Who would have thunk, learning the ‘home keys’ would actually have some value later on. You all heard it from those ‘know it all’ TJ teachers, “typing is a useful skill. Learn it.” My question regarding learning always used to be “will it help me buy groceries?”.
Anyways, I thought one semester of typing, lots of girls in the class, and no homework, would help get me out of school. What’s not to like, win/win situation. Much more fun than wood shop or drafting where in the ‘all male’ classes someone invariably poked you, hit you, or goosed you with a saw or file. Heck, seniors used to throw drafting brushes like tomahawks when Mr. C. left the room.My good friend Casey Arredondo or his counselor had the same idea. We both ended up in the same typing class in the 12 th grade. Very boring, monotonous, and being out performed by underclass girls and guys. Who cares, we’re almost out of school. I pretended it didn’t bother me.The best one was a bright morning when a very pretty sophomore or junior girl, who normally would not give me and Casey the time of day, apparently was on a starvation diet of some type. We’re all doing aaaa bbbbb cccc and the class stops. This girl had passed out and falls in the aisle right out of her chair. Completely flakes out. All I could hear were gasps, uh-ohs, and no one is moving. Out of nowhere it was Casey to the rescue. He didn’t know first aid from first base but he was on the scene. He jumped out of his chair and moved toward this junior girl like some one out of M.A.S.H.
Whoa, not so fast, Casey stopped dead in his tracks. He jumped back like Superman uncovering Kryptonite. There he stood just looking helpless. As it turned out the young lady’s dress was hiked up clean past ‘Paducah’. Everyone stopped cold. The teacher finally made her way over and made things right. The young lady, who will remain nameless, was escorted to the nurse’s office, not to be seen for another week. We all managed to get back to business but it was too late. Needless to say we had trouble focusing on math and English afterwards.
Exactly what an eighteen year old high school kid needs to help him concentrate for the rest of the day on academics
Published 02/21/09 , contributed by Janette Norton
We lost a classmate this week, Pam Lopez.She was almost the first person I met when we moved into our little corner house. I lived directly across from Pam's corner at 2948-34th St.. Next door to me lived Jean Ann Virden and behind Pam's house on 2nd Ave. lived Rhonda Carlton (Class of '70), now married to Bill Richey. Down the next block lived Ike Landry. I never knew where Randy Blanchard lived but he showed up pretty regularly, too--always with that smile that slashed across his face.
Most of us had older sisters and brothers who let us join in on their sand lot ball games, football or baseball as the season called for. The "vacant lot, "once someone's dream of a house, became the neighborhood hangout that we turned into the world. When there wasn't a game going on, Jean Ann and I clambered over the old concrete blocks, set for a house that never was or was long gone, we never knew which. Pretend was our favorite game. Jean Ann "traveled" to New York and I "excavated" many a treasure in that old yard. Sometimes we sailed on pirate ships or fancy ships and sometimes we just lay in the clover and watched clouds. Jean Ann had the luxurious world of an only child, and I had the exciting one of teenage sisters and make-up.
But when we played with Pam, we almost always played under the lush, shady trees of her back yard, pruned to perfection by her dad. Cooler than any other place, especially spread out on the refinery-gray concrete picnic table her dad also built, our imagination let us be anything. Mostly, we played school, taking turns being good student/bad student and good teacher/mean teacher. Sometimes gave ourselves names of people we knew; sometimes names we loved. Looking back, we probably learned as much in that little schoolhouse with Pam than we did anywhere. Pam's family, especially toward her, was the epitome of self-reliance, a portrait of tolerance, and the standard for unconditional love.
After elementary school, we didn't see each other much. My fault. It's taken a lifetime in education for me to conceptualize the value of
those early days, but I'm thinking that her life made a difference in mine. Fortunately, I was able to tell her sister that; thank goodness for
Classmates. com. I even got to tell her mom on a sightseeing tour after Rita. She didn't remember me but that didn't matter. I didn't
understand everything soon enough to tell Pam though. I hope she knows.
Published 08/16/09, contributed by Fred Schneider '66
Lets go Back In Time.
Today's subject is "Reese's Drive in". Reese's was located on 9th Avenue, very near Thomas Blvd. That location made it very handy to students as a gathering place. There were
car hops and covered parking on 2 sides. If you wanted to stay in your car you just honked, and a car hop appeared to take your order. When you were ready to leave, just flash your head lights and they came for your tray. There was a small malt shop inside and a juke box. Reese's closed shortly after the "new" school opened, as did the Bloody Bucket, and Zesto. They were no longer on "The Drag". We'll talk about them another time.
