SLHS Class of 1942

The State of Texas required eleven years of schooling in 1942, so this class (which included my father) graduated in what would now be their junior year. I found some old Gator Splashes from the 1941/2 school year. The page of senior signatures comes from one of them.

Betty Friend Cordes & Skeet Guenther Win Conga Contest, Early 1940s

I found this photo in my grandmother Kelly's scrapbook. It's not dated, but I'll bet the contest occurred sometime in the very early 1940s. Maybe someone can get the low-down from Betty (Friend) Cordes.

I've never watched the television show, but I like to think of this as a local version of "Dancing With The Stars: The Vintage Years."

Imperial & Industries Healthcare Booklet, circa 1953

Some people wonder why many old timers go on and on about old Sugar Land. Here's a great example of its attraction. This is the health care handbook for employees of Imperial Sugar, Sugarland Industries, and all its subsidiaries. I don't know the exact date, but they issued it before October, 1953 since I. H. Kempner, Jr. is President of Imperial. Also, look at the fee schedule. The whole thing is just 15-pages long.

I want to thank the Helmcamp family for letting me scan this and other documents and photos in their family archive. They are donating many things to the Sugar Land Heritage Society and the new city museum.

(Update) I read the eligibility page, and it has a sentence indicating the date of this booklet is early 1949.

Fort Bend County Fair, 1951

W. K. 'Boots' Helmcamp was the Fort Bend County Fair President back in 1951. The Helmcamp family saved this fair handbook. I really enjoyed looking through it.

YouTube has stringent restrictions on the size and duration of videos posted there, so this is just a quick look through some of the pages in the handbook. (It contains 256 pages in total.) I'll try to find a better way to present this kind of document, but for now you'll have to hit the pause button if you want to take a longer look at some of the pages.

I added musical accompaniment from Adolph Hofner, Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies, The Joe Patek Orchestra, and The Light Crust Dough Boys. I figured that's the kind of stuff you'd hear on KFRD back in those days.

Link to Video of County Fair Handbook

Presbyterian Church Birthday Calendar, 1966

I've hoped to find one of these calendars for several years. Many, many thanks to the Helmcamp family for letting me scan this one their mother had saved long ago.

The women of the Presbyterian Church sold these calendars to raise funds for many years. They produced this one in 1966. Nobody had an excuse for failing to send a card or make a call.

Texas Commercial News, November 1, 1924

This edition of the Texas Commercial News was published on November 4, 1924 - almost 86 years ago to the day. It has some news about the Kelly family. My grandfather had begun working at Imperial in September. My grandmother had just moved to town to join him. (They were married back in 1923. My father would be born in April, 1925.) There's a short article welcoming my grandmother to town.

Many thanks to the Blair family for these images.

Sugar Land High School Drum & Bugle Corps

I want to thank Buddy (SLHS '47) and Billie (SLHS '56) Blair who let me scan the pictures that appear in this blog entry. They show the SLHS Drum & Bugle Corps which played and marched at football games from 1928 to 1940. These photos show the Corps in its final year 1940. We couldn't identify all the girls, so I've posted a clipping from the 1940 Sugar Land - Rosenberg game program, which may help identify the subjects. (If you recognize anyone, please let me know.)



The first photo below shows Muffet Guenther Gideon (SLHS '41). The second photo shows Muffet and two twirlers. Buddy thinks the third picture shows the Corps officers.



We're not sure about the first photo. The second shows the entire Corps. (I don't see Daniel Prikyl although he's listed in the program.)



The first photo below shows Beanie Blair Petrosky (SLHS '42) in her Corps uniform. (You'll see her in a band uniform in the next entry.) The second photo shows Hattie Mae Woods, who was the faculty sponsor for the Corps. (You'll see a second photo of her in the next entry, too.)

The third photo has been a puzzle for some time. The quality isn't real good, but I think that's Harry Thompson at the microphone. I can't identify the other two men in the foreground. That is the Drum & Bugle Corp in the background. (Their uniforms help identify them.) At first I wondered if this was a bond drive or some sort of patriotic event held at the football field during WWII, but that's not possible since the Corps was converted to a band in the fall of 1941. I think this may be the opening ceremony for the football field in 1939. SLISD added lights and stands to the field that year, so they may have held a ceremony to mark the new changes.