School Year 1933 – 1934

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Pauline Manning has told me that Roy Williams was their basketball coach this year. Also Wilma (Duke) Stout affirmed this, commenting that Roy Williams was so good looking it was hard for the girls to concentrate on basketball.

The list of graduates agrees with one given in the 1937-1938 Student Review in a series on past graduates. For some unknown reason the class did not have one made, but Pauline (Dempsey) Manning has supplied a complete list from memory.

A collage has been made up for the class of 1934 using pictures taken from the 1933 group picture of the high school students. These were cut out and pasted on backgrounds that came from other parts of the same picture. Carol (Hawkins) Cooper, niece of Ralph Hawkins of this class, sponsored this project and obtained additional pictures which are also featured here. Altogether four were obtained, taken just about the time of graduation, and two more taken during the WW II period. Carol has had a professionally prepared and printed version of the same size as the other collages made and given it to the Con. 8 Memorial Group. It is displayed along with the others in the Roosevelt, Oklahoma, Senior Citizen’s Center. An 8×10 print has also been added to the album of graduation collages exhibited at the Kiowa County Historical Museum, in Hobart, Oklahoma.

This picture is of the entire 8^th through 12^th grades taken in May of 1933. All nine of the graduates were identified, and all the 56 people shown have been identified. It has all the numbers included and is followed by an image which does not have the numbers.

The people are marked with an Identification Number (i.e., 1) that refers to the name on the list (i.e., Mr. Dewees (Superintendent)). The entries tagged ⁺ are additional information supplied recently by Dorthy (Estoll) Shelton. Even more recently, Dorothy went through the enumeration books for that year, and further identification was made and tagged ⁺⁺.

The picture was provided by Wilma (Duke) Stout who after a long search found it in one of her boxes.  It is a 5×7 black and white print. On the back in 1933, Wilma had written the names of all fifty-six people in the picture for the students. However, she wrote just the first name and then an initial for the last name. After all these years some of the last names were not remembered, but most were. Those for which we only have the initial letter of the last name are shown with a ?  Just what the full last name is. Can anybody help fill in those?

It also includes the three high school teachers and all nine of the 1934 graduates. Look for the asterisk after the names of the class of 1934. The high school still included the eighth-grade students as it did again in later years. In this picture, Wayne Bock, Ruth Bradley and Lillith Dempsey are known to have been eighth graders at the time.

Wilma remembers that this was Senior Day. Many of the 1933 Seniors apparently chose to “play hooky” that day, and the ones that came are mostly costumed. Thus, many of the senior girls are in overalls, unmatched socks, and other eccentric bits of clothing that have most assuredly are not typical dress for them.

On January 30, 2003, my father wrote the following summary. “I believe, only one person whose identity has not been established is #12, for which Wilma has written Alyne W. or at least Al W. and perhaps the W could be an H. A few days after I wrote this Mable Sockwell sent me a letter in which she tentatively identified this young lady as Alyne Wheeler.  I have checked the 1930 US census and found the Wheeler family living near the Dickson’s, Hetzels etc. in the Gibson area. All are identified.

Names read left to right and identified as Name, Uncertain (?) or Unknown.

Top Row: (1) Superintendent, Mr. DeWees (2) Teacher, Roy Williams (3) Leon Miller ⁺⁺ (4) Julius Lowell * (5) Ralph Hawkins * (6) Burl Fowler * (7) Delorn Duke (8) Teacher, Mr. Atkinson (9) Alleen Martin ⁺⁺ (10) Ethyl Thornton * (11) Evelyn Kidwell (12) Alyne Wheeler (13) Lucille Allred (14) Ruth Snow (15) Pauline Dempsey * (16) Letrice Crouch * (17) Winnie Terry (18) Mabel Sockwell *

Row 2: (19) Ruby Kidwell (20) Nelda Hetzel⁺ (21) Wayne Bock (22) Rex Burton (23) Edwin Duke (24) Lillith Dempsey (25) Wilma Duke (26) Alene Estoll (27) Travis Crouch (28) Melba Wood ⁺⁺ (29) Melvin Shackleford (30) Earlene Stockton (31) Loyd Hutchinson * (32) Dorothy Stockton (33) James Sockwell (34) Juanita Frances Barnes⁺ (35) Melba Snow

