JimBlackBooks.com
1960 - 1969 (Cont'd)
Fights
Over the years that I was in school there were several fights. Boy and girls alike.
The first fight I remember was in 1963. Tommy Eustace was a senior, and we had heard a rumor that a large group of boys from Wichita Falls was coming over to beat him up. Why, I didn't know. And apparently, this group of boys had someone who was a bull and used to go out to Shepherd Air Force Base on weekends and fight 2 or 3 at a time. So that night we got our baseball bats and drove around looking for the group. About 9:00 pm, Jim Horany and I were stopped by Jim's dad, Jack, who was the Deputy Sheriff at the time. He opened the back door of my car, took my bat and gave me 10 minutes to take Jim home and then go home. I never saw that bat again. On Monday at school, we all saw Tommy with a black eye and a busted lip. The story was that Tommy was at the drive in—the Wildcatter or Troy’s—when the boys showed up and he ended up under a car or else might not have been able to go to school the next day. In 2005 I became friends with a man whose wife was the daughter of a wealthy oil man. The family was a good customer and I was told that this man, Sonny Gossett, was that boy who used to love to fight. So I asked him about that night in Archer City. He gave me a big smile and said he really didn’t remember, but I’m sure Tommy remembers.
The second fight I remember was between a 7th grade boy and a 6th grader who'd gotten mad at each other just before lunch. This happened on the third floor stairs and Mr. Alex Crowder watched the whole thing. Afterwards, he grabbed each boy by the arm and took them to the new gym. He then went into the coach’s office, brought out two sets of boxing gloves, put them on the boys and told them to have at it. The fight lasted about 15 minutes and they have been good friends ever since. It's my understanding it was over a girl. Who would have thought?
There was also a fight on the road we called "Around the World" between two friends over one of the school's beauty queens. If I recall, both fighters ended up with black eyes and neither ended up with the girl.
And there was a well-known fight between two girls--Virginia Wylie and Donna Vickers--around 1963 at the rodeo grounds. Everyone thought Virginia would win, but she was the one left on the ground. I was not there and I never knew what it was about. I think Donna left school at the end of that year.
And finally, at the end of my senior year, the night before we were to leave on our class trip, Coach Toby Wood decided all the boys in athletics had to fight someone, and he chose me to fight Charley Goforth. He told me that if I didn't fight, I would be expelled from school and would not be allowed to graduate. Charles was a much better boxer that I was. When it was over, I had two black eyes and a busted lip. The first two days of my senior trip were not much fun.
Class Clown.
Hal Bobbitt was our class clown. He was always coming in late. One day he came in barefooted. When asked about it, he said he was not allowed to come to school with anything on his feet. Mr. Adams called him to his office and a few minutes later we heard the sound of the his paddle. Hal returned to the room holding his rear end. The next day Hal was late and arrived wearing only socks. Mr. Adams called him to his office and once again the paddle started singing. The next day Hal came in late with no socks and only shoes. You can guess what happened next. I remember Mr. Adams standing in the hall for days after that with the paddle in his hand and a smile on his face, wondering what Hal would do next.
Teachers
One day when I was in the 4th grade I became very sick. At 11:00 am my teacher took me over to the big red brick building and told me to lie down until I felt better. The next thing I remember is being woken by Mr. John Hopkins. It was a cold rainy day and the room was dark and the school was very quiet. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and soon became apparent my teacher had forgotten that I was there and had never told anyone to call my mother to come and get me. Mr. Hopkins asked me what had happened and soon realized that I had not had lunch. If you remember him, he was a big man. He took me to the cafeteria, opened up several cans of food, and we ate our lunch together with crackers. He then took me home. After that, he always stopped me to ask me how I was. He was a great man. At least in my eyes. I understand that he moved to Wichita Falls and became good friends with Coach Deerinwater, Roger’s dad.
In junior high, we had a coach named C.O. Harcrow. He had a rule that if you failed any test during football season, you received licks with his special board--I think if was a bed slat--and if you remember, football pants were very thin. Sadly, I had my share of failing grades that year. I don’t remember him being at AC very long.
