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The Robert E. Lee Elementary School
1912-1957
For
forty-five years the Robert E. Lee School has operated as an
elementary school. During this time many changes have occurred
in the building, in the curriculum, in techniques of teaching,
and in the environment of the school itself. These changes are
described in this portion of the study of the history of the
Robert E. Lee School.
Fundamental
environmental changes had occurred since the school was first
organized in 1884. In 1880 the population of Denton was 1,194
and by 1890 it had more than doubled, being 2,558. By 1900 there
were 4,187 people living in the town, and by 1910 there were
4,732 inhabitants. In 1880, the major portion of the population
lived close to the public square and branching out along the
major streets of Hickory, Oak, Locust, and Elm. The first public
school was within easy walking distance for most of the pupils
living within the town.
In
1890 a private college was established out beyond the line of
population in West Denton, and in 1900 the college was taken
over by the State and became a teacher-training institution.
A shift in the population followed the organization of this school
and many homes were built nearby. In 1903 still another State
college came to the town, this one being at that time the College
of Industrial Arts and located about as far northeast of the
square as the other college was west of it. Once again, the population
shifted, this time to the northeast.
These
two great State institutions brought many new people to the town.
Families moved to Denton so that their children might have the
advantages of a college education, and instructors in the schools
also settled near the colleges. In the meantime industry had
moved closer and closer to the Robert E. Lee School campus. Business
houses had filled up the spaces around the square and spilled
over into the areas surrounding the school. The Stonewall Jackson
and the Sam Houston ward schools, being located in residential
areas, in a sense had some advantages of location. With many
distractions surrounding the school campus, the Robert E. Lee
School faced many problems if the school was not to follow many
of the schools in the larger cities which had found themselves
caught in the vortex of surrounding industry.
The
Robert E. Lee School, too, still had a much larger school population
than the other ward schools. In 1911, there were 457 elementary
pupils in the school, and in 1913 this number has increased until
there were 502 pupils as against 435 for both ward schools combined
in 1911 and 508 in 1913.
These
were some of the problems confronting the leadership of the school.
The school campus was directly in the path of foot traffic between
the industrial district and the town, there were more students
in proportion to other areas, and streets to the school were
more congested, especially with the coming of automobile traffic.
J.
E. Parks, graduate of the Normal College in 1909, became principal
of the Robert E. Lee School in 1912, the first year of its existence
as an elementary school alone, and remained in this position
until 1919. He left Denton to become principal of the Alamo School
in Wichita Falls, where he taught until ill health caused him
to retire.
Professor
Parks had many progressive ideas. While he was principal of the
Robert E. Lee School he established a school lunch room, using
the auditorium as kitchen and dining room combined. He enlisted
the aid of the Mothers' Club in the project and with some borrowed
equipment a hot lunch program was started. Mrs. Billie Woods
recalls that the first hot lunches were prepared and served at
the Lee school by mothers active in the organization of the Mothers'
Club, two of whom she remembers as being Mrs. Emma Belle Lipscomb
and Mrs. Walter Kimbrough. The lunches consisted of home- made
chili and crackers one day and beef snip the next. The price
of each was five cents. Some of the mothers would go down and
start cooking about 10 o'clock in the morning. The money taken
in each day was used in buying supplies for the next day's lunch.
So
far as can be learned, the hot lunch program at the Robert E.
Lee School was the first one served in any Denton school. After
he began teaching in Wichita Falls, Mr. Parks started the first
school-lunch program in that city.
The
school was badly in need of equipment because finances were inadequate
at the time of its construction. The Mothers' Club was very active
in many activities, seeking to raise money for purchase of the
needed equipment. Mrs. Woods recalls that after the advent of
motion pictures the mothers conceived a plan of buying a motion
picture ma6ine, showing pictures in the auditorium, and using
the proceeds for needed improvements. The machine, however, was
never used; on its arrival it was found that the Club had to
be responsible for any damage incurred in its usage. In the words
of Mrs. Woods "we had teen-agers then as now, and our school
fire was still in our memory." The machine was never set
up and the mothers were glad to get it back to Dallas.