Published 08/16/09, contributed by Linda Olivier
Remember Retting's?
What was the name of the soda shop that was close to Woodrow Wilson? Rettings?I remember going there as a kid, watching all the cool teenagers milling around. That's back
when the drag was up and down Procter Street, I think. Of course, the drag was later moved to 16th Street. And Pennington's was on the "end" of the drag closer to Groves.
Burger Chef was where you could get a burger for 15 cents!
Published 03/13/10, contributed by Sandi Ellis
Does anyone remember the boat parade/races in the canal for CavOILcade? How about the massive wasp nest in those giant oleander bushes along the canal? How about SNOW - Snow days off from school. Now that I have learned how to work the scanner, I will look for some photos of the deep snow in P.A. that happened sometime in the 50's.
Then, there was a series of dangerous games like "Box Hockey?" That dangerous game we played in the late 60's wooden box, wooden ball - and wooden sticks to HIT the wooden balls. I remember my daddy building me a box for one whole summer of dangerous fun. Bruised shin - half the neighborhood bruised up -I even remember some broken teeth. Ernie, you may remember the fun during the Franklin School days. I also believe I had a"tether ball" that was big among the Blue Bird crowd.
Now moving to high school - does anyone remember David Elliott singing "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" at the Black and White ball? If
you heard it, you will never forget it. I do believe that luckily that was the end of David's singing career.So, Ta Ta friends. Keep those
memories working . Keeps your mind strong and young. Keep those cards and letters coming.
Published 04/10/10, contributed by Mr. Hugh LeBaron
I thought you might find it interesting that I am thinking and writing about the old days at Thomas Jefferson.
Memory One "That first full year of teaching, Thomas Jefferson was the site of one of those memorable events that one does not forget in their lifetime.On Friday, November 22, 1963, Joe Price and I went to the school cafeteria for lunch. Finishing lunch, we left the cafeteria to return to the main school building when one of our students rushed up to us saying, "They are saying that President Kennedy was shot in Dallas this morning." We did not take the report seriously at first and I said to Joe, "Now wouldn't that be something?" We proceed into the building and things did not look right.
We began to sense that something was up so we headed for the office where we learned that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas ; we did not know at the time that he was already dead. We stood around looking at each other for a while in dismay about what to do and how to handle our students when the bell rang for fourth period.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Kennedyb.jpg When my students assembled for the afternoon period, there was a quiet reverence and sadness to their conduct. Soon we heard the school's public address system buzz on and the clear voice of CBS newsman Walter Cronkite was heard. The school administration had plugged the system into the CBS news and we sat in our room and listened to events unfold until finally Cronkite confirmed that the President was dead and that Lyndon Johnson had been sworn in as President of the United States. That was the end of learning for that day and school was dismissed. For the rest of the weekend we stayed glued to our television set as post assassination events unfolded and we watched history being written on our televisionscreens."
Memory Two "One of the things I liked best about being in the Director's job was the opportunity to travel around
the southeastern part of the state of Texas and meet with civil and educational leaders. Most travel was associated with the Interscholastic Good Sportsmanship League which met monthly at different locations. I would go with the students as their sponsor and help make the program work. The purpose of the League was to inspire students to behave at sporting events between the schools. Once Dorothy and I rode to an out of town football game between Thomas Jefferson and an historic black school in Beaumont . We lost the game and afterward our bus pulled up and stopped even with a band bus from the black school.
The black students put down their windows and began to taunt the TJ kids.
Our motto in these cases was to "Kill them with kindness." When I saw what was happening, I stood up and said loudly, "Kill them with kindness!" Down went the windows on the TJ band bus and the confrontation was on. The black kids said things like "What happened to your hot shot football team?" and our kids responded that "Your team just played better than we did so you won." There could be no argument with that type of answer. Then the TJ kids began to compliment the black school's band and their half time performance. The black kids responded with compliments about the TJ band and everyone said, "Goodbye and Good Luck!" when the buses began to move. I had never seen the training of the Good Sportsmanship League work any better than it did that night and I was impressed and proud of how our students handled the situation."
Best wishes,Hugh LeBaron
Published 05/22/10, contributed by Jeanette Constantine
We had a lot of good places to go back in our junior high days. Lots of memories, too. I think about our days at
Woodrow Wilson. They were really good. I had a lot of fun there. Mr. Klein was a riot. Mrs. Oder was so stern. Boy, what a difference it is now.
Does anyone else have any memories of Woodrow they would like to share?
