School Year 1939 – 1940

Year By Year Navigation

Enrollment in September is reported as 193, 143 in grades and 51 in high school. A few weeks later it is reported as 197. It is said to compare with 189 last year. However, at a similar time last year the enrollment was reported as 203. The numbers clearly fluctuated by 10 to 15 during a year.

The Student Review in a front-page story on general progress reports “Four New Buses”. Another story elaborates that they are new chassis and motors, but the bodies bought in 1936 have been refurbished, with broken glass replaced and new seats. It was probably not planned, but because of the war, these buses served until Fall of 1947.

Charles Lattimer replaced Dewey Beeson as County Superintendent in July. Mr. Beeson had served since 1929.

Marvin Sparks and his wife Juanita opened the North Store which had been vacant for several months. They served hot lunches at a counter in the store. I remember that the macaroni and cheese was delicious, and much preferred to carrying a lunch bucket. It cost a dime I think, but it might have been a nickel.

TYPEWRITERS: The first big item this year for the classes was the new typewriters (9 years later I think I remember there being six) which were used to offer typing at Con. 8 for the first time. Nineteen students had pre-enrolled in the spring and paid their lab fees. The number of machines purchased was that required to service the number of students. I wondered for a while how The Student Review was produced the previous year. There was probably only one typewriter in the whole school, and it was in the office area. I remember Mrs. Russell Shockley talking to several of the Helping-Hand Club members about typewriters at home as their daughters Joy and Carol were interested in Journalism. The remark I remember “but they are as high as a cat’s back!” does not indicate that any were bought just then. There was at least one other typewriter in the community, in the Con. 8 Gin office. More careful searching of The Student Reviews reveal that Mr. Ayres probably did all the typing for the first two years of the paper including this year.

JOURNALISM: The second big news about classes was a half-credit in Journalism. This brought the total number of Credits offered in the high school to 18. This was being done by three high schoolteachers!

The office area is a question at this time. It was probably a portion of room 5, but this room also accommodated the high school library in the area that later became the superintendent’s office.

The availability of electric power no doubt was the cause of a change in the sounds that marked the change of class periods. A buzzer system was installed, and the bell was no longer used. Progress is sometimes sad. Another impact was no doubt the installation of a new score board in the Gym a few months later (November). This one not only displayed the score with an array of electric bulbs, but in the center was a large clock showing the time remaining in each quarter, and when that time expired a loud buzzer sounded. According to The Student Review, the cost was $175 paid by subscriptions from the same business groups that sponsored the 1937 scoreboard. That source also indicates it replaces a board that was three years old, but it had only been there for two years according to their article of November of 1937.

Class of 1940: Oneita Crane, Wilton (Dicky) Hooser, LuVerna Bailey, Onieta Newton, Wesley Wiley, Ruth Ann Simms, Joy Shockley, Eudora Hazelwood, Jack Stockton, Hazel Foyer, Opal Reece.

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Director: Carl McClure

Clerk: Russell Shockley

Member: Ben Hutchinson – A. V. Duke moved to eastern Oklahoma in the summer and resigned in favor of Carl McClure.

Superintendent: Clarence L. DeWees – Math (Room 5?)

• 1^st Grade:  Mrs. Ester Huffman (21 total) in Room 1
• 2^nd & 3^rd Grades: Mrs. Ethridge (32 total) in Room 2
• 4^th Grade & 1/2 of 5th: Mrs. Woods (15 in 4th, 15 in 5th, 30 total) in Room 3
• 1/2 of 5^th & 6^th Grades: Miss or Mrs. Winters (14 in 5th, 10 in 6th, 24 total)  in Room 4
• 7^th & 8^th Grades: Mr. Ethridge (14 in each grade, 28 total) in high school Room 8.
• 9^th through 12^th Grades: Virgil E. Woods (Girls Coach & (?)) Room 7 (?), Henry Ayres Principal, Boys Coach & English, Room 6 (?).

#1 H. A. Gilmore

#2 Howard Wallis (also the bus mechanic)

#3 W. L. Bock

#4 Ned Dempsey

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Marvin “Shorty” Sparks