Killeen High School - Kangaroo Yearbook (Killeen, TX)

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ALMA MATifg Wesahite our Alma Maki And our own Maroon and White Wftth that good old Killeen spirit And thar good oUKilleen fight. We Hill aKByswk together. Though we iiiin or Thought lose. And wed raise d ioes ever To the Kangaroos. Compflm h Student CouncMTtTi Marshall Riemenschneider and Marcia Garris discuss pic- tures, during the quest for old photographs this summer. Making a joyful noise unto the heavens has always been a favorite occupation with Killeenites, as shown by the 1924 Choral Club. Victor Malone and Peter Steinig prepare for a demonstra- tion of the 1981 Varsity Band talents at a parade in downtown Killeen. An early version of the Maroon Marsupial Marching Marauders. The Alma Mater has changed over the years since the original was written by Marshall Riemenschneider and Barney Barrows in 1950, but it has one special meaning to hundreds of KHS alumuni: PRIDE. An unchanging ceremony in the American life-style, parades enlivened rural activities, even if only for a few hours. HISTORY— 21

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We Salute . . . The faint ghostly strains of music drift in, and overshadow the ennpty band hall. Eyes unac- customed to the soft darkness dimly perceive vanishing shapes. Ears recognize the music— the Alma Mater. The music was written by Marshall Riemenschneider, the Fort Hood band director, in 1950. The original words were written by Barney Barrows, school officer of the Fort Hood Indepen- dent School District. Barrows more or less ordered Riemenschneider to compose the melody. As Barrows was a S.M.U. fan, he wanted the melody to have a tinge of the SMU Alma Mater and Riemenschneider obliged. When Killeen and Fort Hood consolidated, Fort Hood gave up its school colors, green and white and the mascot in order to keep the school alma mater. The words have changed, but the spirit is the same. The music lingers long after the last student has put away his instrument and the last light has been turned off. After each echoing foot-step has died out, the phantom players return to their own plane, back to their own past. Still, on warm sum- mer nights, in the midnight hours when the air is still, music and memories stir. 20 — HISTORY

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Growing to Meet the Need Like the old woman who lived in a shoe, Killeen had so many children it didn ' t know what to do except build. In the first 60 years of expansion, Killeen went through 5 school buildings to house its slowly growing population. The first, a one- room wooden structure, located near what is now Fourth and Avenue C, held the com- plete school; 20 students in all. In 1884, another, larger, school was built. This edifice was also of wood and painted red. Three years later, however, it was destroyed by a tornado. The third learning facility was built on Avenue D, and remained in use for 15 years. In 1902, on a different site on Avenue D, the fourth school was created of red brick and white limestone facing. Considered a major architectural achievement, the 2 ' 72 story building had Roman arches, Greek col- umns, and a Moorish dome (later replaced by a bell tower) . This structure was ravaged by fire in 1923, and the remainder of the year was finished out in various churches. The fifth school opened its doors in 1925 and still there, across from the Santa Fe railroad station and Avenue D Elementary, although no longer in use as a school. The year 1943 saw a huge leap in the growth of Killeen. Camp Hood— and World War Two— had come to Texas. Killeen ' s population of just over 1200 shot up to over 7000, and the average number of students went from 500 to 1300. For the first time, it became necessary to separate primary, middle, and high schools. The high school remained on Avenue D, and the middle school moved to the newly constructed brick building at the corner of Rancier and 10th, in 1944. The high school took over this facility (now Rancier Middle School) five years later. Fort Hood schools consolidated in August of 1952 and a new school, the first one to be built exclusively for the high school, was located on Garth and Whitlow, and was occupied by 1955. Nine years later, in 1964, KHS moved to its present site on North 38th, and the former school became Fairway Middle School. Through all the uprootings, Killeen High School has kept up with its need and its spirit has multiplied along with its shoe. KlUEtM H»«« SCHOOL O ' i MfcjiiK KHS has been located at 500 North 38th street since 1964 Freddy Nichols, a 1980 graduate of KHS. demonstrates his Roo spirit. Nichols is now atten- ding S.M.U. 22 — HISTORY