Patricia Bissonnet (Bissonnet)

Interesting commentary on the "wild" speech and drama kids. When I read back over it, I see no one who confesses to having anything to drink on those out of town trips--only that it was available. For the most part, my memories of speech and drama was that it kept me OUT of trouble, and allowed me to flap my wings in a safe environment.  Mama Duck and Ms. Kahla are to be commended.  Managing a bunch of teenagers was as much a challenge then as it is now.  

Roger Felton

Ok, the drama gang may have had more excitemant than the Slide Rule bunch, but they couldn't stand in the shadow of us kids in the Bowling Club.  We had a ball!  We hung out at the alley and spent a lot of time in the gutter. We never ran when someone yelled, "Split" either. 

The best part was getting to watch Charlene Motl...that girl was a real swinger!

Roger Felton

Hey, I'm with you Stephen, Joanna was totally precious.  Like everything good in the world all happening at once.  Actually, Joanna and I were going to get married right after college but, unfortunately, I forgot to tell her.  LOL.  She never knew who I was either, Stephen, so I guess we were both in the same fan club.

Jacquie Campbell (Biggs)

Just a quick comment in regard to the 50th.  Linda and Suzie are indeed working on the plans and have a venue scheduled.  They will be posting info soon.  It took a while to get our Class of 1965 Waltrip HS bank account reactivated and new cards established and made ready to use.  But all is well, and the cards will soon be aligned with the appropriate vendors. Step by step it is all coming together.

When a person is 16 years old, a junior in high school, and someone says let's run for senior class office so we can help plan the prom next year, that kid does not realize that she is getting into a 50 year committment of class reunion planning and money handling.  It has been mostly fun with just a few bumps along the way. Hope to see everyone in August.  jb

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

All the girls that have worked so hard for all of our reunions deserve big hugs and pats on the backs.  There has not been one reunion that any of us could call as not being managed well.  To me, the 45th was great and the accommodations were the best of all of them. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all of your help in making the 50th arrangements - it will certainly be the best.

Anita Marbury (Marbury)

I thought the wild ones were the football guys.

Pat is correct. Drama kept me out of trouble and gave me a wonderful work ethic that carried over into my teaching. Remember we were all good kids with different interests and activities. I think we were lucky.

Mrs. Gale, bless her heart with her measuring stick on skirts. No holding hands walking down the hall.

Mr. Cotton called me into his office to ask me about a book I was reading. I worked in the office and someone reported "Peyton Place". Was anyone making me read this book? No.

What about a play by Tennessee Williams? No. I wanted to read the play and the book.

I tried to enroll in woodshop to be turned down becasue I wa a girl.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At the University of Houston I was required to handle power tools,  table saws, etc. and was not cut any slack because I was  a GIRL. Those were the days. I can handle any power tools and table saws because of my college background.

I'm wicked with a chain saw.

 Looking forward to seeing you and catching up at the reunion.  

Jan Barnes (Nimtz)

Not to change the subject from the wild crowd, but...

Carolyn I did not know you were living in Romania until I was recently notified of you updating your profile. We spent a couple of weeks in Romania last year, about this same time, and visited between Constanta, Bucharest, Sinaia and Brasov. Of what we saw I thought it was a beautiful country.  You should post more about where you live.

Mary Holland

My memories of going to Waltrip wer of the Art classes and of Mrs. Barden's English classes. My Senior year i got into the Scholastic Art Exhibition, the Painting to Music Show (put on by the ladies of the Symphony Society, but it was a good show.) I Got First Place honors with two very different pen and ink drawings. A wire sculpture of mine was in the Spring Show, for students, at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. I'm still proud that something of mine was exhibited there. I also won the prize for Excellence in Wriritng (category: Poetry, three winning entries) for high school girls, by the Radcliff Alumna Association. If they didn'y think that any entries in a category came up to their standards they didn't give a prize in that category. I'm still surprised that i won it.