Many
improvements, however, can be credited to the Mothers' Club.
Shrubs were planted on the school campus and playground equipment
bought. Sometime during the time when Mr. Parks was principal,
the Mothers' Club became the Parent-Teacher Association. In 1910
Dr. A. Caswell Ellis of the University of Texas came to Denton
and was instrumental in the organization of a Denton School Improvement
Club at each of the three ward schools.(1) These organizations
were popularly called "Mothers' Clubs." Later, after
the Parent-Teachers Association organizations were developed,
the first District Convention of this Association was held in
the Robert E. Lee School auditorium and after this time, in the
words of Mrs. Woods, "We were Parent-Teacher Associations."(2)
Fathers were also recognized as parents after this.
A.
0. Calhoun replaced Mr. Parks as principal when the latter resigned
to accept a place as Principal in the Wichita Falls schools.
Mr. Calhoun held a Bachelor of Science degree from what was then
North Texas Teachers College and later he attended Columbia University
where he received a Master of Science degree. After four and
one-half months as principal of the Lee school, Mr. Calhoun went
to senior high school in Denton as principal and remained there
until his retirement in 1956. "Prof" as he was familiarly
called, is one of the best-loved school teachers of the area.
A
Professor Smith succeeded Mr. Calhoun as principal of the Robert
E. Lee School in the spring session of 1920. He remained only
for the half-session, and little information is available concerning
his background or training.
W.
A. Combest, former principal of the Stonewall Jackson ward school
in Denton, succeeded Mr. Smith as principal of the Robert E.
Lee School and remained in this position until 1923 when he resigned
to become vice-principal of the Alexander Hogg School in Fort
Worth. Later, Mr. Combest was principal of the Denver Avenue
School in Fort Worth, which position he held until his retirement.
He held a Bachelor of Science degree from North Texas State Teachers
College.
Mr.
Combest was succeeded as principal at the Robert E. Lee School
by Mr. J. H. Davidson who held a Bachelor's Degree from North
Texas State Teachers College with additional study at The University
of Texas. During the time that Mr. Davidson was principal, 1923-1925,
the school suffered a serious setback. The heavy, two-story-,
and a basement, building began to slip on its foundations and
the building was eventually condemned as being dangerous for
use. Once again the children of the Robert E. Lee School had
to be scattered around over the area in any building available
for use. Mr. Davidson, in commenting on the situation, said he
had classes "all over town." Churches in the main were
utilized for classrooms. There
was much discussion concerning the building of another schoolhouse
at this location. The subsoil had been proven unstable. The first
schoolhouse, before it burned, had had to have its top story
removed in order to lighten the load or weight. The First Methodist
Church directly west of the Lee School had also encountered serious
difficulties and piers had to be sunk to strengthen the walls
of the building. At length it was determined to build just a
one-story building on the Lee school location. This type of building
is much used at the present, but at the time the new schoolhouse
was built at the Lee School it was an innovation. The building
is long, U-shaped, and has an eight to-ten foot solid foundation.
The building is now thirty-four years old and has experienced
not too much more difficulties than the average building over
a period of years.
Once
again the school administration was plagued with financial difficulties.
Funds were inadequate in furnishing the new building and only
the absolutely necessary equipment could be purchased. The school
building included a handsome auditorium with a stage but there
was no money for curtains or other equipment. Hot-lunch programs
were beginning to be used in the other schools - the one in the
Lee school had been discontinued after Mr. Parks resigned - but
although there was now room in the new building for a kitchen,
there was no money for the project The grounds were rough, there
was no fence, and traffic from the mill area still crossed the
grounds going to and from town. There was much that needed to
be done.
