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Memories: Postings 30-60
[from the original website;
lightly edited. Listed in reverse order]
From my experience, if Miss Boyd liked you, you could do no wrong (I was a
teacher's pet) and if she didn't like you, you could do no right. Riddick
Grooters (a good friend now deceased) was on her bad side. Once while taking
her test, Riddick erased an answer and accidentally knocked the eraser off the
desk, bouncing on the floor in front of Miss Boyd. She screamed! and jumped
FLAT FOOTED over over a desk into the next aisle, claiming Riddick had turned
loose a mouse! Well, no explaining would suffice, so Riddick and his "eraser
mouse" were sent to JIK's office and Riddick was expelled for three days!
Class of '76. I'll never forget the time I took a smoke bomb out of my
stepdad's work things and took it to school. This was not an ordinary smoke
bomb, it was one of those industrial kind, it looked like a stick of dynamite.
Well one day as we were going into Mrs. Moulton's English class, someone {I
won't say who} set the smoke bomb off in the hall underneath one of those
huge swamp coolers they had at the end of the hall. We had no idea how much
smoke that thing would put out. When we went in class Mrs. Moulton shut her
door like she always did. A few minutes later, smoke started coming in those
windows they had at the top of the rooms from the hall way. They had to
evacuate the school. We ran scared for a few days after that, but no one ever
said a thing about it. I guess that was one we got away with.
Miss Noel's Biology Class. On the first day of class, 1963, I was the
last to arrive. That gave me the distinct honor of being "partnered" with
Carl Reed for dissecting assignments. We were instructed NOT TO REMOVE
PARTS OF CRITTERS FROM THE CLASSROOM. That means absolutely nothing to a
boy making straight A's, so Carl helped himself to "our worm's" innards.
Of course, even with the points we had taken off, he still aced the
class...I didn't fare so well, but I'll never forget Carl.
Still remember when we were in Science Class and Miss Smith was
putting her nose on the glass and looking at us as we misbehaved. Tim
snuck around and hit the glass on the door... I think it was funny for
all of us but Tim at that time.... :)
Just to salve my
battered ego (my picture is not included in the Class of 1965), I
moved to Lubbock at the end of my first semester of Senior year...I
volunteered to do this in order to leave a blank spot for the center
of the 6. However, I did receive my diploma and graduate from good ol' PHS, with great memories of a wonderful time!
In response to
earlier postings, the Blackhawk Band did
participate in the 1967 Cotton Bowl and marched in the Cotton Bowl
parade. I remember Linda Culver leading us for 20 blocks through
the streets of the Texas State Fairgrounds and Mr. Robbins
marching right next to me as we played the "Washington Post"
march. The teams that played were SMU and Georgia. I mention this
only because my brothers, Tom and Lynn Railsback, both played in the SMU
band, so all three of us were on the field together; a truly great
memory.
I would like to thank someone for giving me credit for the
skinned rabbit. But I was not the one with the excellent imagination to get a passing grade. I spent the
following summer with Mrs. Arthur in summer school to pass
Junior English for the second semester. Thanks anyway, but
someone else should get the credit.
I am the one who put the rubber snake in Mrs. Hudson's desk
drawer. After she saw it, she would not open the drawer and I
finally got brave enough to ask for it back. She allowed me to
retrieve it and nothing was ever said about it. Guess it was
just my lucky day to not visit Mr. Kimmins again.
Miss Noel and biology! A funny thing happened on the day
we were supposed to dissect some kind of critter. The always
prompt Miss Noel was late for class and Scott Dickerman and I
were chasing each other around the room with the black board
erasers. You know what a nice white stripe they made on the
backside of your jeans. I went running out the door and almost
knocked Miss Noel down. So Scott and I spent the next few
weeks in Mr. Kimmins' back room at biology class time. The
funniest part is my brother got kicked out of her class
EXACTLY 5 years earlier. He was squeezing liquid from the fish
he was to dissect and she kicked him out for being vulgar.
On the first day of class in Miss Boyd's class she had
everyone sign their names to a sheet so she could know who
each student was. She would look at the person and say their
name to help her learn each face and name. When she got to
my name she read it and looked at me and said "Are you
Randall's brother?" "Yes," I replied. She just shook her
head and said "Oh, no." I guess that was my invitation to
summer school.