As far as friends, though, I had none. I didn't go to the prom or to anything else. I never had a date until I was well into college. But I'm married to the man that I was put on Earth to marry and I really believe that he was put on Earth to be with me. He was shy and never had dated. He came from a tiny town named Iraan, pronounced Ira-Ann, on the Pecos River. He was a Geology major but he knew as much about electrrical stuff as the Electrical Engineering majors we ran around with. Really, he knows a lot about a lot of things. The two of us sat with those EE majors to eat supper. I knewI loved that guy but he was oblivious. Both of us were too shy to say anything to the other. But finally I started writing little stuff about my day, about the things I thought about, maybe a little poem now and then, or a cartoon of my Adventures in Earth-Land. When I had a good stack of them, about 20 pages? I stapled them together down the left side to make a book from them and I gave it to him in a manila envelope one night after supper. In one of the pages, among various musings, I had written, "I don't want to scare you and if you don't feel the same about me it's all right. I'll make a life and be OK. But I want you to know that if i don't marry you I won't ever marry anyone." I meant it and he knew it. He began talking to me. We were inseperable after that and everyone knew we were serious. We've been married for over 44 years, so far.

So it's all right that my high school days weren't great, because my life is.

Oh, one more thing....I kept on having horses. 

Carolyn Johnson (Blake)

Hi Jan,

What brought you to Romania? It's not a usual destination. I have been here since 2009, which is a testament to the Martian nature of the Romanian language!! It's killin' me! Invati limba Romaneste dar este foarte grau! I study the Romanian language but it is very hard! You were in Brasov...did you go to Bran to see the castle? It's just outside of Brasov. Those cities further west are much more modern..there were some areas of Brasov I saw  that could have been Austin. Where I live it is the "Old Country." I do love it! There are horse carts everywhere...it's very rural and the economy is farming. It is the poorest county in Romania and this area has the lowest per capita incom in the entire EU. But there is a quality of interpersonal relationships that I find very rich and I have grown so attached to my life here that I don't think I will ever move back home. Teaching English is blissful and I am very close with my students. A photo taken from the balcony of my first home here, very typical of the construction here. Most of these buildings were put up by the communists in the eawrly 60's when they moved the farmers off their land. Very very people have houses, only the well off. Below is a photo of my little kitchen.  It's a simple life, and I love it. Only wealthy people have large living spaces. This is very typical Romanian as far as the space and how it is fitted out but it is much richer than the average Romanian's kitchen as far as appliances go. Some people live in "garsioneara," extremely tiny, one room apartments.

Jan Barnes (Nimtz)

Thanks for the photos, Carolyn. We have travelled quite extensively throughout Europe for the past 20+ years but somehow Bulgaria & Romania had escaped us.We have also fallen in love with European small ship river cruising over the years and have sailed the Danube several times but not to the extent of visiting either of those aforementioned countries. We took a river ship tour last March/April from Budapest to the Black Sea. We had been to Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia & Serbia previously so this tour was expressly to get us to Romania and the Black Sea, and we were not disappointed. Bucharest is just another bustling city so we actually spent little time there as we prefer being in the countryside. Between the time the tour allowed us and extending our stay in Sinaia we were able to get a small taste of Romania life. The Carpathian mountains made a beautiful setting for our home base. There was snow on the mountaintops yet the redbuds were in full bloom. We did travel to Transylvania and took the tour of Bran Castle. We also toured Peles Castle, and visited a winery in Azuga and had a fabulous dinner in their wine cellar.  It sounds as if you are very content living there. Bucura?i-v? de!

Dorothy Fowler (Montgomery)

I never thought of the drama/speech kids as being wild either. We were all very fortunate to grow up at the time we did and where we did. We really did not have a worry in the world. Our world's basically were home/family, church, and school. I always remember the Fun Club at the Garden Oaks Theater when I was really young and then came Tradewinds Roller Rink in my teens. I have very fond memories of growing up in Oak Forest.

Roger Felton

Right on, Dorothy!  Great memories.  It was a great time to grow up and care more about learning than what brand of tennis shoes I was wearing or if the holes in my bluejeans were big enough.