In
the fall of 1925 a new principal took up her duties at the Lee
school. She was Mrs. Clara Skiles, wife of Burney Skiles, and
one of the Perryman sisters who had given service to the schools
as teachers. She was the first and only woman principal of an
elementary school in the town. At the time she was principal
of the Lee School, Mrs. Skiles held a degree from North Texas
State Teachers College, and later took a Master's degree from
Columbia University and a Doctor's degree from New York University.
She served the Lee School as principal for two years. After leaving
New York, where Mr. Skiles did graduate work at New York University,
Mrs. Skiles taught at Pelham-Manor School from 1928 through 1931,
then at Flat Bush Teacher Training College from 1931 to 1935,
and since this time she has been an instructor in New York University.
Things
happened at the Lee School while Mrs. Skiles was principal. She
was not only an excellent school administrator, but she had a
great deal of initiative in improving the school environment.
There wasn't any money for a fence but the P-TA raised the money
through rummage sales, lee cream sales, and various types of
entertainments for an amaryllis hedge that was planted entirely
around the school grounds. This did not stop the foot traffic
across the grounds but it did serve somewhat as a deterrent.
Mrs.
J. L. Wright, whose husband was the Ford dealer in Denton at
that time and later mayor of the City of Denton, was typical
of the mothers who worked so faithfully at the school. A second-hand
stove was purchased for twelve dollars, and Mrs. Skiles took
the older boys and, supervising them, managed to get a ditch
dug for the gas pipes to where connections could be made with
the main gas lines at the curb. A small kitchen was set up in
the room that is now the teachers' lounge, and this, along with
the classrooms, was used for a dining room. Mrs. Mary Paschall
who as Miss Mary Fox had graduated from the school in past years,
managed the cafeteria. She was an excellent cook and the hot-lunch
program became one of the high spots of the school program.
The
merchants of the town were most helpful in giving encouragement
and aid to the groups working for school improvements. There
was no money for sidewalks and in muddy weather the red clay
sidewalks became quagmires. Different merchants in the town donated
money for a concrete block as a part of a sidewalk, and the names
of these merchants and the year of donation are still reminders
of all who walk along the south sidewalk bordering the grounds
of the generosity and interest of the merchants and business
men in the school. The merchants also made possible the purchase
of curtains and drapes for the auditorium stage. They contributed
advertising for the curtain and thus brought the cost within
the means of the Parent-Teacher Association.
Mrs.
Skiles initiated the popular entertainments and musical plays
which are still a part of the school program. One mother recalls
being present at one of these in 1926 when one of the girls in
the graduating class was crowned Queen of the festival. The mother
was so much impressed by the poise and performance of the little
girl that she asked the teacher for the name of the child. She
was told that the little girl was Clara Lou Sheridan, who later
took the name of Anne Sheridan, the actress.
When
Mrs. Skiles resigned to go to New York, Mr. A. L. Banks was elected
principal of the Robert E. Lee School. Like many of the early
teachers in the town, Mr. Banks was a highly trained professional
educator. He was the first graduate of Texas Agricultural and
Mechanical College and came to Texas State College for Women,
then College of Industrial Arts, in 1903 as one of the members
of the first faculty. He taught mathematics in this institution
for many years and resigned this post to become postmaster of
Denton. After his term of service as postmaster expired, he was
elected principal of the Lee School where he served until his
death in 1929 when he passed away on the way to school one morning.
Mr.
Banks was succeeded as principal of the Lee School by another
highly trained school executive. C. F. Walker, who had been superintendent
of schools at Henrietta, Texas, for many years had retired and
moved to Denton where his daughters, Miss Mamie Walker, and Mrs.
Come Walker Allen, were teaching in the colleges of the town.
When the vacancy occurred in the middle of the school term, Mr.
Walker volunteered his services and he served the Lee School
as principal from 1929 until his retirement in 1941.
Mr.
