Dowell School Memories

It's one fine country morning here. Sue the dog and I just made a trip to the Hobbs Cemetery to fulfill some requests for Find A Grave. Early morning is the best time of the day, especially if you're not having to hurry off to work.

The cemetery always reminds me of why I love living out here. When I was a kid, I thought we owned the world. Our family gravestone is right at the front, which made the place ours in my mind. We had a great big farm that I had no idea had boundaries, and there was always talk of Big Daddy, as my late grandfather Les Templeton was referred to when I was a child. He was an icon in my life, this man I never met, and everything that Hobbs stood for to me. Just because he bought a farm back in 1941, I have been allowed to live in a community that feels like an extension of my yard. I mean, I just went to the graveyard in my pajamas and thought nothing of it, except that it was a luxury. It seems like a perfect opportunity to say: "You might be a redneck if you've ever...".

On to today's photo. I read an article this week in Texas Co-op Magazine entitled Never Fade Away by Harry Noble. It's about Noble's autograph book from his school days in Rosevine, TX circa 1939. The picture I've posted is of a similar autograph book belonging to my aunt Imogene. When we came across it we wondered what it was about, whether it marked an occasion or if it was a fad of the day.

Documentation in the book indicates the most of the autographs were collected at Dowell High School from December 1936 to April 1937. One or two were gathered in Hamlin. Such clever and witty people! One says "When you grow old and wear patched pants (could she have meant britches? Or maybe that was the joke, to say pants instead of britches), think of me between the stitches (Juanita Cooper)", and another quotes "When you are old and have snuff on your chin, think of me and lick it in (Ruth)". One wishes Imogene a happy married life, so I went back and found that she was married in April of 1937.

Since my aunt went to the trouble to list her classmates and teachers, I am going to also list them here.

Classmates: Pauline Levens, Vesta Merlyle Barker, Norma Aleen Coan, Jesalea Aken, Juanita Cooper, Aileen Hodo, Birtie Belle McCright, La Merle McCright, Elizabeth Winzer, Mae Dene Eaton, Estellene Hodo, Melvin Clements, Harold Aken, James Winzer, Welton Jameson, Buddy Levens, Merril Eaton, Odell Finch, Leroy Eaton, Bessie Phillips, Preston McCleskey, Paul Cooper, Ozelle McKay, Ruth Watley, Nadine Hodo, also the Maxines, Maxine Calwell, Maxine Compton (that is how they are referred to in the book, as the Maxines).

Teachers: Mr. Charles, Miss Hancock, Mr. Martin, Mrs. Foreman, Mrs. Collinsworth, Mrs. Murff and Miss House.

Dowell, according to the Handbook of Texas Online, was located four miles northwest of Rotan. The school was combined with Rotan in 1946-47.