Clem Venable, 54, groundskeeper

Venable was 10 when the schools closed. He went to work, collecting soda bottles, cutting wood and doing other odd jobs to help pay the bills. He attended as many lessons as he could at makeshift schools operated by church groups.

When the schools reopened, he was placed in the eighth grade, although he had not been to formal classes since the third grade. He struggled to keep up but ultimately dropped out and moved to New Jersey, where he worked as a dishwasher.

A decade later, he moved back to Farmville, got married and had a family. Today, he works as a groundskeeper at a local college.

Clem Venable, pictured with his daughter Chaquita, started working odd jobs when the schools closed in order to support himself. He was only 10 at the time. (Heather Wines | GNS)

His wife, Pamela, is a college-educated elementary school teacher. And his 18-year-old daughter, Chaquita, just received a $1,000 scholarship - the first privately funded scholarship distributed to the children of citizens affected by the school closings.

Chaquita has been urging her father to participate in an honorary graduation exercise in May for people who weren't able to attend school, but he's reluctant.

"It's of no use. I'm almost 55,'' said Venable, a slender, bespectacled man. "I don't need them to give me a piece of paper now. What I needed, they can't give me back."

Venable doesn't like to talk much about the years of school he missed. But in the essay she submitted to the scholarship committee, Chaquita Venable said the toll of those lost years is clear.

Her father has mastered horticulture, Chaquita wrote, "but reading the books that would give him a certificate is too much for him. His limited abilities affect his job, salary and promotions. He will never earn what he is worth."

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