This is a blog for old timers, plus their friends and families, who are linked by memories of Sugar Land and its schools or have an avid interest in the history of Sugar Land.
I think this picture comes from a yearbook Linda Hagler Mosk lent me. I don't have it now, so I can't be sure of the date. I think it's the Fall of 1962. Obviously, it shows the band playing at a football game, which was a rarity, I think. Anyway, I can identify most of the people in this picture, but I won't say this time. Make your own guesses. (Here's a hint: People from the DHS Classes of '66, '67, & '68 are in there.)
I heard this first song, "Wheels" (1960) by the String-A-Longs, on a recent radio program. I vaguely recall it. A note on YouTube says the guys in the band grew up in Plainview, Texas, and their producer was Norm Petty, who worked with Buddy Holly.
Carol Park put me onto Dick Dale a couple of years ago. I'm not a big fan of surfer music, but I like Dale's fusion of Middle Eastern and surf music. (Sounds bizarre, right?) This first song doesn't have a Middle Eastern tinge. In fact, it's an update of "Pipeline" with Stevie Ray Vaughn. I'd say it gets a rating of at least a couple of chili peppers.
Here's a tame version of "Misrilou," a fusion song. Not many chili peppers for this one - well, maybe a 1/4 pepper rating due to the blond doing the twist in the foreground.
I think this picture must have been taken in the winter of 1961/62. I can identify the cast of characters, so look at the picture now if you want to have a guess on your own.
[Top row left to right: C Kelly (partial), D. Stavinoha, B. Grimes, P. Schumann, D. Neal, R. Edwards, R. Jons. Next row: J. Schuman, R. Barnidge, P. Wappler. Next row: R. Kirkpatrick (partial), J. Armstrong, F. Tanner. Bottom row: J. R. Holt, Matthew Hall.]
These photos come from the Rozelle family collection. Both were taken from the top of the Char House looking (roughly) southeast toward what became Venetian Estates. The first picture is dated March, 1957. The second is dated May, 1962. Click on them to view an enlargement.
I have to say that I'd forgotten some of the details shown in the picture. For example, notice the large white building next to the railroad tracks to Galveston. I remember it now after seeing this photo, but I'd forgotten it was there.
Mrs. Rozelle let me scan this picture from their family collection. It shows the present location of the Imperial Headquarters in 1911. The white rail fence on the left marks the road that will become Brooks Street. A note on the back of the photo says 'Truck Farm,' so that's not cotton growing in the field. The bigger plants on the right are some kind of cabbage. It's hard to tell what is growing on the left. It could be potatoes. (Click on the picture to see a larger version.)
This is a photo of the Dulles Band taken at the Bluebonnet Bowl on December 19, 1964. Rice Stadium was the venue. Tulsa beat Mississippi 14 - 7, but the band was there to participate in a marching competition. Several local high school bands marched before the game. I can't recall the details, but I think we did well. At half time the combined bands marched onto the field and played a couple of songs. A good time was had by all.
My brother Bruce has been working on our newly digitized home movies. Some of you may have seen the one showing a day at nursery school at Sugar Land High School. Here's the link to it: Sugar Land Nursery School, 1953
He just completed one showing my 3rd birthday party. He identifies the cast of characters. See if you can guess who is who before the end. (Notice he doesn't make an appearance. I guess Mother had her hands full that day.)
Scotty Hightower Bass (DHS '66) sent me these clippings from The Fort Bend Mirror. They show her sister Tuta (DHS '71) crowned Relay Queen by Herb Shelton. The two pricesses were Patti Scotten and Kim Ulrich (both DHS '71).
Here is a picture Betty Ann Jenkins Williams (DHS '71) sent me. I'm not sure of the year, but it was taken sometime in the mid '70s. It shows Betty Ann in front of the first room in the first circle just before it was demolished. Maxene Gary was my first grade teacher. Our room was the 4th one on the west side of the semi-circle.
I had a brief encounter with Room 1. One day in the spring of 1956 Sugar Land Elementary invited kindergarten-aged children (who'd matriculate into 1st grade in the fall) to visit for a day. I was put in Room 1. Mrs. Brown was the teacher. I sat at a table with Tommy Laird (DHS '67) and David Neal (DHS '67). Even though Mrs. Brown had the reputation of a witch, Tommy and David seemed to get away with a lot. (Maybe that day was unique.) They showed me how to throw blobs of clay upward, so they'd stick on the high ceiling of the school room. I looked up and there were dozens of clay blobs on the ceiling. You had to throw them pretty hard to make them stick up there. They were probably still there when the room was demolished 20 years later.
Betty Ann Jenkins Williams (DHS '71) sent me this scan, which comes from the cover of a FBISD magazine celebrating the 40th anniversary of the school district. I suppose the photo comes from roughly 1964 or '65? She has told me Leslie Webber and Mark Voss are the two children running in the foreground. (Notice Mark isn't wearing his shoes.) Claudia Rozelle is leaning against the bus.
