Chance Tales~ A Story From Chance-LoebPROGRESS, PRIDE AND AN INTERCOM SYSTEM By Selma Williams Wilson When the Chance and Loeb schools were consolidated in 1957 and all of the old wooden structures were relocated to the neutral grounds on Hwy 96, some amazing transformations began to emerge. It seems each side had a misconception of what each community was like and how we lived. At first we children were a little hesitant to cross over the Mitchell Road division between the communities but by the end of the first six week period that giant iceberg began to melt and a beautifully clear stream flowed north and south. Parents, children and teachers pulled together in unison to make our community strong and productive. We had a new concept called PTA from which ideas and plans were born for the much needed fund raisers to finance the building of the new and modern brick and concrete buildings that were coming in the near future. Local celebrities like Cowboy John, Black Bart, Little Mickey and Uncle Willy donated their time and talents at a fall festival held in 1957. We had talent shows, bean bag tosses, cake walks, bake sales, pie auctions and raffle tickets were sold for things that had been donated by Jeffcoat’s Feed Store, Britain-Cravens Lumber Company, Pop Milner, Silsbee Jewelry Company, Swicegood’s Music Store and the grand prize was a brand new Marlin rifle donated by a sporting goods store in Beaumont. Capping off the evening was a concert by a man named Santy Runyon, (yes that was his real name), and his small six man orchestra. The music from his ‘licorice stick’ and the other instruments filled the air with harmonious tones and attitudes also. Each family went home that evening with something that little community needed…. A sense of pride. More festivals, fund raisers and community parties were held for anything that had a season like, Winter, Spring and Summer as well as holidays like Christmas, Easter, Labor Day and 4th of July. All of those moneys were saved and put aside for the new buildings. Playground equipment was not purchased from big stores but rather the men came together and built them from scratch. Local carpenters, pipe fitters, plumbers, welders and loggers blended their talents to make our swings, see-saws, monkey bars and merry-go-rounds. Sand was donated by a local sand pit owner and hauled in by the men who had pickup trucks. Older boys grabbed rakes and spread the sand being very careful to remove rocks, glass and other debris that could cause harm. Other items that could be made from scratch like blackboard erasers, curtains and pencil holders were crafted by groups of women who met during the week. Donations were sought out by some of our more persuasive citizens which garnered things like pencil sharpeners, chalk, clocks for each classroom and even cooking utensils for the kitchen. Even a large chest type freezer was donated by an appliance store in Silsbee for the ice-cream that was sold during our recesses from the concession building. It was all coming together in a collaborative effort that not only built the school that the architects had designed but a much bigger and better school that had some ultra modern amenities that other school districts watered at the mouth for, like electric bells, folding lunch tables, an instant folding stage and one big wonderful innovative piece of equipment called an intercom system. We knew we had arrived in the big world with that intercom system. The controls of the intercom were located in the main office and maintained by Bobbie Adams, Billie Jean Skelton and Yvonne Cudd who were our secretaries at that time. Each morning during homeroom, a chosen student would key in the heavy silver microphone and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Then either Mr. Garner, our superintendent, or Mr. Pipkin, our principal would make announcements and give birthday greetings. At the end of these announcements a volunteer student or one of the local pastors would lead us in prayer…. Okay, I know… No prayer in schools now… but at that time prayer was the solid foundation on which we began our days. No child or parent, to my knowledge, ever protested our shared morning prayer. That’s the way it was then, and in my humble opinion, that’s the way it should still be. I digress…Sorry for the politics… actually not sorry!… back to the point of the intercom. During the day sporadic crackling would fill the classroom and a student or teacher would be called to the office. Important events would be keyed in to a radio, like the launches from our newly formed space explorations, political speeches or important weather reports and we would listen intently from the comfort of our desks as history and events unfolded. The magic of that tan box with a removable cloth screen caught the imagination of one student, not as a communication device, but rather as an opportunity. Thus began the great afternoon concert caper. No… I didn’t do it! This time that is. Four transistor radios tuned to the same station and set at the same volume were hidden behind the cloth screens in the four pod classrooms on that one hall. It was a covert operation done with only those four boys knowing what was happening. It transpired during the lunch break when the classrooms were void of students and teachers. Their plan went off without a hitch and when lunch was over we returned to a classroom filled with crooners and rockers like Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, Jay and the Americans, the Supremes, Petula Clark and Chubby Checker serenading our studies. Teachers and students alike thought we were being given a special treat from the offices. It actually was relaxing us and for the first forty-five minutes or so the four particular teachers accepted the music but when Shirley Bassey began belting out ‘Goldfinger’ suspicions among them began to surface. The fateful blow came when the Kingsmen began ‘Louie Louie’. That song struck a bad chord with the teachers. One of the students was immediately dispatched to the office to stop the music. A few minutes later she returned to the classroom with a puzzled look on her face. “Mrs. Adams says the radio and intercom aren’t on,” she reported. Still the music played. I can’t quite remember who our teacher was for that particular class but it had to be either Mr. Bundy, Mr. Warfield, Coach Nash or perhaps Mr. Smith, but I do remember the solid field of tension that hung over us like a Chicago overcoat. Again… I and all but one of the students in that class were innocent. We had no earthly idea what was going on. The teachers assembled in the hall for a meeting. Just as soon as that door closed one young man, whose name I will not mention… well maybe I will … (Vernon Nobles) jumped to his feet, clamored up on a desk, retrieved his transistor radio and jumped back in his desk like nothing had happened. Two of the other three pranksters in other classrooms did the exact thing… One continued letting his radio broadcast from behind the cloth screen. This proved to be the fatal error in their plan. Now here we sit… innocent as lambs… knowing then what had transpired but either unable or unwilling to rat out the conspirator. After investigation began to take a more ominous turn and what seemed like a lifetime of finger pointing, accusations, threats of punishment and losses of privileges the conspirators turned themselves in and were promptly given a three day vacation. To ensure that this type of prank would never occur again our custodians were ordered to place small metal straps over the front of the removable covers and secure them with bolts drilled deeply into the walls. It never did occur again but I fondly remember the afternoon of music. The only regret….. DANG! I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF THAT!
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