Walker had received his Bachelor's degree from Mississippi State
College, and later took special work in the University of Wisconsin
and at Southern Methodist University. As an administrator, he
was strongly in favor of the "Three R's" and pupils
who were fortunate enough to learn mathematics from him still
praise him for his thoroughness and skill in teaching.
J.
D. Parnell, who held both Bachelor and Master's degrees from
North Texas State College, succeeded Mr. Walker as principal
of the Robert E. Lee School. He was no stranger to the school,
having taught the sixth grade therein from 1937 until 1941. His
term as principal was short because of the outbreak of World
War II. He entered the United States Navy for military duty at
mid-term, 1941-42. After his return from the war, he became a
member of the faculty of the Fort Worth schools and is today
principal of the Diamond Hill School in this city. He studied
further at The University of Colorado and holds the D.E.D. degree
from that college.
Lyman
Gregory, who held both the Bachelor's and Master's degrees from
North Texas State College, replaced Mr. Parnell as principal
of the Lee school, but military duty claimed him after finishing
out the 1941-42 session. Morris Wallace, who likewise held two
degrees from North Texas State College, then became principal
and remained in this position until 1946 when the present incumbent,
Arthur J. Seely, took his place. After leaving Denton, Mr. Wallace
taught in the University of Mississippi one year, went from there
to head of the education department of Agricultural and Mechanical
College at Stillwater, Oklahoma, and at the present time he is
Director of the School of Education at Texas Technological College
at Lubbock.
Mr.
Seely, a member of a Denton County pioneer family, had been reared
near Sanger and before the war had completed work on a Bachelor's
degree at North Texas State College. He took over the principalship
of the Robert E. Lee School in January, 1946. In addition to
his duties as principal, he served as Director of the Youth Center
in Denton for a number of years and wrote his thesis for completion
of his Master's degree on the history and work of youth centers.
Mr. Seely's work in this field made him particularly fitted for
leadership of the young people in his school.
In
order to more fully evaluate the work of the present faculty,
a survey is used which was made of the Robert E. Lee School in
1943, prior to the time when Mr. Seely was elected principal
of the school. Mrs. Margie Lynn Brooks, as a part of her graduate
work at North Texas State College, made a survey of the public
school system of Denton, Texas, dealing with the financial status,
the school plants, the teaching Personnel, and the libraries.(3)
The goal of her study was to evaluate the schools of Denton in
the light of accepted standards.
Mrs. Brooks used the Strayer-Engelhardt Score Card in rating
the school plants of the town, the Senior High School, the Stonewall
Jackson School. and the Sam Houston School. The following table
shows the comparison of the Lee School plant with standard scores
and with the other school plants in the city.
RATINGS OF THE FIVE PUBLIC SCHOOL PLANTS IN THE CITY OF DENTON
| Item Measured |
Standard Score |
Senior High School |
Junior High School |
Robert E. Lee School |
Stonewall Jackson School |
Sam Houston School |
| School Site |
125 |
115 |
120 |
90 |
115 |
120 |
| School Building |
165 |
145 |
135 |
145 |
165 |
165 |
| School Service System |
280 |
213 |
222 |
200 |
260 |
255 |
| Classrooms |
290 |
245 |
280 |
250 |
290 |
290 |
| Special Rooms |
140 |
105 |
50 |
90 |
110 |
115 |
| Total |
1000 |
823 |
807 |
775 |
940 |
945 |
The
Robert E. Lee School, the above scores show, was the lowest rated
school in the town, with the school site, special rooms, and
the school systems showing the lowest ratings. Criticism of the
school site was that it was situated near the railroad and adjacent
to business houses on two sides of the school ground and thus
subject to more distractions from outside noises than the other
schools. In the school service system, the chief criticism was
of the water supply system. It was also found that the school
did not adequately utilize all the space it had for special rooms
such as those for officials, teachers, and janitors.
Mrs.