Scotty Hightower Bass (DHS '66) has sent me some great stuff to post. Here's the first shot - Coach Hightower's quarterback club membership cards. I think I'll post a couple of stories about Coach Hightower later in the week. Some of you may heard me tell them before, but what the heck. A good story needs retelling occasionally.
Scotty Hightower Bass (DHS '66) found a Dulles Band program in her archive of school stuff. There's no date on the program, but I can tell the concert occurred in the Spring of 1963. (The seniors listed on the last page are from the Class of '63.) I'm reasonably sure my family attended because I remember Faye Lorfing Booth playing the Beethoven horn sonata. If I'm correct, the concert was in the cafetorium on the Dulles campus.
I got this scan from Betty Ann Jenkins Williams. She clipped it from an old issue of The Fort Bend Mirror. (She didn't say when it was published but, I'll bet it was in 1968.)
As she said, the group's name will offend modern sensibilities, but maybe they'll be forgiven because their motives were good.
Here's some good advice Mrs. Mildred Earnest, my 5th grade teacher, wrote in my yearbook back in 1961. I had a bad habit of forgetting my lunch money. I'd borrow a quarter (the cost of a lunch back then) from Mrs. Earnest. I always paid her back and ended the school year with a clean slate. Still, my parents would have been mortified if they'd known. Mrs. Earnest had my best interests at heart, so she gave me these pearls of wisdom.
I found a set of 6-Week Exams from the year I was in the 4th grade. Some of my friends have seen the complete set. I won't put them all up here, so I'll put up one. I think they're pretty funny. I've seen school work my brother's oldest grandson has produced. It's different, but surprisingly similar, too. Maybe it's the childish handwriting.
I don't know if they still do it, but in the old days Dulles High School had a Freshman Initiation Week. Mild hazing was okay. It seemed like marriage proposals in the middle of the school cafeteria or school courtyard were the rage in my day. Freshmen - boys and girls - wore beanies that week. The festivities culminated with a skit by the Speech & Drama Club. I don't know who wrote them, but they always involved the other schools in our UIL District. Naturally, the Dulles Vikings triumphed over them. The photos below come from the year my brother was a senior, the 1969/70 school year. (I was already in college.)
Some of the cast members are dressed like mascots from the other schools. I think the teacher in the back row is Ms. Mencik.
This is my brother's 2nd grade report card. I haven't seen a contemporary report card, so I don't know how they compare regarding subjects, grading, comments, etc. I always thought we had a 180-day school year, but I guess not.
(I've got more report cards. I know I have some of mine from junior high, but I don't know about high school.)
Linda Hagler Mosk sent me this picture, too. It was taken on the campus of Tarlton State College, where Fort Bend ISD music students attended band camp. (The school is located in north central Texas at Stephenville.) Mr. Hart and Mr. Gary got the buses on State Highway 6 and let them follow their radiator caps all the way there. Band camp was always a lot of fun. I remember tuition was $25 for a week. Clarence Sawhill, Director of Bands at UCLA, led the musical instruction.
It looks to me like Jerry and Archie (in the spiffy hat) are up to no good. Bonnie could be one of the Lennon Sisters.
Linda Hagler Mosk sent me these pictures several years ago. There are more which I'll publish later. In 1965 the Dulles Band went to a contest at the Six Flags Theme Park in Arlington. We had a great time. I can't remember how well we did in the competition, but I think we did pretty well.
Notice Mrs. Gary (a chaperone) was checking up on the bad-girl's room. Ha!
I think Carol sent me these images several years ago. I'm fairly sure they come from the 1967 football season. If so, the Tigers are the Wharton Tigers, the Gators are the Dickinson Gators, and the Rebels are from Mt. Carmel High School in Houston.
Here's another picture Carol sent me long ago. It's the Dulles High School Cheer Leading Squad in the 1967/68 school year. I'm sure this was taken in the late summer of 1967. Ah, to be young again!
Carol Park sent me this picture a long time ago. That's her in the middle. I'm on her right and Ray Valdez is on her left. You can see Bill Gremillion, Janice Jenkins, and (maybe) Eddie Lindsey in the next row. Sutton Spear (seen in a recent blog entry about school photographers) probably took this picture. He took it in the middle of Kempner Field in Sugar Land, looking toward the south end zone. I'm not sure who our opponent was that night. I'm sure we beat the tar out of whoever it was.
This photo comes from The Viking Shield, which was Dulles High School's student newspaper. It appeared as a one-page spread in The Fort Bend Mirror, a local weekly paper. Judy Sciba was the editor in my senior year. The knuckle-heads (I use the term affectionately) shown in the photo were the photographers for the student paper. The photo tells you all you need to know.
Here's an article from a defunct Fort Bend paper known as The Triad. It covered the eastern half of the county. Professional sports families are prevalent is the area now, but back in 1962 the Harris family was unique. Having the third-base coach of the new Colt .45s living in the area was news-worthy.
