there until his retirement recently.
“The house was in bad shape,” Reed said. “We couldn’t rent it, because it was on school property. We felt it was in the best interest to tear it down. It was the last ‘principal house’ in Allen Parish.”
And the history of principal houses came to the end with the last one in Kinder being torn down.
