Hubba-hubba!

Cabaret Cuties

I'll let you put the names with these if you can. I'm not sure I know all of them. Love the garters!

Blackcat Band Members

Back Row (left to right): Reed Jackson, Sumpter Frazier, Jackie Fisher, Jerry Muschkat
Front Row (left to right): Janice Thornton, Betty Tacker, Betty Boyd, Dorothy Vinson

Margaret Ann

Margaret Ann Bleakney was always a swinger, even in 1946 as this photo proves.

Milton

This is Milton Carroll at the lake in June 2005. He's not wearing glasses because he's had lasik surgery and can see better than ever.

Dungaree Dolls

Here we have Betty Boyd (left) and Joy Bates (right) selecting some hot tunes for the dance in the Girl Scout house in the City Park.

The Christmas Angel

I'm sure that none of us ever doubted Ina Cooper's angelic qualities, and here's proof that we were right. (Thanks to Ina for this and the following picture.)

The Old Millwheel

This photo was taken on a Girl Scout trip to Ruidoso. Left to right are JoAnn Smith, Lance Baty, and Bobbie Ann Pendleton. Ina and Ann visited the same millwheel in October, and it's still operational. Be sure to click on the photo for a much better look at the coll rolled-up jeans.

Amateur Trick Photography

The next few photos were sent by Fred Williams (Class of '57) when I mentioned to him what I was doing. Here's his attempt at a trick shot, with Lynn Roy Weeks holding Margaret Ann Bleakney in his hand. You can decide for yourself how well it worked. This must have been around 1950 or so. Main Street is behind Margaret Ann.

Woody Marrs

I think Woody was in the class of 1960.

Billy Bleakney

This was taken in 1950 or 1951. Lena Street is on the right.

Margaret Ann & Billy Bleakney

Billy's playing with a dog, but it's hard to see it.

A Class at W. M. White School

This is the class of '57 when they were second graders. I'm not sure I recognize any of the students, but that's Mrs. Altman on the left and Mr. Perkins on the right.

Johnny Paul Holmes Through the Years

As far as I can tell, he hasn't changed a bit, except for the glasses, of course.

A Book that a Lot of us Read

Being a shy type of kid, I was too embarrassed to buy this book myself, but some kind soul took pity on me. I still remember the day it happened. I was going to drive home for lunch in the old '49 Dodge (remember when kids could go home for lunch, or to the Dairy Queen?), and when I looked in the car window, I saw a copy of Peyton Place lying on the front seat. To this day I don't know who tossed it in the open window of my car. Maybe it was someone who's reading this and will now come forward to accept my thanks. I re-read the book a couple of years ago and enjoyed it almost as much as the first time, though the parts I thought were very sexy back in the old days seemed tame by comparison with everything available now.

Ross Avenue Elementary when it was New

This looks like the door to the 7th grade classroom that Mr. Moore had when we were in school.

Ross Avenue Elementary

This looks like the entrance on the Ross Avenue Side. That would be Mr. McBay's office on the left if I'm correct. Is that one of the one of the water fountains on the right under the cover?

Most of Us Remember This Place

Road Work For Housing Site Road work was taking place, cutting through the old Ross Elementary School property just off Ross at Titus Street. Scott Condon of Bi-Stone Building Supply is developing the land and tentatively plans to sell off 27 lots for home sites. At least, that's what Scott envisions at the present time. During the dirt work for cutting streets as the property is being sub-divided, the site goes north and south from Titus to Main Street. Allen & Shivers had the contract for initial dirt work. It is anticipated that tbe City of Mexia will run sewer and water lines onto the property. TXU will provide underground electrical hookups. Condon believes it should all be sub-divided "by the first of the year." (Bob Wright photo)

Movie Magazine Cover from late '50s

A Movie from 1958

A Movie from 1953

A Movie from 1959

Trig Class

Mrs. Bates is the teacher. Chester Seelinger, Ina Cooper, Joe Edd New, and Robert Fisher are the attentive students.

Miss Ellie Hughes

She taught fifth grade at Ross Avenue Elementary.

Student Council

Looks like about 1955 to me. Anybody got a better guess?

Bestselling Books of 1959

HOW MANY OF THESE DID YOU READ?

F I C T I O N

1. Exodus, Leon Uris

2. Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak

3. Hawaii, James Michener

4. Advise and Consent, Allen Drury

5. Lady Chatterley's Lover, D. H. Lawrence

6. The Ugly American, William J. Lederer and Eugene L. Burdick

7. Dear and Glorious Physician, Taylor Caldwell

8. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

9. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, Paul Gallico

10. Poor No More, Robert Ruark

N O N F I C T I O N

1. 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty, Pat Boone

2. Folk Medicine, D. C. Jarvis

3. For 2¢ Plain, Harry Golden

4. The Status Seekers, Vance Packard

5. Act One, Moss Hart

6. Charley Weaver's Letters from Mamma, Cliff Arquette

7. The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White

8. The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook

9. Only in America, Harry Golden

10. Mine Enemy Grows Older, Alexander King

1959 Ford Hardtop Convertible

I thought these were really cool.