Gary Boren was probably the most soft-spoken guy in my class. He never did anything wrong but for some reason he got mad at A.C. Wallace one day and locked himself in AC's office. He then threw everything on AC's desk out the second floor window. I think he was suspended for three days.
Coach Bobby Rexrode was the first teacher we ever saw use a paddle on a girl. Sue Brock was always talking back to him, almost daring him to paddle her. Well, one day he did, and when her mother, Mr. Wallace's secretary, found out about it she showed up and I think he used the paddle on her as well.
My freshman year I was a starter on the varsity football team. One night we were playing the Henrietta Bearcats at home. Archer and Henrietta had the same school colors. After the game, I suddenly realized I didn't recognize anyone on the bus. Why? Wrong bus! Watching films of the game the next day, I had no recollection of it whatsoever. I had played, but I had taken a hard hit on the opening kickoff and did not remember anything after that.
I do remember this first time I got to go to the Youth Center, which was also the American Legion Hall. I watched Donny Linscott and Ann Howington dance. They moved around the dance floor like they were sliding on ice. I never learned to dance like that.
My junior year we had a new coach. Grady Graves had left and the man hired to replace him had only been a coach one time in his life. After winning the state championship the year, a lot of new boys came out for football that year. One was Butch Knox. He had only played football one year--in the 6th grade. Butch was always known for his toughness. He called me one night to bail him out of jail in Wichita Falls. He had been in a fight at the Bar-L Drive-In and had stitches in his forehead and very hung over. We went to Seymour the next day for a practice game. While he was on the bench, he watched as one of their players caught a pass and was running down the sideline toward the goal line. Well, Butch came off the bench and tackled him. The new coach, Mr. Broderson, always smoked a big nasty cigar. On our way home, Butch used to sit behind him, smoking his own cigars. Butch would also bring beer to out-of-town games and drink one on the bus on the way back home.
I went to the old, red brick building for the last time while it was being torn down. I went into Dean Fisher’s room and looked at the desks we use to sit in. I tried but could not get myself even halfway into one. I could almost hear his stern voice, "Class, be quite!” and see him--eyes closed, ears wide open. I walked into the auditorium. It looked so small. The last time I had been in it was when Barry Corbin had performed a one-man-show called, “Tales of the West". It was held at night and the room was packed full of kids, parents, and teachers. I sang my first solo there during a 5th Grade Thanksgiving program. The song was “We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessings,” and I was so nervous, Trecie Trigg was the only person I remember seeing sitting in the audience.
When I lived down near the post office (1954-1959), Tommy Goodwin lived next to Nell Trent across the street on the south side. Tommy and I would ride our bikes around the neighborhood. One day we ventured too far and the Ant Hill Gang chased us home, saying we were in their territory. The Ant’s leader was Barry Morrison. At least we thought he was the leader since he was twice a tall as we were. I’ll have to ask him someday who else was in the gang.
Bill Holder – Class of 1967
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Our family and others lived in the northern part of Archer County, and for years we were bussed to schools in Wichita Falls because they were closer. About 1961, the county discovered they were losing tax dollars because about 30 children were going to Wichita schools, so they required us to go to Archer. We were on the bus before daylight for an hour ride to school each way. This became an opportunity to study and do homework or some just slept. For other bored kids, it was cut-up time. Poor Mr. Priebe, our driver, had his hands full with them and once stopped the bus along the empty highway and threatened to put them all off the bus.
The day John Kennedy was assassinated, it was lunchtime and I was sitting on the front steps of the school when I heard the news. Everyone was upset and many were crying. What a sad day.
In the mornings, all the high school students gathered in a large room on the third floor for announcements and attendance. Adjacent to that room was a small library where students could come and go, do research, and check out their own books. There were only books - no electronic media.