Brooks also made an evaluation of teaching personnel in the different
schools, giving attention to academic preparation, graduate study,
types of certificates held, and tenure in the profession. Data
developed here show that the teachers in the Robert E. Lee School
all held the Bachelor degree and that 77.7 per cent of them held
the Master's degree. This was the highest percentage of teachers
with this type of training in any of the schools in Denton. Other
phases measured are not pertinent to this study and therefore
are omitted.
Ratings
in Mrs. Brooks' study, it should be emphasized, were not made
by a committee of experts in the field of public school plants
and personnel but they were made by the investigator with the
help of the principals of each school. There is no claim made
that they are conclusive, but they do point up many needed improvements
in the Robert E. Lee School system as well as in other schools
of the town. The data are mentioned here merely to show school
needs in 1946.
Mr.
Seely took over leadership of the Robert E. Lee School in January,
1946. One of his first acts was to make a survey of school -needs
and ways and means of meeting them. The school, at that time,
had eight class-room teachers, a music teacher, and the principal.
Four rooms of the twelve in the building were not used as classrooms:
Room 6 was used as a music room; Room 7, as a library; Room 11,
a dining room; and Room 12 for a kitchen. The addition of two
extra teachers, one in 1947 and one in 1948, were of help but
complications were still prevalent. It was necessary to combine
one section of the second and third grade, and one section of
the fourth and fifth. An effort was made to limit the students
in these combination rooms to forty-five, but enrollment increased
until there were forty-eight or forty-nine pupils in each of
these rooms at the end of the year. The school had a large auditorium,
but it was used for no other purpose.
During
the year 1948 the enrollment reached 510 pupils with ten teachers
as instructors. In spite of planning and working, not too much
could be done to improve the crowded conditions as they then
existed. The school board and Mr. Chester 0. Strickland, new
superintendent of Denton Public Schools in 1946, came to the
rescue and in 1949 the building was remodeled. A new cafeteria
was built on the south side of the building adjacent to the auditorium
and it was then possible to work out a plan of better utilization
of the available space.
The
auditorium seats bad become warped and noisy through years of
use, and it was difficult to hear speakers in assembly. The old
seats were discarded and collapsible chairs purchased in their
place. Folding tables, also, were purchased, and it was then
possible to set up the auditorium as a dining room in a short
time and vice versa. Music classes were then shifted to the auditorium
where they are still held. Two more teachers were employed and
all twelve of the rooms in the building were fully utilized.
There
were still many other needed improvements that it required time
to effect. The floors of the building were approximately twenty-five
years old and the feet of hundreds of boys and girls had worn
them badly. They had been oiled for years and in the process
had become soft and splintered easily. The entire school faculty
saw the need for making the floors look better, give more light,
and be more sanitary. Mr. Seely. with Mr. Joe T. House, principal
of Stonewall Jackson School, were granted permission and furnished
supplies by Mr. Strickland and the Board of Education, to spend
the Christmas holidays of 1949, with the exception of Christmas
Day, working on the floors. The floors were sanded, finished,
and waxed. The auditorium floor was sanded and finished by Mr.
Charles Frady. Jack Schmitz, Jr. and his assistants laid asphalt
tile on the hall, lounge, and office floors.
Each
year since the floors have been gone over with new finish and
wax. They are still as nice as they were when the projects were
undertaken. In a survey made of architectural designs of public
schools in Denton by Miss Mary Carden in 1951, the Robert E.
Lee School was given special commendation for the dual use made
of the auditorium of the school. Through planning and the good
housekeeping of the custodian, Mr. Otis Reed, the school building
itself has been modernized and made more sanitary and attractive.
Equally
effective improvements have been made in the outside school environment.
Once again the School Board and Superintendent Strickland came
to the rescue and funds were provided for a new chain-link fence
with gates that can be locked when the building is not in use.
The hedge, which had become unsightly with age and wear, was
dug up, the fence installed, and one of the most vexing problems
besetting the school was solved - that of traffic across the
grounds, to and from the industrial district.
