DHS Class of '68 to Celebrate Its 50th Anniversary

The Class of '68 at Dulles High School will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Saturday, October 13th, at The Swinging Door in Richmond. We will also host a mixer in Sugar Land's Town Center area on Friday night, October 12th. There will be more information soon. 

Click the image below to view a few images from the '68 Viking yearbook. (I'll post more class photos in the future.)

 

Cover of the '68 Viking - it was a groovy era.

Dulles High School

  
I've looked at several things related to Dulles High School recently.  The first was an eye-opener for me.  Of course, I knew the Dulles football team's MVP award is named after Johnnie Frankie, but I didn't really know his story. Click the image below to read an article, entitled "Toughness Tempered by a Warm Heart and Pervasive Good Will." It appeared in a blog devoted to Rice University history. 

I'm not sure if the Frankies lived in Stafford or Missouri City, but their son Tony is a DHS alum in the Class of '65. (I'm amazed at how much Tony looks like his father.)

Captain Rice Football Team, 1936.

The Class of '77 celebrated their 40th anniversary a few weeks ago. They posted photos on Facebook. I've reposted a small selection of them here. (Thanks T. Champion and K. Walling Burnham.) Click the image to view the album.

  

Class of '77 Reunion Photos.

Janice Jenkins Girard (Class of '68) did some serious house cleaning a few weeks ago and sent me some vintage items, including the pennant shown above.  Here is another blast from the past.

 

Calvin Lee, Coach Bill Martin, and Happy Barker in the '67/8 school year. (Calvin and Happy are member of the Class of '68.)

DHS Class of 1977 Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Dulles High School's Class of 1977 is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its graduation from that august institution with a reunion at the Redneck Country Club.  I'm very late with this, but the reunion is tomorrow evening, Saturday, August 5th.  I hope they provide post-reunion photos. Click the image below to view an album of images they've collected. (Thanks to all who have posted them on Facebook.)

DHS Class of '77 mementos & photos.

 An undated photo of The Viking Den posted by the Class of '77. (Thanks for the memory.)

I thought this last item was a hoot. Mark Schumann posted it on Facebook.  It's a Dulles directory from 1976. I don't think we had anything like this in my era. Click the image to view selected pages.

News & Updates

I regret to say I have another death to report. Alfred Smallwood (DHS '67) passed away a couple of days ago. I don't have an obituary yet, but I'll post one when it is available.  My best to his wife Gloria, brother Roy, and all the extended Smallwood family. (Thank you Ella and Fred for notifying me of Al's death.)

(from the 1967 Dulles Viking yearbook)

A Little More Dulles High School History

Roberta Cooke Prater, a Dulles alum and a teacher at the school, asked if I had any photos of the Dulles High School Rodeo. I found a few in old Viking yearbooks. I may find more in old copies of the Viking Shield, a page in the old Fort Bend Mirror for journalism students to publicize school events, activities, teachers, and students. The Mirror had an identical page for Lamar Consolidated High School.

Click the image below to view the album of photos. Note the first photo which I found in the '61 Viking. It's not relevant, but I couldn't resist showing the entrance to the original school, which was located next to the Missouri City Gym.  (It was old Missouri City High School, which became E. O. Jones Elementary after Dulles moved to its new campus on Dulles Avenue in 1962.)

News & Updates

I was swamped with other duties over the last two months, so items have piled up. I'll eventually get to them, but for now I want to mention just a couple of items. First, Mark Voss (DHS '71) died suddenly last week. Click here to view an obituary. I had no idea he had worked in Afghanistan. I have recent photos of Mark in the More People of Old Sugar Land posting immediately below.

Mark Voss.

My classmate (DHS '68) and good friend, Sam McJunkin, lost his wife Hilda suddenly last month. Click here to read an obituary. Some of you will remember Sam's father was a druggist at the Sugar Land (Rouse's) drug store. Sam's mother Hazel was the City of Sugar Land's first Secretary. Sam's sister Olive is a Dulles alum (Class of '63).

My sincerest condolences go to the Voss and McJunkin families. 

On a brighter note, I want to wish Shirley Laird a very belated, but happy birthday. The big day was November 15th. I don't want to make a mistake, so I'll say she's either 93, 94, or 95-years old.  But, who's counting?  Happy birthday!

I will have more on this later, but I wanted to congratulate the City of Sugar Land and Pat Pollicoff, Director of Communications, on the new state historical marker at the Imperial Prison Farm Cemetery in Telfair. I participated in the dedication ceremony and thought it was well done.

More People of Old Sugar Land

Click on the image below to view a photo album of more people of old Sugar Land. I've added captions, which you can view by clicking the 'i' icon in the upper right of the display.

 

Photo album of old-timers.

