Tecumseh High School - Savage Yearbook (Tecumseh, OK)

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THS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OBSERVES ITS 73RD REUNION IN 1976 TECUM SEH High School is unique among all high schools in Oklahoma. It has the oldest active alumni asso- ciation in the state, and possibly the entire Southwest. More than 2,755 graduates belong to the unusual group. About 175 alumni members are now deceas- ed. The idea of forming an alumni group came in the fall of 1903, and in the spring of 1904, a Miss King issued a hand-written invitation to the four seniors graduating that year. Through through four wars and a depression the THS Alumni Association has met from its birth to the present. Early teachers Lola Durham and Helen C. Tay- lor help keep the infant association going. Others who assisted were Emmett Klapp, retired druggest now living in Tecumseh; his brother, John, living also in Tecumseh, and Mrs. Mittie Cotten Sweet, of National City, Calif. The first alumni meetings were held in private homes. Among those first hosting the event were Mrs. Mayme Henderson Newell and Mrs. Bessie Dic- kerson Clark, both deceased. As membership gained, site of the gatherings moved to the Opera House, where 5-Star Milling Company is now located. The last Saturday of each May, THS Alumni members single and renew old friendships at City Hall. ASSOCIATION IS . . . Photo Above shows part of the huge crowd that attended the Bicentennial Alumni Banquet. Below, three women who have served as Alumni Association presidents the past three years pose for the yearbook cameraman. Left To Right are Jerri Robinson Wolfinbarger, Peggy Harwell and Sharyl Tarbox Patten. Roy K. Tor Hays was elected president for 1976-77. (Continued on Next Page) The last Saturday of each May, THS Alumni members mingle and renew old friendships at City Hall. Above are some seniors of the historic 1976 class of Tecumseh High School. It appears they're having a good time and will attend again.

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EDUCATION, TECUMSEH’S BIGGEST BUSINESS Education in Tecumseh dates back to the spring of 1892. Then Miss Lela Henry brought 32 pupils together, set them on box seats and started the first teaching of funda- mentals in Tecumseh. For $3.00 a month she rented a frame building on West Main Street, near the present football field. Her pupils paid $1.50 a month tuition. Pupils gathered their ABC's from whatever books mother and father had saved. Early summer heat soon ended this first school. By the fall of 1893, Tecumseh had grown immensely in popula- tion. A new high school was built where Krouch School now is. It burned to the ground a few years later, and another magnificent three-story high school was built on the same site. It too, burned Feb. 10th in 1916. The present temporary high school was quickly erected in 1916 by the same architect who designed the Oklahoma State Capitol. Barnard Elementary School, built in 1909, is the oldest struc- ture still used. Two modem additions were built adjacent to LIST OF SUPERINTENDENTS 18 -1902 Mr. 1903-1908 Mr. 1909-1911 Mr. 1911-1913 Mr. 1913- 1914 Mr. 1914- 1914 Mr. George Patrick Virgil H. Durham Payne Harry Hooper Richards Clarence Robinson (one semester) 1914-1915 Mrs. Lola Durham (one semester) 1915-1917 Mr. H.L. Allen 1917- 1918 Mr. B.A. Bridgewater 1918- 1919 Mr. E. L. Bryant Tecumseh High School today. The new portion of the school, built in 1963, is in the foreground. Also as part of the school complex is a new gymnasium considered the finest in Pottawatomie County and Central Oklahoma. The county tournament is played at Tecumseh. it in the 1960's. Krouch Elementary School was built in 1961. The Junior High School was built in the 1960's, as well as the new part of THS, completed in 1963. Recently, the forward-looking Tecumseh School Board purchased a substantial number of acres for a new high school complex to be built north of the new Tecumseh City Park area. Farris E. Willingham, who came from Francis School District in Pontotoc County, served longer than any other superintendent, from 1927 to 1955. He was suc- ceeded by Ralph Spencer, who resigned to become Pottawatomie County Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Alva Melot succeeded James K. Krouch in 1967 and is presently superintendent. Dean of the THS faculty is Miss Helen C. Taylor. She served 51 years as a teacher and princi- pal, before retiring in 1959. She 1919- 1920 Mr. L.P. Evans 1920- 1925 Mr. G.S. Dowell 1925-1925 Mr. Luther Mays (one semester) 1925- 1926 Mr. R.L. Clayton 1926- 1927 Mr. A.W. Dagley 1927- 1955 Mr. F.E. Willingham 1955-1961 Mr. Ralph Spencer 1961-1967 Mr. James K. Krouch 1967- Mr. Alva Melot Present lives now in a Shawnee nursing home. Education is Tecumseh's lar- gest business. Since the 1890's, kind and generous citizens, who put civic pride and community pro- gress above the emoluments of personal credit or material gain, have fortified the physical struc- tures of Tecumseh Schools. Educa- tion is rich in this communitv. The fabric of school social re- lations has the pattern of mutual concert extending the length and breath of the Tecumseh School District. Supt. H.L. Allen as he looked in the first THS yearbook-- The Black and Gold --in 1915. He also was principal, band director, and coach of football, basketball, track and taught physics.

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OKLAHOMA’S OLDEST ALUMNI GROUP IN 1916, with the completion of the temporary new high school, still here, the alumni held its banquets there until 1937. Since then, banquets are held in Tecumseh's Municipal Auditor- ium, built for $50,000 in 1937. An alumni business meeting is held at the high school each year. Officers meet numerous times throughout the year to plan each banquet. In 1975 the association formed the Century Club. Its sole pur- pose is to solicit $10 from alumni members to help finance operating costs of the group. Biggest over- head is printing the annual news- paper, The Tecumseh Alumni News, a 10-page paper devoted to pictures and news about members. It is mailed free to members whose current address is on file at alumni headquarters. This Bicentennial year, more than 400 alumni celebrated the as- sociation's 73rd consecutive alumni banquet. Dr. Ruby Drinkwater Gar- trell was toastmistress. The objective and purpose of the THS Alumni Association is: To keep alive and perpetuate the school spirit of Tecumseh High School; to renew and enjoy school associations, and to otherwise aid and promote the best interests of Tecumseh High School and the general membership of the As- sociation. F.E. Willingham, Left, beloved former THS coach, principal and longtime superintendent, presents Charles Ham Robertson, alumni historian, with award. Dolly Hendry, THS class of 1898, is oldest living graduate. Recent '76 graduates Sandy Whitehead and Kim Hulin, Candystripe workers, comfort her at local nursing home. Vitae Werrell Bell '24, is pictured with her husband, Newton, at '76 banquet. Vitae has not missed a banquet--attended her 52nd this year. Former teacher and principal of THS, Helen C. Taylor, is now confined to wheel chair in Shaw- nee nursing home. She is loved by hundreds of alumni. Miss Mittie Cotten Sweet as a senior class sponsor in 1922, received handwritten invitation, Right, to first Alumni Banquet in 1904. FIRST ALUMNI BANQUET INVITATION fe. fra , I 7' 7) s