MY MEMORIES. . .
Playing at recess on the Tyrrell Elementary School playground with Karen Crumpler, Karen Sue Hetherwick, Irene Valdez, Donna Long, Dorothy Belisky...
Janis Joplin. Does anyone know where these people are? I lost track of most of my "early years" classmates. Janis' death was a monumental loss to all who knew her and loved her music.
Being taken to Mr. Spradley's (the principal) office with five of my friends because we decided we didn't want recess to end and we refused to go back to class...second grade, or was it the third?
Dancing for hours on end at the Beehive or at the Pleasure Pier Ball Room...listening to greats like Fats Domino and "upstarts" like Little Richard...Johnny and Edgar Winters...Janis...! Does anyone know what happened to the Beehive?
Riding the old wooden roller coaster at the Pleasure Pier.
Driving through the
refineries on the way to Sabine Pass. The original Texas Co. (later Texaco, now Star Enterprises) and Gulf Oil (now Clark) oil companies sit across the street from each other in Port Arthur. They were founded shortly after the first oil "gusher,"
Spindletop, came in. The term "gusher" was coined at Spindletop!
Listening to my favorite disc jockey,
Gordon Baxter! I was listening the day he caught alot of flack for playing "I Didn't Know The Gun Was Loaded" for all the pregnant women in Port Arthur! Can you believe that offended some people? Must have been the era! Gordon Baxter would also fly into the "eye" of any hurricane heading toward the Gulf Coast and report the findings! He was one of the first pilots I had heard of who would do this.
Watching Cowboy John, a local children's television show, one morning when all the kids started giggling...Cowboy John went up to one of the little girls and said, "What are you laughing at?" The little girl, still giggling, said, "Leroy farted." Cowboy John, embarrassed and caught off guard, quickly turned to the next child in the line-up and said, "What's your name?" The little boy looked up at Cowboy John and said, "Leroy!" This show was live and that night on national television, Chet Huntley ended his news program by saying, "And goodnight, Leroy, in Port Arthur!"
Parties and luncheons at
Rose Hill on Lake Shore Drive. R. H. Woodworth and his bride, Mary, hired J. H. Baxter of the Griffing Lumber Company to construct this classical revival mansion in 1906. Mr. Woodworth was an independent real estate dealer. Later he entered the banking business and served as Port Arthur's third mayor in 1902. Rose Hill was presented to Port Arthur in 1947 by Phebe Woodworth in accordance with her mother's wishes.
In the early 1900s, the owner of
Pompeian Villa, a beautiful home on Lake Shore Drive, traded the estate for 10% of the stock in the Texas Company. Pompeian Villa is now a museum.
Camp Waluta! (did I spell that right?)
Petticoats...many, many, many...all worn at once! Our skirts stood straight out.
The excitement of watching black and white television "all night long" while waiting for Hurricane Audrey to hit us the following morning! In those days television was on the air from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Having it available all night long was a treat! Audrey turned in the night and annihilated Cameron, Louisiana, a town across the lake (Sabine) from us. This event has been reported as one of the country's Great Disasters.
Watching ships move down the canal along Lakeshore Drive on their way to offload cargo; and seeing huge sections of various
oil rigs enroute to their designated drilling spots in the Gulf of Mexico.
Miles of giant Oleander bushes in full bloom creating a wall down Lakeshore Drive. The Oleander's were white and pink...five of each alternating...forming this beautiful living wall.
Watching JP "
The Big Bopper" Richardson D.J. at KPAC radio station on Proctor Street. My cousin, Jack Yeager, took me to see to him.
Refinery explosions!
Crabbin' at Pleasure Pier Island.
Shrimp boats...all the fried shrimp you could ever eat! Unquestionably the "Best Fried Shrimp" in the world. Crawfish...gumbo!
The Village Theater's roof caved in one night after a heavy rain. The film playing at the time and featured on the Marquee in front of the theater...THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING.
Refineries! At night, with all their lights, they look like huge cities! Of course, you can smell them for miles and miles. When the wind blows just right, however, the smell from the paper mill in Evadale will make you wish the smell of the refineries would return.
Making the Drag...down
Proctor Street...on Sunday! What a parade of cars!
Hanging out at Drake's Drive-In...before and after it relocated! Those were happy days, the days of carhops...great music!
Old Sarah Jane's Road...this is the place we would go late at night and talk about the legend of Sarah Jane and her family's tragic deaths...we spent hours there telling ghost stories and scaring ourselves to death.
McFadden's Beach...and tar all over us...