The cafeteria was in an annex on the west side of the building. I was starting my senior year in 1966 when the school offered me an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I had PE (physical education) just before lunch, and they said if I would give up PE and work in the cafeteria during that period and through lunch, they would give me an A in PE, $10 a month, and free lunches. Who could refuse that, especially since I hated PE! So I scraped trays and cleaned tables and saved the money for the senior trip the following May. Back then the wonderful ladies in the lunchroom made tasty home-style meals, and I think lunch was 30 cents and you could get seconds. Two of us workers scraped food into tubs after removing toothpicks and trash. The scrapings were sold to a pig farmer. I really enjoyed that money on our senior trip to California. It was a great lesson in work ethic and saving for the future.
I took Home Economics with Joyce Hornady during a time when people were worried about "The Bomb" and surviving an attack by the Russians. (Aren't we doing that again today??) Mrs. Hornady was showing us girls a slide show on emergency medical procedures, and we had just reached the section on childbirth when a male teacher came in with a message for Mrs. Hornady. We were all embarrassed at the explicit slide we were viewing so the girl who was changing slides immediately advanced it to the next slide. But that one was even worse! So she advanced again with the same result. Finally she turned the projector off. All of us, including the male teacher, were red faced.
Mrs. Hornady taught me many life skills needed for homemaking including cooking and sewing. Boys didn't take Home Economics and girls didn't take Shop - I think it was a social policy, not a school policy. Either way, it was a shame.
I took business classes with Nell Barton who taught me the skills I needed to be a secretary. I still used shorthand occasionally when I retired in 2011. Mrs. Barton had blue ribbons for several consecutive years for Shorthand in the State competition. Her Bookkeeping class fared me well over the years when I worked for a CPA firm doing billing and accounts receivable along with secretarial duties. As for keyboarding, there were manual typewriters on the desks, and I can still hear Mrs. Barton rhythmically calling out the keys for us to type to teach us proper keyboard use and typing by touch (F F F space J J J space). Those who habitually looked at the keys she would place at typewriters with blank caps on the keys to teach us touch typing. It worked for me! There were two electric typewriters which were a luxury to use.
Mrs. Barton was in charge of the Cat's Claw newspaper, and I contributed some articles, typed the masters on the blue wax stencils, and assisted in production and delivery to lockers. School "lockers" were actually open bins in the hallway with coat hooks below. Theft was not a problem. One of the tasks of working on the paper was proofreading. I used this skill at my job at the CPA firm all the time because it was critical there be no mistakes. The CPAs did the tax returns but it was my task to make sure the mechanics were perfect - spelling, punctuation, account numbers, etc.
Mary Lee Crowley and Barbara Ledbetter taught English classes. Mrs. Crowley taught an appreciation of reading and literature that has stayed with me, even Shakespeare though I didn't like it much at the time. She had us memorize certain lines, and I can still quote a few. My favorite was "Out damned spot" because we got to use a cuss word in school without being punished. Reading for pleasure as well as for meaning is a habit that Mrs. Crowley tried to develop in all her students. I think it was she who taught Spanish, but I avoided that class, which was a big mistake. I started college in 1967 but continued it many years later and had to take a foreign language. How I wish I had studied Spanish in high school!
Mrs. Ledbetter once assigned us students to interview an older family member and write down their story. I interviewed my grandmother on how she met my grandfather. It was a fascinating story and I learned the shocking news that he had been married before! I saved that report for decades until I discovered genealogy and included her story in my family tree. As for the first wife, all I knew about her was her name Gussie, and 50 years after that interview I found the record of their marriage and her death and learned the whole sad story. Mrs. Ledbetter told me that we were related, and also about 50 years later I discovered the connection. Because of the spark she ignited, I now have about 50,000 members in my tree. I learned that she was an historian par excellence.
Mr. Gardiner taught math and instilled an appreciation of algebra and geometry. In fact, I used a particular algebraic formula when typing tables of numbers at work, back before we had computers to manage it. Geometry was more fun, though. The solid basis in math skills Mr. Gardiner developed helped me get an A in algebra for calculus in college.
