Category Archives: Uncategorized

Blog 35 September 17, 2014

Joske’s: Remember the Joske’s motto? The Biggest Store in the Biggest State” (till Alaska joined the union, when it became “The Greatest Store in the Greatest State”). It was a sad day when Joske’s was sold and then closed a few years later. Dillard’s moved in to a small portion and eventually closed; The Rivercenter Mall was created, encompassing Joske’s and other vacant space. Now they are renovating, but totally replacing the core of Joske’s, while retaining the façade. Here are a couple of photos showing the building from above with the roof removed. The store was built with timbers for support, which are being replaced with cement. Don’t know what all will go in there, but I thought maybe you all might enjoy the nostalgia. I have many memories from those good old days, particularly the windows at Christmas and the toy wonderland from the fourth floor. Who else has memories? Let’s hear them.

Construction crews Monday finished demolishing the old timber-frame structure of the historic Joske’s building as part of a renovation of the Rivercenter mall. Part of the demolition included removing the roof of the former department store at Alamo and Commerce streets so crews can begin building 75-foot concrete piers to support the new structure, which soon will house a multilevel H&M store and several other retail tenants. The mall’s grand reopening is still on schedule for spring, Manager Chris Oviatt said. The “vast majority” of the timber taken out of the Joske’s building has been reclaimed and sold to a company that plans to sell it to other businesses, Oviatt said.

Baby faces—In putting the class history project together, some classmates failed to be photographed for the yearbook, so I hit upon the idea of looking at the 1953 Monticello and found maybe a half-dozen classmates. What amazed me is how much younger we all looked in September 1952 than we did in September 1953. If you don’t believe me, just pull out the yearbooks and check out the photos. If I had enough time, I would do some comparisons, but I leave it to you. Did we grow up so much in one year, or did assuming the mantle of seniorship just increase our poise and feeling of self-confidence. The changes of the photos are amazing to me. If you all don’t have the ’53 yearbook, maybe I can scan a few of them for you.

More faces from the reunion!

Ben Williams and Billy Dube Bob Blake and Roselyn Mahaffey Cheline

Blog 34 September 9, 2014

Blog 33 September 5, 2014

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Seven weeks! From August 7^th to September 18^th, 1954—that is seven weeks—the number one song played on juke boxes, by disc jockeys, and sold in the stores was “Sh-Boom” by the Crewcuts. Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Jo Stafford, and Eddie Fisher also had number one hits over the course of the year.

Top movies: The five highest grossing movies in 1954 surprised me:

White Christmas (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Kirk Douglas, James Mason)
Rear Window (James Stewart & Grace Kelly)
Demetrius & the Gladiators (Victor Mature, Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine)
The Caine Mutiny (Humphrey Bogart, Fred McMurray)

If you want to see the top twenty films and the gross sales, go to Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_in_film

Class Day: Who can remember the Class Day on one of our very last days of school before graduation? Bob Blake sent me a program he found tucked away in his Monticello. I am inserting the four pages below and posing some questions. I vaguely remember the program, and others do as well, because several people have remembered a dance by Aleen Smith, Connie Mayes, and Shirley France. Here is, in all its mimeographed glory:

Can anyone answer any of these questions?

· How did one get on the program?

· Why did Bill Crocker give the invocation and Shirley Inselman the benediction, even though Paul Medley is listed as the class chaplain? I would guess that Shirley sand The Lord’s Prayer.

· What was the class gift that Jack Davis presented on our behalf? We had a senior gift committee of five people (see last page of program)

· Did Joe Coreth write the class poem? If not, who did, and why did Joe recite it? Does anyone have a copy of it? (Maybe I should ask, does anyone care?)

· Who were scholarship recipients? I was not one of them.

Finally, look at the last page, which is good for a chuckle.

What did the courtesy committee do? Really?
Were we all card carrying members of the class? Did it take five people to design the card or sign them or pass them out or check to make sure we were legal attending the prom or what?

Well, I am poking a bit of fun, as I am sure all of that was important to us back in the day. I vaguely remember going to the Olmos Theater to see some inspiring class movie about a singer with broken legs. Quite honestly, my preference would have been Marilyn Monroe or a John Wayne oater.

I do hope someone will shed some light on the questions above and add some of your own.

Sad to note: A friend from the class of ’55 recently passed me some news about Gary Valentine. Gary lives in Australia and suffers from severe dementia. The tales told were distressing. Remember how well Gary could sing? I knew Gary from elementary school on. Rumor had it that Gary’s father was the emcee on the nationally broadcast radio show, Dr. I.Q. Or he may have been Dr. I.Q. I don’t know that was ever confirmed.

