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Tuesday
February 9, 2010 Since 1922 |
We've grown accustomed to their faces
By Wanda Orton
Contributor Published July 26, 2009 Browsing through Robert E. Lee High School’s first two yearbooks in 1929 and 1930, I feel a sense of continuity and community, recognizing faces of parents of friends I grew up with in Baytown, plus students who became teachers.
It’s amazing how many of them, by the 1940s, would be living in my neck of the woods on the state streets. All daughters of former REL classmates, Suzanne Long Tiller Adams and Sue Frazier Dean, both on New Jersey Street, Barbara Whitesides Mixon on Carolina, Charlotte McNulty Holladay on Virginia Street – and no doubt others I didn’t even know about – lived in the same area and were daughters of REL classmates from the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Suzanne’s mother, Avis Lee Wright, was elected the most beautiful girl at REL in 1929 and 1930, and, from her yearbook photos, you could see why.
Terry Long, Suzanne’s father, worked for Humble Oil & Refining Co., as did most of our dads and in future years, many of our husbands. Suzanne herself would spend her lifelong career with The Company.
See what I mean by “sense of continuity?”
Among students pictured in the 1930 yearbook was Charlotte’s mother, Kathryn Ciruti. The McNultys lived on Virginia Street, a stone’s throw from San Jacinto Elementary. Nearly all of our classmates lived within walking distance of San Jacinto. (Come to think of it, we walked everywhere back then whether we lived “within distance” or not.)
Charlotte became an English teacher, joining the REL faculty in the 1960s. After Skeeter and I married and moved to Lakewood, Charlotte’s aunt, Irene Ciruti Lancaster, lived across the street and for a while, Charlotte and Paul lived up the street from us.
See what I mean by “sense of community?”
In the 1930 version of “Facebook,” I found a photo of Rosa Perkins, who married Manuel Ciruti, a brother of Irene and Kathryn. Their son and daughter, Lon and Margie, attended REL in the Fifties.
Probably the easiest face to recognize in these yearbooks was that of Virginia Ann Dumas. The mother of Barbara “Whitey” Whitesides Mixon seemed never to change, looking much the same in 1929-30 as she did years later. By the way, her father W.B. Dumas, served on the school board when plans for the original REL building were approved.
Best friends forever, Virginia Dumas Whitesides and Ruby New Frazier went to school together, went to the same church, their daughters grew up together and for many years the families were virtually back-door neighbors.
Jack Commings, REL class of ’52, resided in a two-story house on a v-shaped lot where Nebraska, New Jersey and Louisiana streets merged. A photo of his mother, Margaret Commings, can be found on the faculty section of the 1930 yearbook. An English teacher at REL, she later taught at Baytown Junior High.
And speaking of teachers, two REL seniors in 1929 taught us in the 1940s. Sunshine Battles Oltman was our second-grade teacher at San Jacinto Elementary and Geraldine Miles Castleman taught us English at BJH.
Although she graduated in 1928 from the old Goose Creek High School, Myrtle Louise Jackson Moore is pictured in the 1929 yearbook of the brand new Robert E. Lee High School, listed as a post-graduate. Daughter Cynthia Moore, from our REL class of ’52, taught many years in the district.
Foylette Fayle, father of Eugene Fayle from our class of ‘52, is among star athletes listed in the 1929 yearbook.
Lula V. Haralson, a talented poet who graduated from REL in 1931, married classmate Allen Rice, and their son, also named Allen, became an architect and writer.
Among sophomores pictured in 1930 was Rolland Pruett, better known in the Fifties as Mayor R.H. “Red” Pruett. Son Rolland followed in his footsteps as a student at REL in the Forties and as a city council member in the Eighties.
That’s not all, folks. Countless other kin/friend connections with REL, the early years, could be noted.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.
Contributor Published July 26, 2009 Browsing through Robert E. Lee High School’s first two yearbooks in 1929 and 1930, I feel a sense of continuity and community, recognizing faces of parents of friends I grew up with in Baytown, plus students who became teachers.
It’s amazing how many of them, by the 1940s, would be living in my neck of the woods on the state streets. All daughters of former REL classmates, Suzanne Long Tiller Adams and Sue Frazier Dean, both on New Jersey Street, Barbara Whitesides Mixon on Carolina, Charlotte McNulty Holladay on Virginia Street – and no doubt others I didn’t even know about – lived in the same area and were daughters of REL classmates from the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Suzanne’s mother, Avis Lee Wright, was elected the most beautiful girl at REL in 1929 and 1930, and, from her yearbook photos, you could see why.
Terry Long, Suzanne’s father, worked for Humble Oil & Refining Co., as did most of our dads and in future years, many of our husbands. Suzanne herself would spend her lifelong career with The Company.
See what I mean by “sense of continuity?”
Among students pictured in the 1930 yearbook was Charlotte’s mother, Kathryn Ciruti. The McNultys lived on Virginia Street, a stone’s throw from San Jacinto Elementary. Nearly all of our classmates lived within walking distance of San Jacinto. (Come to think of it, we walked everywhere back then whether we lived “within distance” or not.)
Charlotte became an English teacher, joining the REL faculty in the 1960s. After Skeeter and I married and moved to Lakewood, Charlotte’s aunt, Irene Ciruti Lancaster, lived across the street and for a while, Charlotte and Paul lived up the street from us.
See what I mean by “sense of community?”
In the 1930 version of “Facebook,” I found a photo of Rosa Perkins, who married Manuel Ciruti, a brother of Irene and Kathryn. Their son and daughter, Lon and Margie, attended REL in the Fifties.
Probably the easiest face to recognize in these yearbooks was that of Virginia Ann Dumas. The mother of Barbara “Whitey” Whitesides Mixon seemed never to change, looking much the same in 1929-30 as she did years later. By the way, her father W.B. Dumas, served on the school board when plans for the original REL building were approved.
Best friends forever, Virginia Dumas Whitesides and Ruby New Frazier went to school together, went to the same church, their daughters grew up together and for many years the families were virtually back-door neighbors.
Jack Commings, REL class of ’52, resided in a two-story house on a v-shaped lot where Nebraska, New Jersey and Louisiana streets merged. A photo of his mother, Margaret Commings, can be found on the faculty section of the 1930 yearbook. An English teacher at REL, she later taught at Baytown Junior High.
And speaking of teachers, two REL seniors in 1929 taught us in the 1940s. Sunshine Battles Oltman was our second-grade teacher at San Jacinto Elementary and Geraldine Miles Castleman taught us English at BJH.
Although she graduated in 1928 from the old Goose Creek High School, Myrtle Louise Jackson Moore is pictured in the 1929 yearbook of the brand new Robert E. Lee High School, listed as a post-graduate. Daughter Cynthia Moore, from our REL class of ’52, taught many years in the district.
Foylette Fayle, father of Eugene Fayle from our class of ‘52, is among star athletes listed in the 1929 yearbook.
Lula V. Haralson, a talented poet who graduated from REL in 1931, married classmate Allen Rice, and their son, also named Allen, became an architect and writer.
Among sophomores pictured in 1930 was Rolland Pruett, better known in the Fifties as Mayor R.H. “Red” Pruett. Son Rolland followed in his footsteps as a student at REL in the Forties and as a city council member in the Eighties.
That’s not all, folks. Countless other kin/friend connections with REL, the early years, could be noted.
Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.