Electra High School - Bengal Yearbook (Electra, TX)

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4 ' 4 W 1' - 7 0 l .' fs 'Grp . ' I giving advice to the love lorn. She told us about some of her 1-atest customers: Bobby Holcomb mar- ried Stud all right, but two roll- ing pins were in the shower, so that didn't last long. Doris Mac Hustead came to her regularly for advice and so far had kept the home fires burning. Thelma Jean Matthews finally made up her mind twith Joanfs helpj as to which Rapp' it should be - - - Elvon or Jimmy. W. M. Austin, heavyweight prize fighter, was taking dodging lessons, to dodge the rolling pins, glasses, vases, etc., thrown by his charming wife, Doris Green Austin. Joan's business was really so thriving that she had hired two expert typists - - Nita Boutwell and Josephine Adkins, who had to hold jobs because they couldn't hold their men fGet it?J. We were glad to see in the Pumpkin Center Gazette that S. E. Williams had become an important man in the business world, and that Della Ashmon, jilted by her fiance, had dedicated her life work to helping those who could not help themselves. She was a special nurse in the baby ward at St. Paul Hospital. Also we saw notice of the gubernatorial campaign - - - Hazel Weston, who was quiet as a mouse in school, was nofw making herself heard over the radio. Then we started back to Electra in a transcontinental airplane, piloted by. Vernon Rasner. His wife, Mary Ruth Palmer, was also on the plane, because she just couldn't stand to be away from dear Vernon. And one of our fellow passengers, who also was return- ing back to the old home town, was James Payton, a pianist in Carnegie Hall in New York City. He accompanied the great mezzo- soprano - - Marie Smith. He told us that he was going home to ask Oleta Langley, head of the history department at E. H. S., to marry him. Back at Electra we learned .- W.. ., mein A,,..1...... ,44..-.-Ll.d-..,A... - about the remaining seniors. Onone side of town Clovis Smith preached regularly: on the other he owned the Land Mark, where he made dough by hook or crook . Among his dancers were found Mildred Davenport, Dollie Garner, Ione Collins, Donnie Cato, Marcella Bruce, and Mary Schmelzer, the latter three being accomplished toe dancers. Homer Tyler and Ver- nice Welborn were partners in a law firm in Harrold. Raymond Edwards was a professional gigolo who escorted dateless women to the many social func- tions of Electra. Billy McHugh and Sunny Porter took turn about leading an orchestra which traveled over the country. While one danced with pretty blondes, the other took over, and vice versa. Bob Porter, owner of a large racing stable, had accumulated quite a fortune and set the social standards of the city: Audrey King, hfs wife, took great pride in her beautiful home and her collections of art. The mayor of Electra was George Reich who decided that poultry business did not pay. His fiancee, Geraldine Atchley, was in part responsible for his success. Frances Parsons, sweetheart of the Class of '39, had just won a bathing beauty contest and a trip to the big city - - New York, but her husband, Hoytt Jones, wouldn't let her go because he was afraid one of those city slickers would get her. President of the D. I. D. Club was Iantha Morrow, and leading members were: Lois Davis, Cath- rine Powell, and Lela Eggenberg. These smart girls never married. I might add, D. I. D. stands for Decency in Dress. Elza East became maid for Mr. and Mrs. Marsh, and Bobby Proud was the nursemaid for Minnie Earl's favorite poodle. Red Jor- dan was the private tutor for Au- brey McAllister who was struggl- ing to get a Ph. D. from Harvard. Then at a carnival, we saw Betty Jo Rose, regional champ in extem- poraneous speaking: she was bark- ing lustily. Phillis Knight, the ten- nis demon, was a famous trapeze Her colleague was J. performer. M. Spikes. After the show we were surprised to see Delphia Pointer walk off with the wild man from Borneo: then we recognized him, Claude McDonald Qmaybe it was the black hair that disguised him sol. You wouldn't imagine it, but Joy Low was dancing teacher in the Knickerbocker Studios in Wich- ita. Raymond Collins was the big- gest crimin-al lawyer in the racket at K. M. A. Leota Oden, volley hall star of '38 had gone to Holly- wood, where she earned a nice salary telling Hedy Lamarr and Loretta Young how to keep slender on a diet of corn bread and water. Wilma Stanley was in the secret service Cfcould she keep a secret'!l and had man'ied - - Then the vision faded: the crystal was clear again. But this can't be true! we exclaimed. ...,....... . Perhaps not, but who knows? With sincerest apologies to the Senior Class of 1939. Betty Jane low Betty Jo Rose

