Robert E Lee High School - Lee Traveler Yearbook (Baytown, TX)

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I'Ve Dedicate This Book: To The People . . . 18

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Fifty Years Of Excellence . Majestically settled on the north bank of Goose Creek. Robert E. Lee High School stands full in tradition and pride. After fifty years of existence. Lee has proved to be one of the highest institutions of learning in the state of Texas. Lee has surely produced “fifty years of excellence. Covering 2S3.S78 square feel. Robert E. Lee High School has become a home away from home for 15.537 students. The building houses 84 classrooms with 134 instructors and 25 administrative personnel. Students also have access to cooperative training programs, and Lee is known throughout the state for its program for the deaf. Many young students have walked through the halls of REL, and of these many have grown to successful and fulfilling lives. Behind these strong walls lies a history that only they can tell. The story began years before the great oil boom. A lone building with one school teacher served as the school for all students who wished to attend. Then, in 1917, the oil boom brought with it the need for a new school building and more instructors. A large warehouse served this purpose. It became a ten room school building. In 1921. the Goose Creek Independent School District was created under a special act of the Texas legislature. The first high school was housed in an old YMCA building on Pearce Street. A bond issue was passed in 1922 which relocated the high school to present day Horace Mann Junior School. When the bond issue of 1927 passed. REL High School was well on its way to becoming a reality. This issue raised S450.000. and these funds made it possible to being the construction of the new high school. The building, completed in the fall semester of 1929. cost $200,000. Instead of naming the school Baytown. Pclly. or Goose Creek, it was simply named after the famous southern general. Thus. Robert E. Lee High School was bom. From 1929-1930. W.R. Smith was acting principal with a staff of fifteen teachers. For the next 27 years. R.B. Sparks was principal. In 1959. Holly McLcmorc became principal, and Mr. Henry Armstrong took over the position in 1963. The first football team of REL Ganders almost clinched the district title where the team was hopelessly but not ingloriously defeated by El Campo 14-0. Since that first Gander team at REL. the Gander football team has become known throughout the region as a team who always gives its very best effort with pride and spirit. The all-girl pep squad for REL began in 1930 with Mrs. Margaret Elms, physical education teacher. The next year, drums and bugles were added and three years later the girls became known as the Lee Brigadiers. William L. Ward, one of the first teachers at REL. began a volunteer orchestra around 1931. In 1935. A.A. Davis founded the REL band and acted as director until 1942. This band has become nationally famous playing around the nation as a top ranked band. In its 50 years of operation, REL High School has contributed greatly to the academic and development of its students. Along with a well-rounded academic pro- gram. REL has a strong athletic department and stresses clubs and other extra curricu- lar activities. Robert E. Lee High School will always be remembered with pride and warmth. We've played here, we've worked here. and. most of all. we’ve learned here, story by: Joni McClellan Gander Gazette Editor 78-’79 Yesterday, Today, And Always

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Of Robert £ Lee . . V . . . A aT'l'y» ■ •• The school is loved and remembered by all its past students and faculty, but even the building remembers the people that have grown and ma- tured here. Robert E. Lee is much more than con- crete and slate. It is the development of young people, their ideas and their achievements The school stands for fifty years now. but what it '‘stands for“ is the meaning of this dedication. To you. and the many others who have shared happy moments among these walls, we dedicate this book because you have made Robert E. Lee what it is today.