And closing with a couple of photos:

Bill Hundley, Fritzie Connally, Larry Byrd, John Patmore

Louise Dobbins, Mary Helen Bass, Janet Walker (aka Rawlings, Bell, and Mathes)

Blog 32 August 29, 2014

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So many memories! While I am not devoting eight hours a day to this history project, I have spent a fair amount of time this week, and it is taking shape nicely. It has brought back many memories, a lot of questions, and some idle thoughts. Also, several people have sent in memorabilia to share with you.

Darrell Hawkins passed away last year. Patsy Hatch Patterson mentioned that Darrell began carving after retiring, focusing on Santas. At Patsy’s request, Darrell’s widow, Donna, sent along a photo of some carvings, below. I believe Darrell was a dentist (someone can correct me if I am wrong) as my younger brother. I think dentists must have a special talent working with their hands. Here is the photo of Darrell’s work:

Bob Blake sent me a program from our Senior Class Day program. Thanks, Bob. I will scan it and share it next time. The program was produced on a mimeograph machine. Remember those? Someone had to type a stencil and then ink up the machine and crank out x number of copies, being careful not to smear the ink on the copies printed out.

Who remembers? In working on the history, I have been re-keying classmate memberships, activities, and accomplishments—many of which I have no recall. These listing of activities were like an early resume, with many citing some pretty obscure activities in which they participated. Does anyone remember the Girls’ Cadet Corps show? A bunch of the Corps listed the play as an activity, so one of you GCC alumnae, please recall the program for us.

Every activity and every advisory had officers. It struck me that every single activity had a historian, parliamentarian, and a chaplain. I doubt many of those clubs exist today; and those that have survived, such as MJR and Hayne, probably no longer have chaplains. I suspect that even the Student Council and class officers no longer include a chaplain. Does anyone else care to speculate?

Many clubs and advisories had reporters. Who did they report to? And what sort of collections and money-keeping did the treasurers oversee?

Reading the histories…Classmates have done fascinating things with their lives. Even those who say they have lead boring lives have provided narratives that I have found fascinating. I am sort of surprised to see the number of divorces along the way as well as the number who have lost children and spouses. The duration of some marriages inspires. And so many have travelled extensively.

Write-ups are still arriving. Today, I heard from Dan Winder, who emigrated to Australia in 1977.

Recall: I know everyone experiences some moment that triggers a memory of long ago. The other day, I heard the radio playing “Diane.” That is a song I will remember always—not because of some long ago romance. Far from it. Back in the sophomore year, maybe, someone had a party down at La Villita in the courtyard. Kay Haller comes to mind as a possible hostess. There was a juke box to provide dance music. Sad to say, the jukebox malfunctioned and would only play two songs, one after the other, continuously for several hours. One was, you guessed it, “Diane.” The other was Tony Bennett’s rendition of “Blue Velvet.” To this day, whenever I hear either of those songs, I am transported to La Villita. Surely someone else must remember, as there were a bunch of classmates there.

And does anyone remember the old “Five-Day Deodorant Pads”? I became acquainted with them when I was in the Navy. To get a mirror shine on a pair of shoes, you had to apply polish and then rub them with the five-day pads. The chemicals in the pads melted the wax and gave the high-gloss shine. I never knew how they were supposed to work as a deodorant though. They were circular pads. Maybe you swiped your armpits. It sort of made me wonder if it could melt shoe polish, what did it do to your skin? Well, they faded off the shelf long ago. And who polishes shoes anymore?

Memories of Coolcrest The banana trees and all the lush greenery are still at Coolcrest, which re-opened for business in the past year. A group from the reunion went out and played a round. There were a few holes in one and some remarkable shots.

Jack and Marsha Davis tally their score.

Jay and Barbara Weidenfeld peering through the banana trees, clubs in hand.

Patsy Patterson lines up a shot. Where is the ball? Tom Patterson records the score.

Blog 31 August 21, 2014

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My procrastination level has kicked in—since retiring, procrastination is something I have perfected. Now if I can just refrain from apologizing about it.

The dancing cigarette pack: That photo is reminiscent of Connie Mayes (Dyer) re-creating that scene on the stage at Jefferson. Actually, I learned from Connie that she was replicating the Monticello—our yearbook. Here is what Connie wrote about that dance: “It’s a miracle I finished that performance of the dancing Jefferson Yearbook upright. It was about 110 degrees in that box and I had no peripheral vision out of the peepholes. What in the world was the purpose of that, anyhow? I can’t even remember what assembly it was.” Does anyone recall that assembly? Does anyone recall any of the assemblies? It seems like there were a lot of them.

