The below was submitted by Evelyn Keller Wicke, Class of 1941.
I believe the Class of 1941 was the largest class to graduate from
DRHS at that time. We were young and adept at creating good
times out of little.
Our Senior year with the war looming, we had a shortage of teachers.
Remember the naïve elderly lady they hired to keep the study hall?
She was past retirement age and had previously taught first grade.
What a shock we were! The jokes the boys pulled on her were funny,
but in some ways cruel. Poor dear!
Dates always started for me with a trip to Brocks on South Main (it's
a home now). I was the hungriest skinny girl and could down a ham-
burger, fries and thick chocolate malt and not gain a pound. Those
were the days!
Do you remember dancing to the car radio on some country road
where the houses were few and far between? The music came in
great around 10:00PM. Two or three cars drew up together, all tuned
to the same station. We had a grand time out under the stars. A
little classier was going to Lake Walk and dancing on the cement
platform ouside under the stars. If the were open, we fed the jukebox,
but if not, the car radio did just fine.
I remember hiding in the car when the boys stole watermelons out of
a field. I was sure they were going to get caught and my mother
would just have a fit! Never happened, thank goodness, and those
were the best watermelons I ever tasted.
Were you ever along on the rabbit hunting at the old municipal air-
port? (Editor's note: strange we also did that during the 60's) It had
been closed for some time and was overun with cottontails. The boys
would stand on the running boards, and try to grab rabbits by the
ears as the driver chased them down with the car. I always felt sorry
for the rabbits. But the boys dropped them and they ran off seeming-
ly unharmed.
Speaking of cars do you remember how BIG they were? Not only did
they have running boards, but they had these gorgeous, long, stream-
lined fenders. We had a DeSoto and sometimes I was allowed to
drive it. I remember several cars of kids driving out on the country
road where Rob Courtney lived. There was a humongous dip in the
road. If you got up speed, when you hit that dip, the car would sail
through the air, hitting the road with a "thud" on the other side. I'm
sure that was not good for the shocks, but we were clueless.
Some of the boys in our class had already committed to enlist, but
it was more a lark than anything else. We knew the war was there,
but it lacked reality. I certainly didn't think Japan, or any other coun-
try, would be fool enough to attack the mighty U.S. Little did I know!
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, just a few months
after we graduated. We lost several boys from our class and others
who graduated a few years ahead or behind us. That is when we
began to grow up. I'm glad we had these carefree days at DRHS
before the reality of war hit us.
The below photo is of the Class of 1941. Evelyn is in the second row,
fourth person from the right.
Starting back row L-R: George Churchwell (twin), Allen Robertson,
James Rmage, Husie Tracy, John Walter Barnett, Robert Church-
well (twin), Eddie Hollingsworth, Robert Irving, Egbert Cofield, Louis
Aranaga, Candor Flores, Arthur Chacon, Jack Lambert, Robert
Courtney, Grover Poole, Pat Driscoll, Luther Daniel, Maury Casey,
Jack Petty, Moses Hernandez, Maurice McConnell, Tom Stewart,
Abb Rose, Russell White, Blake Schauer, Leslie Schmidt, Jimmie
Boise, W. P. Meredith, Barbara Jean Stewart, Norma Lee King,
Jessie Lee Osborn, Susie Wardlaw, Ann Davis, Johnnie Mae Ple-
mmons, Mary Elizabeth Measles, Shirley Strother, Winnie Joe King,
Claude Wheeler, Alma Glen Smith, Elvira Castillo, Gracy Muncey,
Mecky Crawford, Doris Martin, Rachel Wardlaw, ??, Jean Kinser,
Irene Chipman, Evelyn Keller, Lyndal Davis, Magdalena Broosk,
Wandine Lott, Mena Reynolds, Dorothy Ann Baily, Mary Ola Henry,
Irene Childers, Leurline Taylor, Ada Bee Rankion, Maria Menchaca,
Marie Martinez, Jo Beth Baits, Gail Walker, Ruth Petty, Alma Ray,
Jeane Curry, Nell Ruth Peters, Mary Grace Gains and Jean Perry.