JPS 6h Grade Class 1954-55.jpg 176.65KB
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I just about keeled over when, quite by accident, I stumbled across this forum on my iPad. The class picture posted by Shelly Debnam hit me like a punch. Looking at me from across the decades was the imposing visage of Mr. Donald Harter, our principal. That was the first thing that caught my eye. It was like he was still watching me and brought back memories of how the disapproving glare from him could make an errant schoolboy like me behave himself. The class picture was just like my 6th grade class photo which I am posting. Mine is the class of 1954-55 with Mrs. Dobson as our teacher
In the picture, I'm standing next to Mr. Harter. To my left was John La Hood. On the second row, third from the left is Ann, to her left is a girl whose name I recall as Sandra and next to her was Tyrone, Ann's brother. I don’t remember their last names. On the front row, second from the right is Junior Brown. Fred or "Junior" as he was called was a good student and most memorable about him was his impeccable penmanship and how carefully he crafted his writing. I cannot recall the names of the other classmates but bet if I were given a list of names I could match most them up with faces.
The class pictures posted by Ms. Debnam have Dickie Kirks in them. He lived next door to me and was a year behind me at JPS. The outside picture in the school yard would have been taken, I judge, during the 1955-56 school year when I went across town to Ernest J. Parker Junior High School. He is sitting on the far left front row in the outside picture and is in the second row on the stairway picture.
It’s too bad that JPS had to go by the way of the wrecking ball and could not have found new life as something else. The Gothic Revival style architecture was worth preserving and would have added a sense of history and character to the area. I returned to Ft. Worth several years ago for a memory drive around the area and was disappointed to see a parking lot where that wonderful school building once stood.