
Tom Ackiss walked through the doors of Princess Anne High School as an eighth grader the following year.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, and a young man named Elvis Presley had released his first single record.
“When Princess Anne opened, students came from areas including Creeds, Oceana and Kempsville,” Ackiss said. “The school brought all of us together.”
More than 500 visited the day-long “Cavalier Carnival: Celebrating 70 Years as Cavaliers!” on April 20 at the oldest secondary school in Virginia Beach. They took tours, looked at memorabilia, attended presentations and chatted with each other.
Organizer Kelly Boyd, a 1996 graduate and current English teacher, called it a day filled with “feelings of warm camaraderie and new friendships.”
Ackiss said his school bus ride from the Creeds area took 45 minutes, and sometimes the driver was a student. He ran track and was very involved in school activities, including the Key Club. His wife, Ann, was a cheerleader.
“The track coach was married to the cheerleader sponsor,” Ann Ackiss said with a smile. The rest is history.
“Princess Anne set us on the road to success,” Tom Ackiss said. He became an architect and worked in ship repair. Ann Ackiss is a retired elementary school teacher. She recalled selling chocolate bars for 50 cents to raise money for the junior class to put on the senior prom.

Dr. Ron Dictado looked at a collage filled with pictures from the 1980s. “That’s me,” he said, pointing to a photo of a group mud wrestling in the school gym. “It was an ad for West Side Story,” he recalled. Then, he spied a picture of him lying on the stage as part of a play. “I had two lines, and then was shot dead,” he said with a laugh. Dictado said he has great memories of being a part of the school’s theatrical productions.
Doris Riedel worked at Princess Anne from 1957 to 1996 as a physical education teacher and athletic director, plus was also the field hockey coach. The 88-year-old said the school was basically on farmland in the early days.
“We were in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “Cows would come out when the stadium lights were on.”
What does she miss the most?
“The people,” Riedel said.

Sandy Filer, 1972 homecoming queen, was thrilled to see Reidel, her former cheerleading coach. “She was like my mom,” Filer said. “She took care of everyone.”
Cathy Walters credited Riedel with saving the homecoming crown. Walters said she was the last to wear the heavy crown in 1970. It was passed along from one homecoming queen to the next. Somehow it got thrown away, but Riedel retrieved it from the trash. That special crown was on display at the event.
Ervin Cox spotted a newspaper article posted outside the school’s band room highlighting a 1985 band trip to New York City to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “I was there,” he said. Cox, who played saxophone, said the trip was unforgettable. “The crowd loved us,” he said.
Makaila Matteson, a junior whose father, Burt Matteson, is an alumnus, currently plays vibraphone in the band. She listened in awe.
“You were so lucky,” Makaila said. Both recited the band’s name, “The Fabulous Marching Cavaliers!”
WHRO news director Mechelle Hankerson, a Princess Anne graduate, interviewed several alumni and students in the auditorium about special memories.

70th anniversary celebration on April 20.
Retired veterinarian Samuel Tate said he and classmates carried out the tradition of secretly painting a “60” on the gymnasium’s roof to promote their graduation year. The culprits were called to the assistant principal’s office the next day and told to find a way to cover up the number. So, they climbed back up, and spread a mixture of tar and gasoline over the graffiti. Rain soon washed away their efforts, and the “60” remained a while longer.
Perhaps the most challenging time was in 1995.
A fire destroyed about a third of the building days before the school year began. Teacher Jennifer Pisapia, who still teaches at the school, said the early morning phone call telling her not to report for work that morning was shocking. In about a week, most students were re-located to a nearby vacant shopping mall.
Figuring out how to make the best of the situation “really brought us all together,” Pisapia said.
Everyone returned to the building in early 1997.
KC Harrison graduated in 1997, and her teen Mathias Chambers is a junior.
Mathias said being part of the band has been such a positive experience.
Having Mathias at Princess Anne is a “full circle experience for me,” Harrison said. She applauded the teachers’ dedication and willingness to mentor students.
“This school has so much history,” she said. “Princess Anne is the thread that connects so many people in this community in ways that are so unique and so special.”

