Here's Dennis Elam's Andrews County News column from last Sunday. Enjoy!
Dennis Elam
Thursday July 14, 2016
Word Count 979
Note to readers, Dennis Elam departs from the usual business coverage to reflect on an upcoming Fifty Year High School Reunion in Andrews, Texas.
The Way We Were – 1966
We didn’t know it at the time but social mood, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and just about every other positive was peaking at our 1966 graduation from Andrews High School. It had been up, up, up all the way from 1948 to 1966.
This was the first eighteen years of the group later named baby-boomers. We helped usher in the birth of rock ‘n roll (thanks Little Richard), I Like Ike, I Love Lucy and Ed Sullivan. Disneyland was, as Shrek would say, far, far away in California but I never knew any one who had actually BEEN there. Television provided a platform for the American fascination with the Cowboy from Roy Rogers to Cheyenne Bodie.
After nearly burning itself up in the Civil Rights Movement, the South did begin to rise as the Sunbelt Economy. Widespread production finally made air conditioning affordable. West Texas offered plenty of sand hills but no ocean, still we enjoyed Surf Crazy lyrics by the Beach Boys. And then there was the Beatles who ironically got famous by recording ole Carl (blue suede shoes) Perkins’ rockabilly tunes.
Lee Iococoa created the Mustang just for our generation. John DeLorean followed that up by inventing the GTO, spawning the Muscle Car Era. At the same time VW owned ten percent of the car market bragging about its oil capacity in pints not gallons. After all gasoline was 36 cents a gallon, and lower when ‘gas wars’ broke out, often offering a set of steak knives with eight gallons or more! And a new Chevy nicely equipped could be had for $3,000. Only problem was, no one had $3,000.
I worked all summer as a lifeguard earning a total of $750. But then tuition at Texas public universities was still affordable at $50 a semester.
We are told life is complicated now and there is not enough time for anything. How did we cram so much into a week back then. Consider a typical day for the Class of 1966.
I parked my 1957 Chevy in front of the first air conditioned high school in Texas. First up was Bin Goolsby’s fourth year math class.. Mr. Goolsby termed his tests as game day, and then winking would remind us it was in fact a test coming.
Then it was on to second period with Mr. John Hogue in the Little Theater. Mr. Hogue was a class act. He had Ron Ragsdale come by and treat me to a root beer at the K & W on North Main prior to the start of school. AHS had won the state debate championship the year before, so the bar was set high. Even then those of us involved in debate pondered just how Mr. Hogue got the very best out of all of us. It was a wonderful mixture of high expectations and a bountiful budget that had us at every tournament in West Texas. I had never done better than win two lose two at my previous high school prior to arriving in Andrews. Now in the Big Leagues, I saw how it was done and what was required. As seniors we always advancedfrom the first four rounds to however many final rounds to the play offs. And Ron Ragsdale and Dave Hendrick did win the state championship.
Third period was Mr. Shoffitt’s physics class. The textbook featured some sort of new-fangled physics, not the Isaac Newton variety. Mr. S was a fine fellow but physics remains a mystery to me to this day.
Time for lunch and then back to the Little Theater for training in the rest of the speech contests. Yes that is correct. John Hogue had not one but two specialty speaking classes, each aimed at producing winners. This encompassed persuasive, and extemporaneous speaking as well as prose, and poetry reading. I wish I had kept a written journal of all the awards won in, not to mention a few sweepstakes trophies.
Mrs. Brown’s English class was up next. Today universities are being urged to incorporate more speaking and writing in the curriculum. I suggest they study AHS curriculum in 1966! We were required to write a book report in each six-week period! That was in addition to the reading assignments and tests. I regularly encounter college students who have never written a book report. No wonder America scores low among international students.
And come to think of it, economics teacher Keith Harding was way ahead of his time. He was lobbying for an administration position and spent sixth period ‘in the office.’ We had our assignments to read and tests to complete. The classroom even included the Wall Street Journal to read, which we enjoyed. Gee, did Keith invent online learning?
I happened into Sam Hollis’ photography studio one day. While purchasing some film, he offered me a part-time job on the spot. This is what I meant by positive social mood!
The Statler Brothers recorded the Class of ’57 in 1972. For the official song of the Class of 1966 I suggest the Dave Clark Five hit, Glad All Over. The lyrics reflect the times and the upbeat attitude. What could go wrong after our first eighteen upbeat years?
