Westlake High School - Ram Ler Yearbook (Westlake, LA)

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Mr. Lee Wing obtained a new bus and replaced Mr. Newell on the Lockport - Bayou D'Inde route. Mr. Smith and Mr. Wing continued to drive until 1942, when Mr. Smith retired and WHS got its first lady bus driver--Mrs. Mabel Carver. Mrs. Carver continued to drive until her retirement in 1959. During the war a third bus was obtained from the government and it was driven by one of the teachers who was paid by the parish to drive it. Today our bus fleet numbers 10 in the Westlake area. Those who drive for the high school are Mrs. Bernice Shipp, Mrs. Jane Gaines, Miss Sis Hawkins, Mr. R.D. Franklin, Brother C.D. Miles, Mr. Hardy Ellis, Mr. Doylin Kyle, Mrs. Bob Bowman, Mr. Bill Morgan, and Mr. Kilpatrick. G teat progress was made in 1936 when a new building was added to the WHS campus which boasted an auditor! um with a stage and a narrow balcony around three sides of the auditorium so that it could double as a gymnasium. The spectators at the basketball games stood around this balcony and cheered the Rams to victory. This building is known today as the Red Brick Building. The back and the front views of this structure are shown at the right and at the bottom of this page. In January of 1949 we moved into the present high school building. In 1952 the latest building to be added to our school plant was completed. It was called the Elementary Wing, but a part of it has been taken over by the high school, because of our rapid expansion. This building is shown above. A new elementary building was erected on Sampson Street in 1955 and Mr. W.J. Whiteard, a teacher at WHS, became its first principal. The school is called West-

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0 f all the names appearing in the list of principals mere is one which shines just a little brighter than the others. It is that of Mr. S. P. Arnett, who served from 1909 - 1922. He was instrumental in getting the wood-frame building replaced with a more modern brick structure. Also, he is credited with having founded the first high school in Westlake. The building pictured at the bottom of the facing page served the educational needs of the community until a new three story brick building was completed in 1914, the first of the permanent buildings still in use. It was constructed just south of the wooden building and is usually referred to as the yellow brick building, although it is actually made of red bricks which have since been painted. Upon completion of this fine new building the old wooden one was torn down and was used to build the Negro school called the Westlake Colored Elementary School on Harrison Street across from the Ram Stadium. The lumber must have been excellent, because the building is not only still standing, but is in use. Principal Arnett was most anxious to have the new building open as a high school rather than end with the seventh grade, because this would end the ferry rides across the river and the long walk to Lake Charles High, both of which were hardships, especially in cold rainy weather. It seems, however, that there was a regulation that there must be a minimum of 40 students enrolled in order for an institution of learning to be recognized as a high school. Consequently, Mr. Arnett spent many hours rounding up those who planned to continue in Lake Charles and those who had quit at the end of the seventh grade and got them to agree to attend the new school if enough students could be obtained. When every conceivable possibility had been exhausted the total numbered only 38. A study was made of the records of the seventh grade students and the two smartest ones were promoted to raise the number to 40. Thus we became a high school in 1914. T ransportation was needed to get the students to and from school, so a team of horses was hitched to a covered wagon, as shown at the top of the facing page, and it made the rounds transporting a full load from Bagdad through Myrtle Springs over to Emile Guillory's house and on over to Westlake High. One such wagonette, as it was called was operated by Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Spearing. SAMUEL PAUL ARNETT In 1922 Mr. Clarence Sutherland bought a Ford, Model T , bus and drove it for two years to Gillis. In 1924 he got the contract to drive for Westlake High and, so the old horse drawn wagonette was retired. Mr, Sutherland drove for four years, covering the same area as the wagonette and, at the same time, Mr. Tom Newell drove a similar bus from Lockport and Bayou D’Inde to Westlake High. In 1928 Mr. George Smith got the contract with a larger bus more on the order of today’s models and replaced Mr. Sutherland. MR. CLARENCE SUTHERLAND AND THE MODEL T BUS

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WESTWOOD ELEMENTARY WESTERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY wood Elementary and Mr. Whiteard remained its principal until 1959 when a second school was built at 1100 Elizabeth Street called Western Heights Elementary. Mr. Whiteard moved over to the new school and Mr. Marion Benson, a social studies teacher from WHS, became principal at Westwood. At this writing, a new million dollar high school is being erected at the corner of Garden Drive and Guillory Street. It is planned that we shall move into it by the opening of school in August of 1966. w hen the depression came, after the market crash of 1929, many people were hard-pressed to keep their families fed. It soon became apparent that some of the children were going hungry, because they came to school without lunches. Mrs. Harry Shattuck, Mrs. Anna Oliver Barrow, Mrs. Ellen Mims, and Mrs. Dye approached the local grocers (primarily Anderson's Grocery, K M Grocery, and Merle Ravia's Grocery,) and obtained donations of soup bones, stew meat and vegetables which were taken to the home of Mrs. Bailey Coleman who cooked the food into a stew or soup for a fee of $2.50 a week. Mrs. Gus Mack talked Kelly-Weber out of potatoes and onions. Borden’s donated some milk and the Butter Nut Bakery gave bread and this food was served free to those children who had nothing. Mrs. Gus Anderson brought the prepared food from Mrs. Coleman's kitchen to the school and Brother Carpenter, the Baptist preacher, managed for some tables and benches to serve these children on. On Fridays, Mrs. Mack made gingerbread to serve to these children as a treat. All of these people worked at obtaining the food and serving the children with no pay. Eventually the lower south side of the yellow brick building was set aside for preparing the food and serving the students. It was called the soup kitchen. The first stove was a kerosene one, and the workers began to be paid for their services. In 1933 Mantie Goss, Marguerite Gibson, and Thelma Ousley were each paid $1.50 a week. Later in the thirties Mrs. Mabel Carver and Mrs. Wetzel helped with the project. In the fall of 1942 Mrs. T.L. Gilchrist and her sister Mrs. Bickham were hired as managers of the kitchen. They worked for two years and Mrs. Thelma Hawkins took the job as manager at a beginning salary of $3.00 a week in 1944 and worked for fifteen years until her retirement in 1958. Mrs. Vera Barrentine joined Mrs. Hawkins' work force in 1950 and became manager upon Mrs. Hawkins' retirement. We're happy to report that Mrs. Barrentine is still with us in a modern kitchen and a beautiful dining room. T he oldest PTA in Calcasieu Parish is boasted by Westlake High School. The organizational meeting was held in the old frame Baptist church, because it had a bigger area in which to meet. There was no auditorium in the old school building when this PTA unit was organized in 1909. Mrs. Gandy was elected the first president. In later years the PTA became inactive for a few years, but was reorganized in 1922 when Mrs. T.S. Megason was elected president. She served for several terms. Others who have served as president of the organization are: Mrs. Mabel Carver, Mrs. William Ripley, Mrs. T.S. Miller, Mrs. Lynn Owens, Mrs. Herman Fleming, Mrs. Helen Rue, Mrs. L.A. Morrison, Mrs. Robert Ratliff, Mrs. Walter Lof-tin, Mrs. A.J. Hannan, Mrs. I.O. Bible, Mrs. L.L. Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Chester Fronczek, Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Guillory, Maurice Burns. Pat Tackle, and Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Johnson. There are others, but we were unable to dig up the information.