I left the secure environment of Phillips more than
40-years-ago. Recently, a Phillips Petroleum Company
employee and customer found out that my late father had
worked for Phillips for nearly 40-years. This man returned
and presented me with a number of promotional Phillips
items; i.e., cap, woven shirt, pen, flashlight, etc., all
embossed with the famous Phillips logo. This really shook
me up because I hadn't thought about my father very much
in recent years. I remember his demeanor, sweat and toil
in his effort to support our family during the peaks and
valleys of those Phillips, Texas days. I can still see my
wonderful father walking from our house to the gasoline
plant wearing his hard hat, overalls, boots and swinging
his black metal lunch box. One night, after our football
game, I had a date and borrowed the family car. We were
sitting in the car in the parking lot of the Phillips
Community Hall during a dance, talking about the "Texas
Panhandle weather", when my father suddenly walked by on
his way home! He didn't look in our direction (I thought)
and the next day I believed that he might have forgotten
about it. While he was reading his newspaper, he blurted
out, "You know, son, many good Phillips young people might
just end up going to Hell by just parking their parents'
cars outside that community hall, instead of staying
inside and socializing!". That was all he said about the
matter. This experience motivated me to promptly buy my
first car and not park anywhere in Phillips.
As the top scholastic student in her class that
year, Mrs. Weston had me sit in a chair at the front
of the room while each of my classmates filed by to
shake my hand and offer words of heartfelt
congratulations, as only second graders could do. When
Mona came by, she shook my hand, looked me straight in
the eye with her own, narrowed, burning gaze, and
hissed, "The only reason you won this is because your
daddy is principal!" Yes, Mona did apologize at our
25th although it was unnecessary: I forgave her a long
time ago! It soon became one of those funny, childhood
stories you never forget. However, since I could never
top her in anything after that, I do like to bring it
up every once in a while to make her feel badly!
I remember wonderful times at the Phillips
Swimming Pool. In fact many things happened there.
I won't go into detail about some of the events,
there were many. If you had a key, life became even
more interesting, as we would open during late night
hours for friends to go "nite swimmin". One night,
the sheriff drove up and my best friend and I ended
up climbing up on the top of the basket room roof
and laying flat as he shined the lights all over. My
father would have murdered me if I had been
caught. Luckily we escaped and made a clean getaway
and took the "shortcut" home. I could not wait until
the pool opened each summer to model my new bathing
suit and of course my designer bathing cap (required
in those days). Getting a tan was usually a top
priority with my friends and me. We usually mixed a
concoction of baby oil and iodine for maximum
tanning. I would also love it when guys would pull
you over the "rope", sometimes so hard you would do
a double flip! I can smell the chlorine now! Great
days at the Phillips Pool and I had the honor of
working there two summers.
In 1962 Miss Boyd's English had to write a long
essay. Being the stickler that she was, it counted
for a large portion of that semester. Most
everyone that year flunked and had to take a
summer course. The only individual to get an
Excellent grade was Junior Beasly. Since we had to
do it up right and bind it, he went out and
skinned a rabbit and put it on it. She would not
touch it and he got the best grade on it. Rest of
us aced Summer School. What ever you may say about
Miss Boyd, bet you are able to spell better than
your coworkers
I was in the
band that marched in the Cotton Bowl in 1960. I
wasn't aware that a band went there later on.
Like you, I thought it was the greatest honor
ever. Our band was one of five Texas bands
invited to participate. I was disappointed that
we didn't get to participate in the Cotton Bowl
Parade and be on TV because it was raining. It
was great fun any way.
How many band members remember marching in
the Cotton Bowl in 1965 or was it 1966? We
made up a very small section of the United
States. Both Mr. Robbins and Mrs. Creel were
great and I know my excitement was off the
Richter scale.
Speaking of Jolly Drug, I remember in
the summer climbing the huge hill that the
railroad track was on top of to get to Jolly
Drug to buy comic books and candy and
climbing down it on the way back home. I also remember going to the canyon close
to where the McKennas' lived and walking or
scooting across a pipeline with a long drop
beneath. Of course, I am the little girl
whose neighbors would call my Mother and
say, "Your little girl is on the roof of
your house again".
The Past Time Club was a favorite
place to lose time in. I remember being
there with some older guys when Lucky
answered the phone and yelled that that
someone named Kimmins wanted to speak with
anyone there from Phillips. We were gone
in about 4 seconds. Didn't go back for two
weeks.
I remember selling
coke bottles (sometimes we had to
'borrow' the bottles from a neighbor's
back porch) to get 10 cents to go
swimming and another 15 cents to get a
coke and candy bar afterwards at Cut
Rate Foods. How could so much life and
fun be crammed into such a small little
town? Remember going on the all-day bus
trip with Mr. Kimmins to the Plains (or
Panhandle?) Museum in Canyon, then to
Thompson Park in Amarillo to eat your
sack lunch and swim? The bus ride home
after that seemed to last 7 hours! Wish I could do it just one more
time.....
