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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

News & Updates

I'm rushed again, so I won't get to all the updates I've received.  I'll post them next time; however, I did want to mention that my classmate, Becky Kelly Jons (DHS '68), passed away in June. I thought I had mentioned her death on the blog, but it looks like I didn't. I must have emailed our classmates separately. Anyway, here is an obituary

Her husband, Rit Jons (DHS '67) passed away a year earlier. Very sorry to hear this news.  As you can tell from her obit, Becky was a wonderful person.  BTW, we're not related.

Thank you, Belinda Jenkins Faison (DHS '69) for bringing this oversight to my attention.

More from Dulles High's Class of '66

  
  
Just a gentle reminder (as they say these days) that Dulles High's Class of '66 will celebrate their 50 years of parole on October 22nd at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford.

Once more, here are details on the soiree:

Date:  Saturday, October 22, 2016 @ 6:00 pm
Location: The Redneck Country Club at 11110 West Airport Blvd. in Stafford
Price: $60 per person (cash bar & no tickets sold at the door)
Attire: Casual

The planning committee is arranging a special rate at the Courtyard Marriott (281-491-7700) for those people who need accommodations.  Contact me (post a comment), or Scotty Hightower Bass for more information. 

Reservations are limited. (No joke.) Members of the Class of '66  have first priority until September 10th.  Afterward, friends are more than welcome to buy tickets.
 

Kathleen Joerger Lindsey, A Rosenberg Resident for 99 Years


I read an article today saying Lamar Consolidated ISD is building a new elementary school in Katy! Click here to read the latest news. I never thought that would happen, but it has, and a newspaper reporter contacted the county historical commission asking for a photo of Kathleen Joerger Lindsey. The reporter noted we had one on our Oral Histories page, so I found it. I also read Mrs. Lindsey's oral history, recorded about 1-1/2 years before she passed away. Here is an obituary.

Thank goodness we interviewed her. It's well worth reading because she talks about Rosenberg before the streets were paved and vehicles bogging down in mud was common. She also talks about being a woman lawyer back in those days, plus organizing the Fort Bend County Library System and the Richmond State School. She was quite a woman and very deserving of the honor LCISD has given her.

Missouri City High School Mementos from 1935 & '36

 
Thank you, Lee Elkins LeGrand, for letting me scan these images from her family's scrapbook.  Many of you will remember her father, Lawrence Elkins (MCHS '42), long-time administrator in FBISD. These items come from his older sister Maidie Lee Elkins (MCHS '36).

They are the programs for the 1935 & 1936 Junior-Senior Banquets & Dances. I'm pretty sure the location must have been the Missouri City Gym. You can see from the list of students in the 1935 program that class sizes were very small.

Click the image to view the album.
  
Lists of the MCHS Junior & Senior Classes in 1935.

  

Images from the Storm Family Collection

 
I want to thank Peggy Shallock, granddaughter of Bob Storm, for letting scan these photos from their family album. The first set of images concern sugar can harvests and crushing the can to produce juice for boiling.  Peggy's great-grandfather, Robert J. Storm, invented the type of crusher shown in the image below. It was used at the Sartartia Plantation (I believe the Imperial Mill on Oyster Creek across from Constellation Park) and the House Plantation down at Arcola.

There are a few other photos I thought interesting, including a couple of baseball images I've posted before. One shows Bob Storm in a Blues uniform from 1915. Another shows the team in different uniforms in 1914. I infer that the team got it's Blues nickname in 1915. Also, note that I identified E. O. Guenther in the 1914 team photo. 

Click on the image to view the album.
 

Sugar cane crusher invented by Robt. J. Storm in 1895 & used at Sartartia and House Plantations.

  

More People of Old Sugar Land


I've posted several of these images before, but I wanted to see if anyone can help identify people in them. The first photos are of Hispanic elementary school children from the early 1940s. (My thanks go to the Matlage family for letting me scan these photos.)

If you'll look at the captions (click the 'i' icon), you'll see dates, grades, and graduation years from Sugar Land High School. If anyone can help, please comment on this blog, and I'll get back to you.

Click the photo below to view the album.
 

  Children attending the elementary school (grades 1-4) on Ulrich St. in the 1940/41 school year.

Monday, August 15, 2016

News & Updates


I've been rushed and haven't had a chance to follow up on all the items I've received recently, but I do want to note this sad item immediately.  I received a note from John Martin (DHS '61) that his sister Mary Ann Martin Young (SLHS '53) passed away recently.  Here is an obituary.  I didn't realize she was Vernon (DHS '67) and Billy (DHS '69) Duty's stepmother.
  
 
God bless John and Mary Ann's extended family in their time of grief.