I do know that when there was a drama performance, we could buy tickets and skip sixth period class. Early on, I may have recalled on this blog that the auditorium filled for a performance of “The Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert and Sullivan, presented by the various choir classes. When the last bell rang at 3:25, I think three-fourths of the audience, including me, got up and left. I recall how awful I thought it was. Since then I have developed an appreciation of Gilbert and Sullivan and enjoy some of the songs.

Roy McBride: Did you all know that Roy McBride still works in the Florida Everglades trapping panthers? I came across a video on line of Roy talking about the work. If you care to watch, here is the web site. http://vimeo.com/60689825 It is short.

The Project: I have been working on the class history project. A few more histories are arriving, a few have re-written what they sent the first time, and a few forgot that they already sent something and sent again. At the moment, it has reached 146 pages, but the photos from the yearbook take a lot of space. So far, only six people wrote back that they will not submit anything, along with a couple who don’t have emails. Jeanine Kliefoth Price called the ten people who had told us to put them on an inactive list, and the majority were happy to hear and will send us something. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Annice Horn, who goes by Ann Horn, last we heard? Again, special thanks to Jeanine, Kathy Lentz, Patsy Hatch Patterson, and Lavonne Kennedy, who have been helping with the project.

A few photos from the Majestic: Ben Williams took the following. They were taken with the lights lowered.

Note the ceiling here below:

Ice Cream Sings: In the last class e-blast, I included the little essay called Ice Cream Sings. I was amazed at the number of classmates who sent a comment, and all were positive.

More soon.

Blog 30 August 12, 2014

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Thanks! The last effort drew more comments than any previously. It made me feel gooood. If you all have not read the various comments, maybe you should and then chime in.

Does anyone remember graduation night? It was on a Wednesday night, and we were all very well behaved. In more recent years, the trend has been to do “amusing” things and play jokes. I recall when my son graduated, someone produced a beach ball and it was tossed in the air and batted from one to another. I don’t think we had the intestinal fortitude to do anything outrageous. Truth be told, I really don’t remember a whole lot about the event, though I do recall sitting between Bob Schiebe and Pete Sweet. Here are the first three pages of the graduation program. Hope you find them legible.

I have absolutely no recall of a program as shown on page 3. But the band was there and we had various music selections and vocals by band members and singers. Did they play in their graduation robes? I do recall Pomp and Circumstance, though I thought it was played for our grand entrance.

I am hoping the programs will be large enough to be legible. One more question: Does anyone know why we had a Dean of Girls but not a Dean of Boys? I think the Vice Principal double hated but did not receive credit for it.

The theaters: I owe some photos of the Majestic and will get to that next time.

Who remembers Miss Huey? Another maiden teacher lady, Miss Huey taught English. Some years ago I heard a rumor about her demise during a summer vacation. The story I heard is that she was at home moving a chest of drawers. Somehow it tipped over on her and she was trapped underneath. They found her body some days later. Did anyone else ever hear that story? I presume it is not an urban legend.

The class history project and reunion follow up. I have started labeling the photos and was sad to realize that some people who attended are not in the posed pictures. Have not viewed the balance of those snapped by the wandering photographers. I will be checking out about production costs in the next week or so, though I still suspect it will be a couple of months till it is done.

Blog 29 August 8, 2014

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The Texas Theater: Jeanine Price raised a question about the Texas Theater. Here are photos I found on the Internet:

Opened in 1926 for the Publix-Paramount chain, this large downtown theater was designed by the Boller Brothers firm, and was done in Spanish Colonial and Rococco style. Its fantastic terra-cotta facade, complete with columns and multicolored arches decorated with gilded medallions, in addition to its huge vertical marquee, were as spectacular as the interior, which was one of the city’s finest movie houses of the 20s, along with the Empire, Aztec and, later, Majestic Theatres.

Hailed by Publix as ‘San Antonio’s Two-Million Dollar Showplace’ when it opened, it was the site of the premiere of Paramount’s “Wings” less than a year later, which was filmed near San Antonio. Stars Buddy Rogers and Clara Bow were both in attendance.

However, after many years as a successful first-run house, even thriving during the Depression era, the Texas began to decline, and closed in the 70s. Unfortunately, just as interest in saving many of the area’s historic buildings was starting to pick up, the Texas was razed, in 1983, but its facade was salvaged, and incorpated into the modern office building built on the site. When Southwestern Bell took over the building, it meticulously restored the Texas’ terra-cotta facade to its 20s appearance.

Below is the interior. Wish it were in color. And look at this great view of Houston Street. All the old signs are gone.