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Whether or not there are people who can predict the future is a much disputed question. Neverthe- less, several days ago Betty Jo Rose and I decided to have some fun. The crystal gazer to whom we went fhis name was Senor Figaro Figaroj performed all sorts of mysterious ceremonies, and after some time I asked him if he could see the Senior Class of 1939 in the future. He searched the crystal furtively and finally muttered in a broken dialect, Ah! I see the Senior Class of 1939 receiving their diplomas at the Electra High School. Now they have parted, and I see them separately and in smal- ler groups. Come with me! We shall visit the 1939 seniors who an scattered out over the world. Then Betty Jo and I gazed into the crystal and, as a moving pic- ture, saw ourselves meeting the seniors again. The first person we met was Rachel Douglas, who truly became the outstanding enter- tainer at the 1949 World's Fair. Her vocation had put 3 feather in her cap for rather, handl she was a fan dancer! Yes, she was still a Miss - - still waiting for Bryce to secure that coveted promotion from curb-hopper to soda-skeet. Next we found ourselves on a huge ranch in New Mexico. Ride 'em, Cowboy Joe- Can you guess his last name? Ligon! much to our surprise we learned that Britton Ancell had not become a rancherg it was Stewart Weaver instead, who had had a Dutchm-an's hair- cut, because it was so much trouble to keep the wave in it the other way. Britton was a hairdresser for an elite beauty shop in Dallas, where he was known as Monsieur Afhjncellf' 'Our trip now skipped to New York City, where we found the mighty Cummins leading an orch- estra in the Waldorf-Astoria. His featured blues singer was Myrle Tippie. Lucky New York had rc- ceivcd many of our 1939 seniors. l A l ri-Hs-f ev-fr- SENIQI2 CLASS PRCDPI-IECY There was Jewell Trout, reporter for the New York Times, and her fiance, Dick Flusche, designer of clothes for children. Co-starring in How Much I Love Thee were Beulah Jeffers and Edward Holder, we learned it was to be pre- sented in Electra at the Grand on April 12 and that Electrans were very proud of their home town actor and actress. Famous models were Dorris Sargent and Punkie Bryant who modeled for an artist who loved his work, Eugene Walker. Larry Chaffee, class Pres- ident of 1939, a famous detective, had never been able to discover where his charming wife, the former Juanita Yates, went when he was not at home. The first tsep to success, Larry, begins in the home, we wanted to remind him. We could not resist the circus at Madison Square Garden, and what sights we did see! Eloise Nevill and Beth Weatherall were running a race to see who could weigh the most. An-cl for being fat, they were drawing fat wages. Violet Wilson, after a four year college education Cshe majored in costume designingl secured a job that gave her great possibilities for the fu- ture and one which she liked most, a job in the side shows, singing and dancing - - Hawaiian style! Then we saw Jack Adams and Warren Flippin who have a part- nership: Jack stands outside a cage to shoot, while Warren enters it to feed the lions. Who should we see at the circus but Leroy Baker, out for some fun! He won a race and S100,000 at the same time: so now he was coasting. A special treat at the show was the ice perfor- mance with Milton Henderson, Betty Jane Low, and Bessie Pearl Parks, known to all as fancy fig- ure skaters. The scene changed and we on our way back to first stop was where the little Charles Birkhead of tablished as Secretary of State of the United States - - a very prom- inent person indeed! His quiet and unassuming wife, Kathleen White- side was exceedingly proud of her famous husband. Also in Washing- ton was Betty Slaton, a perfect little homemaker, so her husband said - - though she had to break a home to get him. From Betty We learned that La Roy Durham was selling patent medicine at a med- icine show and that Vivian Leach, his co-worker, took the medicine before the audience to prove that it would not kill them. And we were informed that Earl Childress, whose brain was always too busy to be at the head of anything but a bed, was a well-known political boss. Again we boarded the train and moved forward, and on a huge billboard we saw that Bring 'em back alive Hazel Bickley was famous and was getting ready for the preview of her new picture, Nine Years in the Jungle . Inter- esting, no doubt! One of our fellow passengers was Hollis Cole, who had finally given up trying to charm women and had taken up snake charming instead. He said it wasn1't nearly so dangerous. The news butch was none other than Joe King, who had courted Patsy Jennings for eight gears. Just about the time Joe got up courage to ask her to marry him, Patsy lost her job. Ho-hum, better luck next time, Joe! At one small town, where the train stopped for water, we noticed an organ-grinder, pa- fading UP and down, playing. 0 Sofe Mio with a group of neigh- borhood children folliwing. Imag- ine our surprise when we saw that it was the Peruna fan of 1939 - - Chicken Hall. At Richmond we found Joan Hall waited eight years for Curtis get his degree in medicine, but the meantime he had married his Juanita Davis, and Joan up quiet a reputation for

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