JimBlackBooks.com
1930 - 1939
In 1939/1940, everyone had to start the day off in the study hall. In those years, it was a hard, fast rule that boys and girls could not sit together in the big, roomy desks. It was my first year to teach at ACHS, and my name was Miss Sapp. I had morning duty. Charlie McDaniel came in study hall and sat down with a female classmate. When I looked up I said, “Charlie, you need to move!” He said, “Aw, Teach! I’m reading the Cat’s Claw with Perry Jane!” I said, “You need to move NOW!” “OK, in a minute,” he said, smiling. About that time Mr. Huey walked by just in time to hear him arguing with me. Mr. Huey stepped in and asked both of us to follow him to the office of the superintendent, Mr. Sandlin. Mr. Sandlin said, “Charles, I’ve told you that if you caused one more disturbance, you would spend the rest of your senior year at home. Get your books and assignments, and you are suspended from school for the rest of the year. It was near the end of school, and he DID get to graduate, however.
In the 70’s I had a Sr. English class of mostly boys. One day I walked into class to find they had moved my teacher’s desk to the back of the room facing the backs of the students’ desks. Instead of throwing a fit, I calmly walked to my desk and proceeded to teach the lesson to their backs. It was dead quiet as they were stunned into silence. At the end of class they sheepishly moved my desk back to the front of the room.
One day as classes were changing in the busy, noisy hall, I was standing at my door when I overheard a commotion between our superintendent, Mr. Gerron, and two boys, L.K. Hyer and John Purcell. Mr. Gerron was angrily raking them over the coals and L.K. was staring back at him rather disrespectfully. Mr. Gerron angrily said, “And get that LOOK off your face before I slap it off!” They went separate ways, and I overheard L.K. say, “Not only can you not DO what you want to, you can’t even LOOK like you want to!!”
You don’t mess with tradition! Mr. Bailey learned this on a couple of decisions he made when he first came to ACHS. Both had to do with seniors.
Seniors ALWAYS occupied the row of seats next to the windows in the huge study hall. Mr. Bailey thought he would do the seniors a BIG favor and move them to the row by the doors so they would be the first out. BAD IDEA! That row was for freshmen, and the seniors wanted their traditional seats by the windows! And so it was! Seniors also had always been able to vote on their senior sponsors for the years. Mr. Bailey mistakenly appointed the sponsors UNTIL the seniors hit the office door in protest. Needless to day, tradition held fast!Mary Lee Crowley Hawkins – Teacher 1939-1944, 1958-1977
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I have a memory of my dear ol' dad, Graham Purcell, Jr., that will be hard to top. I do not know how far along in his education this occurred, but it was with his sidekick, Joe Shelton, I believe.
While Graham Purcell, Sr. was Chairman of the AC School Board, my dad and his sidekick and maybe a few others took one of my Granddad's dairy cows on a Friday evening and placed it in the Superintendent's office on the second floor of the High School and left it there for the weekend. (Between 1934- 1937). I am not sure of the name of the Superintendent.
Needless to say, there was quite a mess come Monday morning. Not only was there a mess someone had to clean up but my dad asked in telling the, “Have you ever tried to get a Holstein dairy cow to go down a steep set of stairs? Much easier to get her to go up the stairs.” Also, it did not take long to discover who the culprits were with a dairy cow missing from my granddad's herd.
My dad spent most of his time cowboying or thinking of unique activities. This may be the reason he finished 23rd out of 23 in his senior class. He carried these talents to Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas now known as Texas A&M University where he later got more focused on education.*
Submitted By Blaine Purcell - Oldest Son of G.B. Purcell, Jr., and longtime listener of his stories and escapades.
*Graham Purcell, Jr. later became a distinguished member of the United States House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. representing the 13th Congressional District of Texas.