This is how it looks today:

Does anyone recall: When we had to figure out our schedule at the start of each semester, the strategy I recall was to arrange a third period class in or near the cafeteria wing. I generally opted for Spanish, just down the outdoor arcade by Mrs. Hicks’ rose garden. Or you could do history upstairs or math or typing or whatever was near the first floor main entrance. Back then, we had the precursor of today’s fast food stores. There was a small kiosk on both the boys and the girls side, where you could get hamburgers, and maybe hot dogs. Does anyone remember what else they sold there? I do recall the burgers were pretty bad, but fast. The early McDonalds. People like Jim McNeel and Ben Williams worked in the booth. I don’t remember who else. The good old days. I will bet that the boys and girls are not segregated now. I wonder why it was done back then? Anyone have a clue?

The lockers: When I visited Jeff last March for an open house, all of the lockers still line the hallways, but most appeared to be empty. The combination locks are gone and a few had padlocks. I recall with the combination locks, you could stuff a small piece of paper in the mechanism so that the locker would not lock. Some of us managed to get a paper stuffed into the lock of one of our classmates (nameless, of course), so that we had access to it. He was not aware and dutifully unlocked it every time he needed something. We used to leave notes, re-arrange things in the locker, and generally make him wonder what was going on. Don’t know if he ever caught on or not.

I hope today’s comments have triggered some of your own memories that you will share. Thanks to all who have made a comment.

Beth Wilcox: Sadly, Beth Wilcox passed away last Saturday, August 2.

Blog 28 August 1, 2014

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Already over! It is jarring to see all the ads and banners for back to school shopping. Summer vacation is shorter that what we knew. As a kid, it seems like the summer was endless, long days spent playing outside and drinking out of the hydrant when we were thirsty. Then it was the sudden realization that the “summer project” had not been started, and the last week before going back to grade school was spent spatter painting, or pressing leaves, or whatever our mother’s dreamed up for our project.

Trivia you don’t need: In 1915, the mile was run by a male in 4:12 ¾ minutes. In our year of 1954, Roger Bannister of Australia broke the 4 minute mark. Today the world record for running the mile is 3:43:13 minutes, held by a Morrocan. The world’s record for women is held by a Russian at 4:12:56 minutes.

Sad news: It is never a happy moment to pass along sad news. Those of you at the reunion may recall Beth Wilcox, having a grand time. Or you may be one of the people she called several times about the reunion. Beth has had a severe health reversal in the weeks following the reunion. I learned last night that Beth was diagnosed with leukemia (terminal) a few weeks back and has since had a massive stroke. She has been moved to Methodist City Hospital Patient Hospice in Houston.

You all may or may not know that Beth earned her livelihood as an artist. She signed her work Lizabeth, and her oils were quite good. She also was successful hand-painting tee shirts. She painted the one she is wearing in the photo above.

The cost of gas—I filled my gas tank this morning and the cost per gallon was down from $3.39 per gallon to $3.17! Wow, what a great price! Then I remembered that a gallon in 1954 cost 22 cents. My senior year at Texas I took the old family Oldsmobile 98 (1949 model) that called for premium gasoline, which was 26 or 27 cents per gallon. To pinch pennies, I filled the tank with part premium and part regular. I probably saved 35 cents per fill-up, now that I look back. But then it was a significant amount, at least in my brain.

More on theaters. Jeanine Kliefoth Price posed the question about the Texas theater and what happened to it. If you recall, the Texas was located on Houston Street just west of the Hertzburg Jewelry Store at Houston and St Marys. (By the way, the old clock on the corner there is still in place, and I think it even works.) At any rate, when that block of land was coveted by some developer, the San Antonio Conservation Society attempted to save the theater. After lengthy negotiations, they only succeeded in saving the façade, which was incorporated into the high rise building. The entrance is there, compete with the ticket booth. Does anyone remember what type movies played there? I suspect they were A grade movies but maybe on a second run.

Last time, I posted some photos of the Aztec theater interior. Here are two from the Empire. If you recall, the Empire was where our parents told us not to go, because they showed B grade movies. So of course, that is where we went. I recall the Empire being totally white inside. It was refurbished 12-15 years ago and was taken back to the original finish, which had a lot of gilt. The floor has a flat floor and removable chairs for banquets and other functions. These are the only two pictures that were taken inside the Empire.

Your comments are always welcome. More next time.