If I had it to do over I'd probably do the Drama gig.  But back then with two sisters I had about all the drama I could handle, lol.  But I'd sure would have loved to party with you guys!

Carolyn Johnson (Blake)

Very nice photos Jan. Thank you. Yes, I am content here. If Romanian immigration will let me, I plan to stay indefinitely. If I can get one more 2 year visa, I am home free because after 5 successive years without leaving, I can apply for dual citizenship. There is only one small catch, I have to speak, read, and write Romanian. But I am working diligently. If I have a duel citizenship then this visa drama will stop and I can also buy a house. When do you next plan to visit Europe? And where?

Jan Barnes (Nimtz)

Carolyn, it sounds like you have a game plan for staying put in Romania.  I admire you for that.  I broke my leg (femur, with hip envolvement) five months ago and am still dealing with mobility issues.  We cancelled two planned trips for this past November (Canada) and last month (UK) due to my inability to walk well enough to keep up with group travelers.  We are currently testing the waters by taking road trips throughout the US.  But we're hoping that I will be back to normal by the end of this year and will take another Rhine small ship cruise from the Netherlands to Switzerland.

Do you ever have anyone visit you in Romania?  Children?  Or how often do you come back to visit the US?

Dorothy Fowler (Montgomery)

Caroloyn, it sounds as though you have ofund your niche in life. I enjoyed reading about your life in Romania. It is so interesting where life has taken all of us. I have lived in Alabama and Washington state but am now retired and living back in Houston. My husband and I worked for a large engineering company for many years. Bob passed away in 2008.

Dorothy Fowler (Montgomery)

Mary Holland Watson, I really enjoyed reading your commentary and enjoyed all your pictures. I was amused by such a shy girl putting herself out there. Way to go!

Bernard Brady

I have an interesting story about visiting Garner State Park with  my family when I was 13. My younger brother Jeff and I were sharing a tent right by the river and when I awoke on my back  and opened my eyes, there was a nice-sized tarantula spider sitting on my chest looking at me. I flicked him to the tent floor and squashed him with my shoe.  My brother went and got a park ranger to look at it and he said "you didn't have to kill him, he wasn't poisonous". I told him that I was sorry, I did not take the time to check....

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

I wish my father would have wanted to take us to a state park when everyone was going on spring break and vacation.  All I knew was how to race a sailboat to his standards.   I see children today with their grandparents and regardless of what they are doing together, at least they are being kept out of trouble and I'm always surprised at the "great manners" they have been taught.

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

Thank you Linda Jennings for letting us know at least where it will be.  I wonder if there will be hotel rates discounted for our reunion???  I'm retired and any cost savings I can do helps me out tremendously.  I may try to make advanced reservations and if we do get a cost cut for the reunion, I'll just rebook it.  Thank you again for your giving us the advanced notification. ......Joanna

Carla Elizabeth Westmoreland (McCurley)

Ok heres the deal.  What happened in Drama stays in Drama.  The reason no one outside our group knew who we really were was due to our loyalty to our Drama Club and in some cases the fantastic use of our craft!!

See you in August!
 

Ingrid Sears (Spiteri)

Love your  response Carla. 

Roger Felton

Yeah Carla, I heard rumors about you guys in Drama Club but never could validate any of it.  If we had cell phones back then ya'll woulda been toast. But, I guess after 50 years the secret is safe forever.  I shoulda taken Drama instead of joining the Slide Rule Club. The only thing I learned about slide rules was they made good back scratchers. Drama would have prepared me better.  You wouldn't believe the drama that happens at a radio station...but I ain't tellin' unless you're buying the beer. 

Steven Jay Stoneburner

Why do you think is is called Drama

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

As an FYI to any out of town classmates, I got my room at the Four Points Sheraton through Travelosity for $71.90/night.  It is almost walking distance to the City Centre.  

Anita Marbury (Marbury)

I've sent my registration form in to Suzie May.

Have you posted yours?

I'm so ready to see you and catch up. I look forward to a wonderful weekend, laughing, photos, and what do you mean You came to Durango and didn't call me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See you in August.

Sweetie