| Hughes, Arkansas School Faculty Memorial |
| Bessie Lorene (Massey) Spivey General Education (basic subjects) Tenure: 1916-1917 |
| Reputed to be the third teacher in the Hughes School System, replacing Stella (Andrews) Nickle, Miss Massey was born July 17, 1895, in Oakland, Yalobusha County, Mississippi, daughter of John Oliver Massey and Adelaide “Addie” Rebecca (Cansler) Massey. She began teaching at Hughes in the fall of 1916, but served only one school year because of her marriage to school board member William Arthur Spivey on June 24, 1917. They married in a double wedding with her brother, John Cansler Massey and his betrothed, Alma Lazarus, at Clinton, Mississippi. The couple settled at Hughes and became the parents of five children: William A., Jr., Dora Mae, HHS Valedictorian of the Class of 1936, Dorothy Louise (A senior at Forest City High School, she died in an auto accident on September 29, 1940, while returning with friends from the Mid-South Fair), Robert M., and Richard A. Mrs. Spivey died June 29, 1957, with rites conducted at the Hughes Baptist Church, interment in Forest Park Cemetery, Forest City, Arkansas. |