 

Dulles High School News

Congratulations to Dulles High School's Class of '66, who celebrated their 50th anniversary last weekend. I hear they had a great time seeing old classmates and friends. I enjoyed seeing several of them during their planning meetings and hope to see them again soon.

Click the image below to see a selection of photos from their big night.
    

   

Congrats to the Class of '71 who also celebrated a big anniversary - their 45th! (I remember when they were kiddies.) Click the image below for a few pix from their blow out.

 

  

I recently reconnected with one of my classmates, Orval Scott (DHS '68). He had two photos that I want to post here.

The first shows Orval and his wife, possibly on their wedding day. I recognize Orval's parents in the background. 

 

 Mr. & Mrs. Orval Scott

 
The next shows our 8th grade football team at Sugar Land Junior high in the fall of 1963.  Great stuff.

 

 SLJH 8th grade football team, 1963.

More People of Old Sugar Land

Thank you, Kristin Lytle, for posting this photo on Facebook and alerting me that today is Frankie McFadden's 86th birthday.  Congratulations, Mr. McFadden (SLHS '48).

Way back in 1947.

 Today.

 
Some of you may know I'm a graduate of Rice University. I enjoy reading a Rice history blog that comes out daily. I was surprised recently to see a Sugar Land Gator turn up in the blog. The person in question is fellow Rice alum, George Salmon (SLHS '52), who had a remarkable career on Rice's track teams of the mid 1950s. If you'll click on the image below, you'll view the article. Scroll down to the third photo, and you'll see George, other members of a relay team with Emmett Brunson, Rice's famed track coach. They are standing on the track at old Rice stadium.
 

I've found the following images Facebook and took the liberty of reposting them here.  Thanks to everyone who contributed them.

The first shows Pam Schmidt Moore (DHS '64) on the right with sister Sabrina Schmidt Rust (DHS '72) at the '64 Texas Prison Rodeo in Huntsville.

  
The following photos shows the wedding party at Janice Jenkins (DHS '68) and Dexter Girard's nuptials. I don't know the date,  location, or all the people in the photo, but I do recognize Janice's two daughters on the far left, I don't know who the young girl is, but that's Janice, Dexter, Robert Allen (DHS '68), then a man I don't recognize, and Gary Horstmann (Janice's brother-in-law) on the far right.

 

 
The next photos shows members of Dulles High's Class of '65 enjoying themselves recently. From left to right that's Sherry Howard Davis, Diane Broughton Lundell, Joan Davis Kendrick, and Pat Schiller Bono.
  

The final image shows members of Dulles High's Class of '66 at the 2008 Mega Reunion.  I'll let you guess who is who.

 

News & Updates

Unfortunately, the first item is sad news that skipped my notice until Brenda Albers Miles notified me a couple of weeks ago. Duane Phillips (SLHS '52) and his wife Sarah died in a car accident in West Texas late last month.  Click here to read an obituary.  I didn't know him and was intrigued by their interesting experiences - for example sailing their boat from Chesapeake Bay to Corpus Christi after he retired from IBM.

Duane Phillips, 1952.

My high school classmate Marsha Krause Smith is a good friend of Duane's sister-in-law Margaret Dierks Phillips.  (She was married to Duane's older brother Rufus.)  Margaret told Marsha the story about Duane climbing the old water tower and painting "Srs. '52" on it.  It was there for years -- I clearly remember it. As Margaret said, everyone knew he was the culprit because he was the only kid crazy enough to do it.

Old timer B. I. Webb (SLHS '51) told me the story a few years ago. He corroborated what Margaret said, but added another detail. Duane told B. I. that he found dozens of duck bills scatter on the walkway around the tower. Hawks nested up there, and apparently, ducklings were their regular cuisine. If you've seen Randy Koslovsky's 2014 video of the water tower (taken with his drone), you'll see a hawk perched on the tower's railing.

I extend my sincerest condolences to the Phillips family, which includes Carole Phillips Bossley (SLHS '56) as well as Margaret.

David Wickersham (DHS '63) related another incident in which Sugar Landers serving in the military met by chance far away from home. When he was outbound to Vietnam back in the '60s he had a layover at a California airport. He walked into a snack bar and met Dulles classmate, Billy Ernest, who had just returned from Vietnam!

Tracey Matlage Calvert pointed out that her mother Virginia (Mrs. W. T. Matlage, Jr.) is the teacher on the far right of this photo.  I didn't realize she taught at one of the elementary schools for Hispanic children.

Grand Central School 1st grade, 1939/40.

 
And last but not least, I wanted to mention that all friends of DHS Class of '66 can buy tickets to their reunion set for October 22nd. (There are 20 or so tickets left.)  Click here to see an earlier post with all the details. 