See-saws
and other playground equipment on the grounds had also become
worn, and children were constantly hurt playing on them These
were all removed and small houses built within the U-shaped enclosure
between the east and west wings of the building. Here the children
bring their toys and play "house" much as they do at
home. In earlier days, competitive games were played with other
schools, but this has been discontinued in favor of intramural
games between the different grades. The practice of intramural
games in elementary schools provides opportunities for all the
children, not merely a selected few who are usually the most
physically developed.
One
of the greatest improvements to the school environment has been
accomplished within the past year. In the fall of 1915 the City
of Denton had made a contract to lease the block immediately
north of the school grounds for use as a trade square. In later
years, title to the land was acquired by the City, and further
use of it as a trade square was continued. A large barn for the
sale and keeping of livestock was then built adjacent the trade
square. As time went on, the trade square lost much of its original
purpose, and its operation was a distraction to the school on
the opposite side of the street. The Parent-Teacher Association
of the Robert E. Lee School, which through the years has been
most active in the interest of the school placed the matter before
the City Commission. Under the leadership of Mrs. Marvin T. McDonald,
Mrs. Weaver Wisdom, Mrs. H. W. (Pete) Pockrus, Mrs. Rex Reeves,
Mrs. Jodie Seibert, Mrs. 0. B. Smith, and Mrs. H. H. Williams
a plea was made for the City to improve trade square conditions.
The question was taken under consideration and a committee appointed
to work with the Lee School Parent-Teacher Association in seeking
a solution. Such a solution was found, and a plan made and. carried
out which has eliminated the objectionable features heretofore
present. The trade square was modernized, parking meters installed,
the trade area localized on East Hickory Street away from the
school, and sanitary practices improved. With this improvement,
the Robert E. Lee School, in spite of being located in a business
area, has an environment that eliminates much of the criticism
heretofore directed against this phase of the school plant.
A
few statistics will help in understanding the present school
program. The average number of students for the last five years
has ranged from 312 to 372, with the present number at 348. Building
of the Jefferson Davis School in northeast Denton relieved the
crowded situation existing in 1953. Six grades are included in
the school's offerings. The total full- time employees comes
to nineteen: principal, twelve classroom teachers, music teacher,
four cooks, and custodian. In addition to these, two part-time
corrective speech teachers, a part-time band instructor and his
two assistants, and some eight student or assistant teachers
are used. The school also has the part-time services of a school
nurse.
There are a number of things offered all children other than
regular school work. These may be listed as:
1. Corrective speech (2 part-time teachers)
2. Band
3. Full-time music teacher.
4. Health program with health cards and charts kept on each child
5. Only one grade per teacher (2 teachers per grade).
6. Hot lunch program - 4 full-time cooks. Average feeding 215
students per day in cafeteria. Balanced meal, drink and dessert,
with seconds on everything except milk at 25 cents per child.
Extra milk costs 2 cents per bottle.
7. Sixth-grade girls are used as office girls, bankers to deposit
school money, and help make daily cafeteria reports. These girls
do simple filing, answer telephone, meet visitors, roll school
money and count it, and almost anything else that a full-time
secretary is required to do. They are extremely helpful aside
from the fact that they receive valuable training through this
experience.
8. Boys are used as patrolmen. One is stationed at each of the
four corners of the school ground. All children are required
to leave school premises at one of these corners and under the
direction of a school safety patrolman.
9. Lee School has an average of 110 students per day who are
transported by school bus from as far as 25 miles each way. Eight
school buses serve these students.
Evidence of school stability is shown in the tenure of the personnel.