DHS Class of '66 Celebrates 50 Years



Time marches on, and Dulles High School's Class of '66 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their graduation from our alma mater.  Here are details on the soiree:

Date:  Saturday, October 22, 2016 @ 6:00 pm
Location: The Redneck Country Club at 11110 West Airport Blvd. in Stafford
Price: $60 per person (cash bar & no tickets sold at the door)
Attire: Casual

The planning committee is arranging a special rate at the Courtyard Marriott (281-491-7700) for those people who need accommodations.  Contact me (post a comment) or Scotty Hightower Bass for more information.

Reservations are limited. (No joke.) Members of the Class of '66  have first priority until September 10th.  Afterward, friends are more than welcome to reserve a ticket.  I'll have more info in the coming weeks.

Click this link to access the Evite invitation.  (You can also see who's attending.)

Click here to view the reunion's Facebook page. (I hope this link works for people without Facebook accounts.)

If you aren't sure whether you're member of the Class of '66 (just kidding), I've posted graduation photos of your potential classmates.  (Click the image below.)  More important, SEND CONTACT INFO for any class members who may be missing from these lists.

Time's awastin'.

Interview With Ernest Trevino in 2011


I wanted to post another of the interviews Pat Pollicoff (City of Sugar Land) did with an old timers at Kempner Stadium in 2011.  Like the one with Wayne Boehm, Ernest talks about playing football with Ken Hall and the camaraderie of teams of that era.
  

Miscellaneous


A few months ago, I got a note from Lawrence Farias, who attend Sugar Land High School in the 1950s, but didn't graduate here. He asked about a friend and classmate, Donald Hoke. I said both Donald and Mildred Jordy Hoke had passed away.

Here is part of his message:

. . . I'm very sorry to hear that he passed away. May they both rest in peace. And I did forgave both him and the teacher. (CK: He mentioned in an earlier message that Donald had got him in trouble with a math teacher, which led to a memorable paddling.) What brought that incident to mind, was the picture of a paddle someone posted that another teacher used. It looked exactly the same. Anyhow, thanks for the update. Looking forward to seeing more news about the good old times.
 
I have done some research and tried to determine who the math teacher was. My best guess is Paul Parker, shown here in the 1953 Gator yearbook. No offense intended, but he seems like the kind of fellow who wouldn't hesitate application of paddle to rear end if he thought it was necessary.  

Also note Mrs. Gladys Pierce, long-time librarian in SLISD and FBISD. I remember Mrs. Pierce from my days at Dulles High School in the 1960s.



This is trivia item that caught my eye in a 1919 issue of the Texas Commercial News printed in Sugar Land. The article points out that 'gunnite' was invented during WWI. (Gunnite is/was the material whose wide-spread use was construction of home swimming pools.) I had no idea it was created that far back.

Here is a transcript of the article.
 
"Cement Guns" Are of Great Value in Quick Construction
 
The use of guns for construction rather than destruction is a recent development in building that helped materially in creating the structures that went up so rapidly during the war. These weapons of peace are the "cement guns" that shoot stucco with great speed and volume against steel or timber framework covered with wire network. The cement, appropriately called "gunnite," sticks to all framework, hardens, and a new wall comes into being. In the building of the army warehouses at Norfolk, Va., a "battery" of twelve or more cement guns bombarded the framework of the growing walls. As a matter of fact, however, it is questionable, except for the war, whether it would have occurred to anybody to name the new engine of construction a "gun." The apparatus is much more like a hose squirting a semi-liquid fluid mixture, and the terminology of the method would probably have related itself to the fire department, says the Christian Science Monitor. Under its operation a wall goes up almost as rapidly as a fire goes out.




Two final items from 1919.  A September issue of the Texas Commercial News contained an article indicating the roads around Sugar Land in those days turned into impassable mud bogs.  The same issue also said that the new project to build a power plant and electrify the town was well underway.  The power plant referred to in the article was the structure between Oyster Creek and Main St. across from the water tower.  The building was razed last year.

Here are transcripts of the articles to save you from straining your eyes.
    
Got Stuck In The Mud
 
W. T. Eldridge, Jr. and family, accompanied by Miss Ivy Eldridge, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Blum, Paul Richardson and Herbert Kempner of Galveston motored to Sugar Land from Galveston Sunday night. The trip was delightful till the car got stuck in the mud this side of Stafford where the party got out and went off for a team to pull them out.
 
Town Wiring And Building On Power Plant Progresses

Work on the big power plant is progressing rapidly now. Material is being unloaded in large quantities at the site. A pile driver has been erected and the foundation will soon be going in. Big poles are being set over town and new wiring installed. The system is to be much larger in all respects than the present equipment which the town as entirely out grown.