Riding the ferry boats to Galveston.
Candy Kane Lane...neighborhood Christmas Decorating was primo!
Halloween: Every year the Riggles (of Riggle & Pittman) served all the neighborhood kids grilled hot dogs, another neighbor handed out sodas, and Mr. Korf gave us a single-scoop ice cream cone...then with dinner out of the way, we were off trick-or-treating!
The CavOILcade Parade...still happening? Their slogan: We Oil The World!
The beautiful homes along Lakeshore Drive...Gates
Memorial Library...Woodrow Wilson Junior High School...all magnificant architecture!
The Yellow Jackets...Indians...Bulldogs...Bumblebees....some great football! Port Arthur, and surrounding area, produced some great athletes..."Babe" Zaharias,
Jimmy Johnson, Bum Phillips, Charles "Bubba" Smith, to name a few.
Steve McQueen, in his younger years, long before stardom, worked in a local brothel in Port Arthur as an errand boy.
The mothball fleet in Orange.
from Mike Soileau in Atlanta, TX
The video of old PA that Gary Jones sent in to the website was very cool!
LOST & FOUND- TJ '68 graduation ring
This man's ring was found in the Austin area. It has the initials DJT. Mike Soileau was wondering if it might be DAVID THERIOT's. I don't have a David Theriot on our class spreadsheet. Does anyone remember him?
45th CLASS REUNION
Our reunion will be coming up in 2013! When I make myself get started, I will contact you for updated information for my CLASS SPREADSHEET. You have to remember that the latest I have on MOST of you is from 2007 when we were planning the LAST reunion. I KNOW that many of you have quit or retired from your jobs since then. Some of you have moved closer to grandkids or downsized. MANY of you do not have LANDLINES any more and we will have a rough time "finding" you. Please make sure I get a cell # this time and updated e-mail addresses. I still have lots of JOB e-mail addresses. I hope you will be NICE to me when I contact you. Life is hard enough without your FRIENDS giving you grief!
SUPPORT
a note from Sandra Nicks Kelly
I would like to ask for prayer for my husband and myself. Steve has only half of his vision now due to what his doctor said was either a new stroke or a continuation of the one he had in December. So, God got us through the changes on the last one and he will get us through this one. But, it is getting really hard now. Love ya'll and love in God.
Sandra Nicks Kelly
235 Johnny Wike Road
Taylorsville, NC 28681
a note from Janice Hamilton Lee
Please remember my son, Jeff, in your prayers. Next month he has to have surgery in Houston to get a new pacemaker (his 4th) & possibly new leads. He had to get his first pacemaker when he was 12!
Janis Hamilton Lee
712 Little Jeff
Port Neches, TX 77651
Prayers needed for:
Fred Hollier's sister, Joanna Hollier Schmidthke '70. She is in need of a liver transplant.
Joanna Hollier Schmidthke
2212 Orchard
Port Arthur, TX 77640
a note from
Linda Yancey
(Please remember Linda's brother, Wilson, in your prayers)
Things did not go as planned. The esphougus was okay, but when the robotic arms was coming out between the lining and the lung it showed white pin dots on the lung. It is micrometastases so they did not do anything to the lung. He came home on Tuesday and is waiting on the oncologist to review genetics and another test. They also want him to heal before they start chemo. The lung was covered, before they came out they put talc powder between the lung and the lining to prevent any fluid build ip. The doctor explained that the micrometastases and the lining will irritate and that is how the fluid buildup starts. Thank God he does not have any fluid buildup. Now he has to go for a brain MRI next week.
I thought the petscan was the end all be all test but that has proving not to be all it was thought to be.
Linda Yancey
311
S. 6th St.
Nederland, TX 77627
linda.yancey@setworks.org
CONDOLENCES
Becky LeBlanc Robinson
(death of her mother, Mildred LeBlanc)
16471 Peoples Road
Conroe, TX 77384-4029
Linda Dowling Weldon
(death of her mother, Edna Mae Dowling)
405 Kirkwood
Port Neches, TX 77651
I rely on my classmates and friends to keep me posted on items for the SUPPORT and CONDOLENCE lists. Please don't assume that I know when someone needs prayers or a death occurs in our classmate families. I have also stopped getting the home delivery of the BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE newspaper. If I don't check the obituaries on the internet daily, I might miss someone. Help me out here friends. Thanks.
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I do hope to have more for you in the next NEWSLETTER in two weeks. I NEED YOUR INPUT.
Keep in touch and contact a classmate,
Linda DeCuir McFadden