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

Page 13 text:

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.

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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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GRADES 3-4-5 1903 - 1904: FRONT: Eunice Cavanaugh, Douglas Cavanaugh, Beaulah Myhand, Tibatha Ecker, Carrie Broussard, Irene Vatter, Dora Dane, Gussie Ecker, and Pearl Lyons. SECOND: Sylvia Cash, Mano Cash, Ernest Miller, Everett Grout, Madison Guillory, John Spearing, James Smith, Arthur Vatter, Orton Stewart, Detlef Bahnsen, and Willie Gabe Smith. THIRD: Edna Carroll, Nellie Datenhoff, Nettie Greenroad, Lockwood Williams, Gladys Bouchard, Claude Johnson, Irma Lock, Homer Mitchell, Ellen Bunch, Mary Jones and Clara Stine. BACK: Miss Lela Gray (teacher), Kenny Bunch, Eddie Hemingway, Bill Stine, Bertha Ferenbach, and Loula Hemingway. John Henry and Sam Paul Arnett in front of the house they lived in from 1906-1908 when they first moved to Westlake. It was located about where the present shell pile is found. BELOW; Mr. S.P. Arnett, Major James Wharton who taught at WHS until he entered the service in 1917, Mr. Bouchard, with the railroad, Mrs. Arnett, and Mrs. Wharton, also a teacher at WHS, formerly Marguerite Ware.