Present employees and length of service are as follows:
| Employee |
Years tenure |
| Mrs. E.C. Wiley |
38 |
| Miss Willie Brashears, 1st
Grade |
27 |
| Miss Roberta Rogers, 2nd Grade |
13 |
| Mrs. Mildred Dobbins, 3rd Grade |
12 |
| Mrs. Herman 0. Sims, 6th Grade |
12 |
| Arthur J. Seely, Principal |
11 |
| Mrs. Artie Wallis, Head Cook |
11 |
| Mrs. Clyde Graham, 5th Grade |
9 |
| Mrs. Joe H. Teasley, Music |
8 |
| Mrs. Elbert Parker, 4th Grade |
8 |
| Mrs. C. R. Brown, 4th Grade |
8 |
| Mrs. L. R. Huggins, 6th Grade |
8 |
| Mrs. Charles Saling, 2nd Grade |
5 |
| Otis Reed, Custodian |
5 |
| Mrs. Otis Reed, Cook |
4 |
| Mrs. Jack Hester, 3rd Grade |
4 |
| Mrs. George Slinker, Cook |
3 |
| Mrs. Myrtle Steadman, Cook |
2 |
| Mrs. Albert E. Harpool, 5th
Grade |
1 |
In listing
the school personnel, Mr. Seely did not differentiate between
the teaching and non-teaching members. In his philosophy school
administration, he makes the following statement:
Our
school operates on the theory that we have thirteen teachers,
four cooks, a custodian, and a principal. The job of one is no
more important nor no less important than that of another. It
is the duty of each and everyone to help one another in every
possible way. A teacher is not hired as a teacher of any certain
grade. She is hired as a teacher in the Robert E. Lee School.
She may be assigned to a certain grade but she is also responsible
for the welfare of this school and for anything good or bad that
happens within the premises of it. 'It is the duty of the teachers
to help the cooks or the custodian in any way that is needed
when necessary and the duty of the cooks and custodians to help
the teachers any time they are called upon. We feel that there
is a faculty of 19 of us, a student body of 346, and the parents
of all these students. It takes the combined efforts of each
and everyone of us to do the job we all desire.
Mr.
Seely's words are self-explanatory. Under his conception of school
administration, it is a democratic process. If democracy is to
be taught, it must be practiced.
The
two teachers with the longest tenure of service, Mrs. E. C. Wiley
and Miss Willie Brashears, are not only companions in long service
to the school but their relationship has been very close since
childhood As little girls, they both lived in the Sam Houston
ward district and in September, 1906, they both enrolled in the
first grade at this school. They were seated together and became
good friends. They continued in school together through elementary
and high school days. They entered the Normal College at the
same time, received their diplomas together and their certificates
for primary teachers. Miss Weathers, as she was then, taught
first at Dickinson School in Denton County, and began her work
as primary teacher in the R. E. Lee School in 1919. She was married
to Earl C. Wiley in 1932. Miss Brashears taught in Lubbock and
in the Rio Grande Valley before joining the R. E. Lee School
faculty in 1930. Both of these teachers have completed graduate
work at North Texas State College and have also done graduate
work at other universities.
In
World War II the little boys who grew up in the R. E. Lee School
district and attended school there gave a good account of themselves.
Denton lost a number of boys in this conflict and a large percentage
of them were from the Lee School district. Twelve boys, who had
attended Lee School and there may have been others, are known
to have been lost in action. Two of the boys, Claude Castleberry,
Jr., and Billie Joe Dukes, were lost at Pearl Harbor. Harold
and Henry Chrismon, James A. Ryan, Donald Buck, William Paul
Simpson, Frances Meredith, Jack McMath, and James M. Atkins were
all commissioned officers either in the Army Air Corps, or the
Navy flying wing. Each of these boys was a fighter pilot. Norman
M. Penney and Leon Atkins were members of the Army infantry.
Many
other Lee School boys distinguished themselves in battle and
lived to tell the story. Harry McClendon, now a physician in
Denton, saw service as a fighter pilot and landed his plane in
flames in one of the narrowest escapes chronicled. Hal and Robert
Jackson flew two of the fighting Navy planes in the South Pacific
and both earned the coveted title of "ace" and "hot
rock pilot" Robert Hilliard was decorated on the field of
battle in Italy with the Bronze Star for outstanding bravery.