Top Movies of 1958

How many of these do you remember?

Top Movies

1. The Bridge on the River Kwai
2. Peyton Place
3. Sayonara
4. No Time for Sergeants
5. The Vikings
6. Search for Paradise (this was a "Cinerama" film)
7. South Pacific
8. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
9. Raintree Country
10. Old Yeller

Academy Awards

Best Picture: "Gigi"
Best Director: Vincente Minnelli ... "Gigi"
Best Actor: David Niven ... "Separate Tables"
Best Actress: Susan Hayward ... "I Want to Live!"

Number One Songs -- November 1958

It was the fall of our senior year. These were the Number One songs for November:

Week of November 1: "It's All in the Game" by Tommy Edwards
Week of November 8: "It's All in the Game" by Tommy Edwards
Week of November 15: "It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty
Week of November 22: "Tom Dooley" by the Kingston Trio
Week of November 29: "It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty

Party Time

No date on this one, but it must be fairly recent.

Everyone looks pretty much the same today, right?

Graduation Day

Here I am receiving my diploma back in 1959. I still have the tassel from the mortarboard cap.

Graduation Program

Our graduation was on Tuesday, May 26, 1959. I was hoping these images would be a little easier to read, but if you click on the picture to enlarge it and then get really close to the screen (preferably with a magnifying glass), you might be able to read stuff. The baccalaurete service was included in the commencement program, and it's here, too. Probably all of you have a copy of this around the house anyway.

Baccalaurete Service

Graduation Program, Page 3

Here's the program itself.

Graduation Program, Page 4

This is the back page of the program.

Freight Hawk

Throughout high school and college, I worked at the Red Arrow Freight Line in the summer. I don't know when this photo was taken, probably around 1958. I'm standing on the tailgate of the truck. Standing on the ground are Junior Hendricks (still around in Mexia), Bill Fulwiler (father of Jimmy, my sister's first husband), and Thed Rhodes (father of Ray Rhodes, former star player in the NFL, who's now coaching there).

Ken & Sandra

The Trotters at the lake last June.

Reunion Groupies

Charlotte Holmes (left) and Judy Crider aren't members of the MHS Class of '59, but they show up at a lot of the reunions.

Anybody Remember Dixie Cup Lids?

October 29, 1979

This is a pretty crummy photo that I tried to fix without much luck. The original, from the Mexia Daily News, is much worse, though. This is the float the class members rode on in the 1979 Homecoming Parade. Anybody have a better picture of it?

Cameron Park Band Trip 1959

Mike Leary, Rodney Allbright, and I got the idea that we could walk all the way to "Lover's Leap" in Cameron Park. We got there after a long walk, and I took this photo (that's Rodney on the left, Mike on the right). The bad news was that we had to be back at the bus by a certain time or be left behind. We underestimated the time it would take to get there, and we would never have made it back to the bus in time if we hadn't hitched a ride on the back of a trash truck that was headed in that direction.

James Ivy

Don't know when this was. Sixth grade? Seventh? James's family lived on Hopkins, not much more than a block from our old house on Hunt Street, and I used to play with him and his brother a lot when we were kids. The brother was named Lucky, and he was younger than James. There were others in the family, but I don't remember anything about them.

David Blanchard

Probably sixth grade. When did David leave Mexia?

1956 Buick Special

Bill Crider's parents had a 1956 Buick Special 4-door hardtop like the one in the picture. It was solid sky blue, not black and white. No power steering or brakes, no a/c. Remember wraparound windshields? Not to mention 4-door hardtops.

30-Year Reunion

Thirty-year reunion. From left: Bill Crider, Mike Leary, Margaret Leary.

Cameron Park Band Trip

Cameron Park band trip, spring of '59. From left: Ann Pendleton, Claudia Moss, Mary Clark. I'm think that's Margaret Ann Bleakney behind Ann.

Blackcat Den

Anybody remember the Blackcat Den?

Three Young Thugs

These young thugs are (from left) John Black, Marion DeLo, and John Barham. Looks like the lake, but with different trees from the ones there now.

Reunion 2004

This is the group at the Reunion Grounds in 2004. Standing from left to right are John Barham, John Reed (well hidden), Betty Boyd (I'm using maiden names), Dolly Pinson, Ina Cooper (also well hidden), Pat Smith, Gladys Fisher, Margaret Ann Bleakney, Claudia Moss, Sandra Romain, and Ken Trotter.

Kneeling are Ray Pugh, Ann Pendleton, Johnny Holmes, Bill Crider, and John Black.

Reunion 2004

The group from 2004. For names, see the picture above.

Reunion 2005

Ann Pendleton and Milton Carroll at the 2005 reunion at the lake.

Reunion 2005

John Barham in the lake clubhouse at the 2005 reunion.

Reunion 2005

Johnny Holmes (left) and Bill Crider at the lake for the 2005 reunion.