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Growing up in
Phillips:
Life in Phillips revolved around family, friends, school, church and the
outdoors. Most of my time was spent outside, or so it seems 50 years down
the road.
•
The Canyon
across the street from our house on Hamilton Drive still lives in my
memory, green, shimmering in the heat, wind whipped, occasionally still,
always beckoning. Using the coordinates of our lot, my dad took me one
day to the street light that now marks our house site in a vast
stretch of asphalt that smothered our neighborhood and the canyon. Joni
Mitchell nailed it: “They paved paradise to put up a parking
lot.” Next-door-neighbor Joycelyn Cook and I roamed the place. We walked
pipes (the best!), climbed trees, waded the creek, hunted crawdads, dug in
the sand banks and hiked the two miles (+/-) to Elephant Rock, often with
Deanna Flanders and Sandra Roscoe.
For
a time Joycelyn & I took over a wonderful treehouse some boys had built in
the canyon. The last eight feet of the climb involved a treacherous
scramble but, once there, we swayed in the branches, daydreamed and
surveyed the world below, removed and exhilarated. The canyon was part of
the daily walk home from school and later the place to collect insects and
flowers for Martha Noel’s biology class. The short cut between my house &
Martha Kirkpatrick’s went around the canyon’s west end and crossed an open
concrete drainage ditch. Where it flared at the drop-off, we found piles
of Diamondback Rattler skins every spring. Somehow it never registered
that, after molting, those snakes headed for dens and hunting grounds in
the canyon!
•
The Plant.
Living within a half mile of the gates, we fell asleep to the refinery’s
background rattle and noticed only its very worst smells (rotten egg). I
once drove halfway through Oklahoma with the clutch burning out,
dismissing the fumes as the ambient smell of the place. The train’s loud
clanking seldom woke us; its whistle was so integral that in 1971 when I
lived in Nahant (an island off Boston’s North Shore), the fog horn
subconsciously became the train whistle until one night I realized: No
rail link to the mainland.
•
Phillips Schools
offered us a good education, many memorable teachers and great school
spirit. I’m especially grateful for the courses in English, science,
history and civics, the tennis program and the band. Ray Robbins and Ada
Creel created an outstanding program. Our band’s sound was recognizable
blocks away on parade. We were sharp on the field and in concert. Why?
LOTS of practice not only after school but also at 7:00 a.m. on the field
and for two weeks of summer vacation. |
•
Bus Rides.
The trips were terrific although I do recall knots and bruises from
playing “Rocks, Sticks and Paper” with Dean Kruckenberg on the bus. He had
the same black & blue wrists, but his mother called to apologize. My
mother laughed. We logged endless miles on those school buses, one of the
toughest being the Senior Trip to Colorado Springs -360 miles each way.
Other long hauls: Austin for a UT halftime, Dallas for the Cotton Bowl,
Odessa for football games.
•
Pros and Cons of a Company Town:
Phillips 66 Petroleum Company built houses for its employees, eventually
with option to buy, and provided utilities, well water and road
maintenance at low rates. The school received sports equipment and
facilities, band uniforms and the costlier instruments (tubas, larger
woodwinds, drums and other percussion). Overall, the contrast would be
startling if compared with coal company towns of the time. Phillips ISD
also offered more advanced courses than some neighboring towns. One
unacknowledged fact was that our student body was almost entirely white
and Christian, probably due to hiring practices. I don’t recall the
subject coming up; others may. But Phillips does deserve credit for a
housing policy that mingled employees of every income level in the
neighborhoods. Kids didn’t seem to make distinctions based upon the jobs
their parents held.
Life beyond
Phillips:
graduated from Texas Tech in 1966 and moved to Dallas w/college roommate
Cheryl Hunter. In December 1966 married James N. Groom, Jr. of Borger and
Texas A&M School of Architecture; 2nd Lt., US Army. Lived in Waldfischbach,
Germany and outside Paris, France and traveled in Spain & Italy. Lived in
Dallas for about a year with Jim at Downing Thomas Architects and Carol at
Irving
Daily News. In
May, 1970 - Jim joined The Architects Collaborative, Cambridge, MA. Our
son James Aaron Groom was born in February 1971 and we moved to Nahant,
MA; son Matthew Cochran Groom was born September 1973 and we bought a
house in Swampscott MA. In May 1977 Jim joined Robert Burley Associates in
Waitsfield, VT.
July 1977 and we bought a house next to a covered bridge in Warren VT. In
February 1991 Jim established James Groom Associates which he still
maintains. We’re
still here 35 years and two floods later, the worst being Tropical Storm
Irene in August 2011.
My Jobs:
1977-82, covered news for
The Valley
Reporter.
1977-87, worked as an EMT with Mad River Valley Ambulance Service.
1983-98, Administrative Assistant to the Warren Select Board, Planning
Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment. 1986-1990, worked part-time at
Green Mountain Valley School toward Matthew’s scholarship. 1998-1999,
served as Flood Coordinator for the June 1998 flood. 1999-2010, Executive
Board, Vermont Sierra Club. 2005-10, Weekly radio interviews on
environmental issues & varied topics for WMRW-FM. Member, Warren United
Church of Christ (Congregational). |