While helping the Class of  '66 with their upcoming reunion, I found a few amusing items from the 2003 multi-class reunion.
 

A short video of Dulles Cheerleaders & Twirlers entertaining classmates & leading the Dulles Fight Song.

A few photos from the 2003 Dulles Multi-Class Reunion.

A Little More Dulles News

The organizing committee for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Class of '66 has extended the deadline for classmates who have not bought tickets.  You have until September 17th, when ticket sales are open to friends of the class who want to attend. (No tickets will be sold at the event.) Contact Scotty Hightower Bass for ticket info, or go to the Facebook group, 'JFD 50 Year Reunion.'

Once again, here are the relevant details:

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

Click on the image below to view an memorial album for deceased members of the Class of '66. Please comment on this blog, if you have further information on classmates who have passed away.  Thank you.
 

Josephine Cortez

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.

 

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'.

More People of Old Sugar Land

SLHS Class of '56 as 3rd graders in 1947.

SL contingent of DHS Class of '66 as 1st graders in 1955.

DHS Class of '74 as freshmen in 1971.

Dulles High School's Class of 1970

  

Click the image below to see Dulles High School's Class of 1970 as they appeared in the Viking yearbook way back then.

  

"As each year goes passing by ..."

My thanks go to Tommy Laird (DHS '67) for posting this relic on Facebook recently. Who knew there were so many smarties in school back then?

  

To honor the 50th anniversary of Dulles High's Class of '66 I thought I'd post this selection of photos from the 1966 Viking yearbook.

More People of Old Sugar Land

  

I got a message from Linda Cruse Wilson (DHS '65) asking if I had a photo of her sister Blanche who attended Sugar Land High School, although the Cruse family lived in Fresno.  I have a 1947 Sugar Land annual, so I told her I'd check.  

I found her in the Class of '48, so she'd have been in the junior class that year,.  I have a graduation photo for the class from the following year, but Blanche doesn't appear in it.  In fact, the '47 annual shows 17 students in the class, but 15 graduated the following year.  Maybe Blanche moved over to Missouri City High School.

There are some very familiar faces (to me) in that class.  Click the image to view the album of selected photos from the '47 Gator yearbook.  (I saw my mother in the photo of the band class at the end.)

  

  

This next item is a few more excerpts from the '61 edition of The Log, Sugar Land Junior High's yearbook. I recognize many knuckleheads in there.  Click the image to view the album.
  

  

Finally, I want to thank Bill Fisher (DHS '71) for posting this family photo on Facebook.  It shows the Frank Fisher family when they lived in Kerrville in 1960. I may be wrong about this, but I think his father was principal at Pasadena High School before coming to Dulles in the early 1960s.

News & Updates

First, some sad news for members of the Class of '68 at Dulles High School.  Our classmate and class president, Henry DeLeon died on December 29th.  Click here to view an obituary.   I think Henry was a life-long resident of Arcola, although I'm not absolutely certain if he lived elsewhere in his later year.  Henry was a good guy, and my condolences go to his family.

On a brighter note, I want to report some info on Mr. Billie Wright.  My thanks to Jon Pitts (DHS '61) for informing that Mr. Wright was taken prisoner in the Philippines and became one of the 'Battling Bastards of Bataan.'  Like Buster Court, he survived the Death March.  Jon told me he had shrapnel wound on his right leg and sometime showed them to his class.  [David Wickersham (DHS '63) mentioned Mr. Wright's extraordinary experiences in WWII, but I didn't realize they included Bataan.]

I've tried to research him on WWII POW lists, but I haven't had much luck.  Apparently, records for the Bataan prisoners are spotty because many of them escaped and hid for extended periods of time.

I thought the following story from Travis Gandy (DHS '64) was hilarious.  Here's what Travis said:

Hey Chuck,

Boy, do I remember Mr. Wright. My rear end felt that board many times in shop class. I remember when you got in trouble with Mr. Wright, he would take that board to you (and you probably deserved it), but he would also line up the "whole cheese" (that is what he called the entire class), and they got licks also. I remember when I was in the Air Force and came home on leave, I went to school to visit in my uniform, and I went to Mr. Wright's class. He lined up the "whole cheese" just because I came to see him, and I got a lick for old time sake.

  

And don't forget the fundraiser for Dulles students at the Mucky Duck tomorrow night

More Dulles '71

I've selected a few photos from the 1971 Dulles Viking yearbook.  As you can see from the image below, I found a photo of Mr. Billie Wright with a cigar in his mouth.

The other photos show award winners in Distributive Education, Music, Cosmetology, Agriculture, and Literary/Debate/Creative Writing.  (BTW, nerds rule!) 

 

News & Updates

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.

Either way, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

 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.