Blog 27 July 28, 2014

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Hope springs eternal! After sending out the last email blast urging more classmates to send in their histories to add to the 84 already received, we are up to 90. Elliot Bilhartz reminded me that I already have his and then Connie Mayes, Evelyn Gillis, Dixie Burd, and Mary Helen and Sam Bell came through. Jeanine Price has volunteered to call some of our classmates who do not receive email to coerce them. So far, none of these 65 classmates have responded. But then, they have only had one request in a mail out prior to the reunion. If anyone wants to make some calls, let me know.

Reunion photos: All of our class photographers have forwarded their pictures to me. There is a daunting total of 952 of them! I have to admit that volume has slowed me down in doing a slide show, but I am beginning to work up a frenzy to get started on that aspect.

The obituaries and our lost list: Many thanks go to Kathy Lentz Miller for doing some sleuthing around the internet to include the data in our directory. As suspected, some on the lost list have died along the way. The investigative effort is continuing.

Photos: In sorting through some of those 900+ photos, I find some interior shots of the Aztec, Empire, and Majestic theaters. The Aztec has a varied history. After the birth of the mulit-plex screens, the old downtown theaters fell into limbo. The Aztec was at one point sliced up into three theaters and showed X-rated movies for a while and then closed. Along the line the San Antonio Conservation Society purchased the building in order to save it for the wrecking ball, but it sat empty followed by several abortive efforts to reopen. Most recently, the theater opened once again and potentially has some life ahead of it booking travelling shows. Here today are several photos from the interior, thanks to Ben Williams and Patsy Hatch.

In finishing up today: Here is a quote I read in the newspaper by Mike Sherman, the former Aggie coach, talking a bit about our society today. “When you think about fathers abandoning their families and husbands and wives getting divorced—it’s a lot easier to do that than to fix things, and honor commitments, and get things right. We live in a society today that is motivated by anonymous people who write faceless texts and twitters, and it gets things stirred up. There’s no accountability to that type of society, and there’s an immediacy that they request. It’s very important when people make decisions, they make them based on facts and analysis and insight. What’s real, not what’s false. Sometimes that gets skewed up a little bit.”

What do you all think? We have lived through a lot of changes in our decades—maybe not as dramatic as the advances in our parents lives, but maybe just as numerous with all our communications technology. Society does seem to be going to hell in a handbasket, but I sort of recall my grandmother saying the same thing decades ago.

See you next time.

Blog 26 July 14, 2014

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Time flies…I have been spending some time on this humongous class history project that I thought would be pretty straightforward. Individual write ups are straggling in slowly. So many have whined that they have done nothing significant these past sixty years. Just last week, I was speaking with (nameless person). She swore she has led a most mundane life; but the more we chatted, the more I was impressed with what she has done, and I finally told her to playback in her head all she had told me and then write it up. Trust me, it is rewarding to read about the many different paths taken in our collective lives.

By the way—if you do not have a recent picture and were at the reunion, we can use one of those.

That history project is expanding just a bit more. With so much information available via the Internet these days, I am going to try and include as many obituaries as we can dredge up. We probably have around 25 so far, provided by classmates who clipped them as they came across them in the recent years. If you happen to have saved any or a date of death, please send along the names and I will advise if we have them or not.

Photos! Here are a couple from our senior class play.

Do you recognize these photogenic people?

Well, the one in the dress is photogenic. That is Sarah Belcia Yates and yours truly. The one below is of Nancy Grauer, Bobby Rios, and again, yours truly.

What I especially like about this photo are the two pictures hanging on the walls, left and right. The left photo is my mother’s first cousin and the one on the right is my great aunt. I think Mrs. Mac designated them Sarah Bernhard and Isadora Duncan.

One sad thing: IF you notice in both photos, there is a mike on the floor to pick up and amplify the sound. However, it was only an aid for thespians in those days. Mrs. Mac taught us to project, using our diaphragms to expel the sound out the body to the back of the auditorium. If you have been to any theater presentation recently, everyone has a battery pack and body mike, usually looking like some facial disfiguration. And the sound is amplified to overload the ear drums.

The same is true at any music venue—major over amplification to assault the senses. Somewhere along the line, people began to equate loudness with quality. We were recently invited along to hear the Irish Tenors at the Majestic. I could have stood across the street at the Gunter Hotel and heard them.

Does anyone remember these?

jeffclassof54

Reminiscing about high school days prior to upcoming reunion

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Blog 35 September 17, 2014

Blog 34 September 9, 2014

Blog 33 September 5, 2014

Blog 32 August 29, 2014

Blog 31 August 21, 2014

Blog 30 August 12, 2014

Blog 29 August 8, 2014

Blog 28 August 1, 2014

Blog 27 July 28, 2014

Blog 26 July 14, 2014