If you remember Jolly's you can
not forget the Post, or Cone and
Burger, or the Jet. You probably went
to the Pantex and ordered fries or the
"Round the Clock." Perhaps you were in
one of the Girls Clubs or OFA_AFO. You
spent one summer getting bugs for Mrs.
Noel's science class and Jesse Martin
with his parrot. Yes, I remember
Harvest Moon Balls and Christmas
Formals and going to the Morley for
the movie afterwards. Some might even
spent the night in the park until the
water sprinklers came on and you spent
the rest of the morning on the church
lawn. Of course the fair was the
highlight of the summer then off to
two-a-days and school right behind.
Life at Phillips was unique.
Having your dress measured -
more than 3" above the knee would
get you sent home to change - and
this was when the rest of the
world's female population was barely
covering their panties. We all
became experts at rolling and
unrolling the waistbands of our
skirts, depending upon where we were
in the building and the probability
of running into Mr. K and/or a
teacher that paid attention to that
kind of thing! And jeans, actually
even pants, for girls were
blasphemous. My 16 year old niece
can't believe I wasn't allowed to
wear pants to school. She laughs out
loud( as she leaves for school in a
tank top and ripped jeans)
Who could forget Ms. Dynes in
Home Ec.? She'd always make us use
stuff in the frig that had a
coating of cooties and I'm sure it
could have cured some terrible
disease. Mrs. Thompson in sewing class
was my favorite - she always said
my hems were "as crooked as a
dog's hind leg". She also had the
greatest ability at threading a
needle. She hit the eye every time
on the first try.
Does anybody recall spending
a few hours and quarters at the
Past Time Club in Borger,
shooting snooker or pool? My
older brother often went there
after telling our folks that he
was going to the library to
study. I decided that I would
attempt that stunt one time.
I'll never know how my dad found
out, but he showed up there and
caught me red-handed and red
faced.
Recently, I
was visiting with Sherry
Bugg Hopkins who supervised
the swimming pool until it
was shut down. She told me a
couple of interesting
stories. As most of us know,
night swimming at the pool
was a favorite prank. Sherry
said that one time the pump
in the swimming pool
malfunctioned for nearly
three weeks until they
finally extracted a girl's
swimming suit from it.
Sherry later learned who the
girl was and that she had
actually lost her swimming
suit while night swimming………
hmmm… I wonder what the rest
of that story is??
Another story Sherry told
me was about her lifeguards
playing a prank on her.
Somehow, they had tied a
dummy to the drain at the
bottom of the swimming pool.
They then began frantically
yelling at Sherry. Sherry
said that the site shocked
her so much that she became
sick and vomited several
times. In between her
convulsions, she managed to
tell the lifeguards to run
and call 911. However, as
she was telling them this,
they all broke up into
hysterical laughter.
Talking
about Mr. Goeoge's
History class. Did you
know that he never
changed his way of
teaching? I got hold of
my Aunt's History
notebooks from 6 years
ahead of me, and I could
copy right from her
notebook word for word.
Even the test questions
were the same question
for question. It was
nice to know I didn't
have to hurry trying to
get everything copied
off the boards before
the end of class. If
anyone failed his class,
it was their own fault
since he gave us all the
questions that were
going to be on the tests
each week. Not too many
teachers out there like
Mr. George.
Mr.
George's History
Classes - there was
fear struck in the
heart of every
freshman with the
words, "If you drop
your pencil, you're 2
weeks behind." You are
so right, we need a
whole bunch of Mr.
George teachers today.
There are many, many
teachers from Phillips
who could teach some
of today's teachers a
thing or two. We were
so very fortunate.
Yes,
I, too, remember
attending Boy Scout
Troop 66 and
Explorer Post 66
meetings in the
basement of the old
Phillips Methodist
Church. When the old
PHS building burned,
the school library
was moved to the
same basement and I
remember paying more
attention to the
racks of books than
I did to the
meetings. I remember
Mr. Howard as a
scoutmaster. The
incredible Ed Pierce
was my favorite
scout leader. This
man had more
positive influence
on me as much as any
Phillips school
teacher. We took
trips to Philmont
Scout Ranch, Taos,
N.M. (I recall our
entire troop dancing
with some of the
Taos Pueblo Indians
in the town square),
Southwestern
Colorado and a big
trip to Mexico City.
Oh yes, I also
remember the weekend
campouts to Camp
Kiowa. As an adult,
I served as a
cubmaster and
scoutmaster for a
number of years and
never forgot
positive lessons
learned in that
Phillips Methodist
Church basement.
Continue on to
Memories
Page 3
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updated: 21 January 2009
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