I have a news item of interest to Dulles alums. I got it from Tracy Prater, who is married to Dulles alum and a Dulles teacher, Roberta Cooke Prater. It's a live musical event supporting the Dulles Graduation Project. The date is Monday, January 4, 2016. Here's the info Tracy sent:
The first Monday of 2016 will be a rare and wonderful evening:1. At the Mucky Duck, celebrating 25 years as Houston's top venue for sound and a favorite of touring musicians
2. Superb pub food and beverages - your tab is yours
3. Texas troubadour, Shake Russell closing the show and collaborating with:
4. Dulles High School (DHS) students, alumni, family and friends performing 5 decades of acoustic hits
5. All in support of DHS Project Graduation, a long standing 501c3 organization which funds a safe, fun, all night after graduation lock in celebration for the seniors (at zero cost to them).If you, family and friends can join us, grab your $15 reserved seat tickets online at the Duck as soon as possible (only 100 seats a the Duck)If you cannot, please consider funding our efforts with the ticket price online at GoFundMe.
Sounds to me like a lot of fun for a good cause. (I wonder if Shake would let me do my rendition of "Love Sick Blues?" Probably not.)
I have a couple of updates relating to Mr. Billie Wright and his paddle. I guess we're on a Dulles theme this time.
The first is from David Wickersham (DHS '63). I had no idea Mr. Wright was a WWII vet. Maybe we can find out more about his service history.
Hi Chuck, great post. Always enjoy going down memory lane. I was one of those who were blessed to receive lessons from Mr. Wright's BOARD OF EDUCATION. He actually had several paddles of different design and was always ready to test a new design on a volunteer from his shop class. I regret that I did not learn that he was one of the Heroes of WWII when I was in his class. He was a good man and if he gave a swat, you deserved it. Who knows what would have become of us without the guidance from him and others like him of that generation.
This next amusing anecdote comes from Janice Jenkins Girard, my classmate (DHS '68). Unfortunately, I have lost the message, but I remember the story.
Janice's first husband was Bill Gremillion, also DHS '68. He was a shop student, who broke Mr. Wright's rule about smoking. The routine punishment was a number of licks (as we called them then) commensurate with the number of letters in the brand of cigarette you were caught smoking. If you smoked 'Kools," you'd get 5 licks.
Well, Bill thought he'd finesse the system by saying he was smoking an L&M cigarette. Unfortunately for Bill, Mr. Wright saw through the ruse and spelled out 'Liggette & Meyers' on his butt. Kids don't know what they're missing these days.