Row 3: (36) Lorena Godfrey (37) Lorene “Dudie” Haynie (38) Auzela “Zela” Cooper⁺ (39) Thelma Jones ⁺⁺ (40) Rachel Perryman (41) Allie Henderson (42) Margaret Haynie (43) Blanch Jackson (44) Velma McDowell (45) LaVerne Courtney (46) Ruth Bradley

Row 4: (47) Edward Wynns * (48) Cecil “Spud” “Tator” Hawkins (49) Herbert Jones (50) Alden Henderson (51) Clyde McDowell (52) Mattie Thelma Smith (53) Eva Mae Hutchinson (54) Helen Jones (55) Shirley Murrell (56) Leonard “Chigger” Cleal

An early picture of Con. 8 taken with the students in front of the southeast corner of the Gym.  This is the period before the Gym was fancied up (in 1936).  Not only are the students interesting, but we have here a rare view of the teacherage’s. The north teacherage and the main teacherage. which was all there was until the fall of 1940.  The picture is evocative of the early thirties with economic depression and drought making life a little more of a struggle than normal. The picture was one that LaNell DeWees had saved, and it had no identifying notes.   The recovery of so many names (which are very close guesses) and the dating of the picture was due to the aid of Dorothy (Estoll) Shelton (standing in middle of Row 2).  All the evidence points to the fact that this was taken in 1933-1934 school year and is the third grade, and part or perhaps all of the fourth.

The device in front looks like it might be a part of a game fitting, with the carefully excavated hole on the right side of the picture. Does anyone have ideas?

There are 39 children here, which might be approximately correct for an average daily attendance in grades 3 and 4.  However there are memories that the 4’th grade was split in half, one half in the third grade and the other half in the fifth.  The fourth grade for that year would have been the graduating class of 1941, the second largest in Con. 8 history.

Names read left to right and identified as Name, Uncertain (?) or Unknown.

Top Row: (1) Winfred Sno (2) Elizabeth Haynie (3) Unknown (4) Nadine Dodd (5) Violet McDowell (6) Vivian Allen

2nd Row: (7) Bernice Dempsey (8) Unknown (9) Betty June Heien (10) Anna Mae Burke (11) Ruth Etta Cooper (12) Joan Meismer (13) Dorothy Estoll (14) Caesarine Burns (15) Ladonna Wallis (16) Greame Brown (17) Carol Shockley (18) Ruby Snow (19) Erma Estoll

3rd Row: (20) Buddy Rogers (?) (21) Hubert Hazelwood (?) (22) Joe Miller (23) Sherman Fowler (24) J. B. Snow (25) Carlyle Hutchinson (26) Billy Brown ? (27) Lavone Williams (28) G. B. Robinson (29) Jimmie Hutchinson (30) Jimmie Shelton

4th Row: (31) Unknown (32) Unknown (33) Unknown (34) Wayne Reece ? (35) Nolen Waters ? (36) Leo Jackson (37) Elmer Ankney (38) ? (39) Ray Snow ?

President: Warren P. Dempsey

Clerk: Carl Heien

Member: Charles R. Smith?

Superintendent: C. L. DeWees

• 1^st Grade: Probably Mrs. DeWees in Room 1
• 2^nd & 3^rd Grades: Miss. Stella Fraley in Room 2
• 4^th & 5^th Grades: Isabelle Edmundson in Room 3
• 6^th & 7^th Grades: Could be Stinnet or Alexander in Room 4
• 8^th through 12^th Grades: Math and Science (Geometry and General Science for Sophomores), Roy Williams (was Basketball Coach), OK History and Civics was Mabel Wilks, English was Mr. Graves?

#2 Mark McFarland (?)
#3 H. A. “Slim” Gilmore (Stepfather of Lucille Green, class of ’39)
#4 Leon Messick (?)

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