John Ellis, who drove a supply truck behind the front lines all
the way up from New Guinea to Okinawa, was near-missed so many
times by Japanese bombers that he almost forgot to duck one day
in what was a miraculous "miss". Roy Allen participated
in the famous "Death March" in the Philippines and
lived for the next four years through the rigors of Japanese
imprisonment. Billie Harper, who had three other brothers, Mack,
Thurman, and Kenneth, in the conflict, manned an assault landing
boat on Saipan during one of the bitterest battles of the Pacific,
and after a week of continuous shuttling in and out under Japanese
mortar and artillery fire was well as ever except for a sunburned
nose. Robert E. Lee has just cause to be proud of these boys,
as well as many others, who so ably represented Denton in the
war that called for the services of all the boys.
Robert
E. Lee School, too, has cause to be proud of the civic leadership
and business qualities of the boys who have called this district
home. Of course, before the high school was transferred to the
John B. Denton site, all of the young people in the town at one
time or another passed through the Lee School in the process
of education, but this study is particularly interested in those
who have attended elementary school in the district since 1912
and, therefore, are those whose homes were in the area. A roll
call of all of the boys would be almost impossible to make, because
many of them have found opportunities in other areas, but a spot
survey of a few of those here in town would include such names
as Otis Fowler, Jerry Fowler, Marvin G. Ramey, Joe Skiles, Billie
Woods, George and R. L. Selby, A. B. and M. D. Penry, Wilford
Pierce, Alvin and Don Ellis, Clarence Phillips, M. H. Hooper,
Robert T. Ratliff, Owen and Doyle Griffin, Truman A. Kluck, J.
W. Adams, Raymond Barnett, Dr. Walter S. Miller, Garner, Archie,
and M. E. Payne, L. B., Jack, and Stanley Arrington, Marlin,
R. Carl and Morris Smith, Woodrow W. Taliaferro, Ben Ivey, Pat
Hamilton, Walter B. McClurkan, Wayne Bushey, Dr. Dickson K. Boyd,
Harry Owens, J. B. Bovell, George, Olen, and Jesse L. McBride,
Raymond Spalding, Otis Davis, Emory Barton, Coit Carpenter, Harwell
V. Shepard, and John Shrader, Jr. These names, it should be stressed,
have been picked from a spot survey and in no wise include many,
many, others who represent the Robert E. Lee School alumni. It
was impossible to learn at such short notice all the names that
should be included in this roster of Lee School boys, and it
is hoped that all who have been pupils in the school will feel
themselves included in our roll of honor.
It
should be said, also, that no effort was made to include the
accomplishments of the girls as well as the boys. Needless to
say, the School has much pride in them, and the number of second-generation
youngsters coming regularly into the schoolroom show that many
of these girls have remained in the area as homekeepers and mothers.
Many of them have entered the business world, and many, many
more are teachers.
This
brings the story of the Robert E. Lee School down to the present.
The roots of the school, the study has developed, go back to
the earliest days of the town's history. 'The school has had
many ups and downs in the loss of its buildings, in limited finances,
in distractions that have arisen with the growth of industry,
but it can now be said that it has weathered the storms and today
boasts a modern, well-kept plant adequate for the needs of the
boys and girls who yearly come to its class-rooms. The present
administration recognizes that the success of the school has
not been due to the efforts of any individual or -any particular
group. It has been made possible throughout the years and down
to the present by the wonderful teamwork that has existed between
parents, teachers, administrators, members of the school board,
and interested citizens, The school today owes a debt of deep
gratitude for those who have worked so faithfully through the
years in its interest.
For
more than eighty years now the Robert E. Lee School or its predecessors,
has been in operation at this spot. In that time many thousands
of boys and girls have crossed the buildings' thresholds to learn
the fundamentals of education It is the sincere hope of those
who have been instrumental in putting the history of the school
together that there will be a Robert E. Lee School as long as
there is a town of Denton. It has rendered a distinct service
to the area.
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