There was a gym on the bottom floor of the school which students used for PE on rainy days or after lunch. One day we girls were practicing a PE move where one person is on hands and knees and the others use her as a springboard to do a flip. One girl (name withheld) lost her nerve and crashed into me so I got a broken collarbone. There was no paperwork, and my parents had to pay for x-rays and treatment. Can you imagine the paperwork that would ensue if it happened today!
Our graduating class had 32 students, but I recall only 28 got to participate in the ceremony. I think one dropped out, two got married and one got pregnant so those were barred from the ceremony. When we selected our senior ring, we all had to agree on the same design. I think my ring cost $35, which was a princely sum. We had to rent our caps and gowns, and once again we all had to agree on the same color. School curriculum was established so that all who graduated high school were scholastically eligible for college. This is different from today when students have to decide in 9th grade their graduation goal, whether they get only the basic diploma or go to trade school, the military, or college. At least it is that way in Florida.
Years later after high school when I returned to the work force after child-rearing, my employment counselor said she had greatest success placing adults of my generation because we had an excellent educational background and the best work ethic. The years I spent at Archer City High School benefitted me all my life.
Our bus driver, Mr. Preibe, was a long-suffering man. From time to time he would threaten to put misbehaving boys off the bus out in the middle of nowhere. One cold day we deployed a stink bomb made at home out of a ballpoint pen. You replace the ink cartridge with a bobby pin run through the spring, put the ends through the tip and bend the tips over for handles. Then you put a sulphur match in the clicker end and put the pen back together. You pull the bobby pin out and let it go. It strikes the sulphur match which causes it to smoke but doesn't ignite. Gather the smoke in a jar with a lid. Do this several times until you have a lot of sulphur smoke in the jar. It ripens with age. On a really cold morning we secretly put the jar in the rack above the seats and opened the lid. Before long the sulphur smell permeated the whole bus. With the windows closed, it was quite pungent and smelled like the worst fart anyone ever let. Eventually it reached Mr. Preibe who stopped the bus and said, "If you boys can't control yourselves, you can walk." No one said a word but opened the windows in spite of the cold, and we all had a silent ride to school.
Bus rides at daybreak in the winter reveal that fresh cow pies produce steam. Our route often took us through cow pastures to reach rural riders. The roads were slick clay on rainy days, and sometimes poor Mr. Priebe had a long walk to the nearest farm house to ask the farmer to use his tractor to pull the bus out of a deep rut. One morning the bus broke down a long way from a phone, and Mr. Priebe had a long walk and a long wait until another bus could be dispatched. That day we arrived at school at lunch. None of us minded for we missed the first half of the day and were not penalized with an absence since we were bus riders. One morning we arrived at school on a very blustery day. As petite Debbie (I think Jentsch) got off the bus, the wind caught her and knocked her to the ground.
The high school had a policy to reduce absenteeism. If you have no more than three absences in a semester and a certain grade in the class, you didn't have to take the final exam. I never missed a day no matter how sick I was and never took a final exam. Of course, this was actually a bad idea for I shared my germs with others.
Mrs. Crowley assigned us to write poetry one time. I don't remember what my poem was, but I'll never forget Danny Brewer's which ended with the memorable lines:
Little birdie in the sky
Why'd you doo doo in my eye?
The 1960's included the President Kennedy's physical fitness program. Students had to do a broad jump, sit-ups, pull-ups, run 50 and 600 yard dashes, and throw a softball. It was an annual horror, though probably preferable to Michelle Obama's lunch-horror program. I didn't realize it, but I had exercise-induced asthma, and the 600-yard run was torture.
The 1960's were also the time of integration. About my junior year was the first time there was a black student in the high school. I felt sorry for him as he seemed to keep to himself. To my knowledge, we classmates never made an issue of race.
We're the best this side of Heaven
Senior class of sixty-seven.
Mary (Ballowe) Heydon - Class of 1967
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