My Wise Old Grandmother - Russel Ray, 1970-1973

1967-1970
After graduating from Flato Elementary, it was on to
Memorial Junior High School, built in 1909 as the
original Henrietta M. King High School, serving until
1966 when the new King High School was built out
in the boondocks across town.

I didn’t get into as much trouble at Memorial Junior
High, probably due to my wise old grandmother’s
love, and her persistent and consistent discpline.
However, Jim, Jim, and I continued to hang out
together and did keep getting into trouble, just not
as often. Galen turned himself around and was voted
“Most Courteous” in the seventh grade.

Since the school was not air conditioned, Jim, Jim,
and I would sit in the back of the rooms and climb
out the windows when the teacher was writing on
the chalkboard. Corporal punishment was still the
norm in Kingsville at the time, and the paddlings
were frequent in all grades, but particularly in Mrs.
Lutz’s Civics class in eighth grade.

Hurricane Beulah visited Kingsville on September
19, 1967, and brought almost 15 inches of rain. It
took out the large hackberry tree in our back yard,
knocking it over into our neighbor’s garage. The
junior high was damaged and closed for a couple of
days while the city cleaned up.

In ninth grade, I had my maternal grandmother,
Mrs. Brinley, as my English teacher. Prior to having
her, I made A’s and B’s in course work but
Unsatisfactory or F in conduct. Jim, Jim, and I used
to sit in the back of Mrs. Brinley’s class and shoot
spitballs onto the ceiling and the lights. Regardless
of how bad I was, Grandma would not give me
anything less than a C in conduct, although they
were all C-. That broke up my friendship with the
two Jims because they thought I was playing favorite
with my Grandma.

Between ninth and tenth grade, one of my friends,
Rick Davis, drowned in the community swimming
pool in his neighborhood.

Memorial Junior High School Teachers
Kingsville, Texas
Ester Bajza and Perry Mixon, Science—They
got me really interesed in science, and I was great
friends with Mrs. Bajza’s daughters, Laura and
Susan.

Jerry Barton, Social Studies and Tennis—As much
as I loved tennis, practice kept me after school,
sometimes until 6: 00 p.m., which didn’t sit well with
my wise old grandmother, so eventually I had to
give it up. It’s still one of my favorite sports.

Mary Alice Brinley and Claire Stockton, English-
Mrs. Brinley is my maternal step-grandmother and
taught me in ninth grade.

George Bronaugh, Instrumental Music—My
orchestra teacher in grade school, junior high, and
high school. I made Regional Orchestra, State
Orchestra, and State Youth Symphony under his
guidance, as well as earning several violin solo and
violin/piano duet awards.

Carolyn Casper, Vocal Music—She could do
anything with a musical note. I made Regional
Chorus three times under her direction. She also
taught high school, but by the time I got there, I quit
vocal music to dedicate myself to orchestra. She
almost cried when I walked in to tell her that I was
not taking her class in tenth grade, but I’ve been a
member of many vocal groups after high school
because of her.

Pat Gross, Counselor—An extremely kind and
intelligent woman who cared for the students.

Catherine Lutz, Grace McNabb, and Vera
Spinks, Social Studies—Mrs. Lutz taught Civics
and was about five feet tall, so I towered over her
at six feet. She was not intimidated by me or my
antics, though, and I’m sure I was one of her most
problematic students ever. I suspect she thought I
hated her but I really didn’t; she taught me the joys
of citizenship. Mrs. McNabb taught my dad and his
three brothers.

Gary Merchant, Joe Mendietta, Thomas Munoz,
and Ruth Smith, Mathematics—They stoked my
interest in math, especially Mr. Munoz in algebra.

Gerald Thomas, Sherwood Thompson, and Nato
Vera, Health & Physical Education—I always hated
sports until I had these three coaches.

Junior High School Friends
Laura Bajza, Mark Borup, Rick Davis,
Dirk DeKoch, Sarita Gardner, George Gillespie,
Steve Goddard, Nancy Harrel, Jerald Hedrick,
Jackie Holder, Carol Johnson, Vicki Kennon,
Kathy Kiel, Sharon Lovelace, Jim Maddox,
Suzanne Maurer, Carole New, Jamie Perez,
Marybelle Perez, Jim Peterson, Chet Roberts,
Mark Simmons, Charlie Simons, Kristi Sumney,
Colleen Vaughan, Carol Wilder, Jim Word,
Connie Wyro, Dnese Young

Personal notes written to me in my 1968 seventh
grade annual: “This would have been a dull year
without you around.” (Nancy Kay); “You’ll have
some trouble in life. ... you have what can take you
to the top!” (Kathy Kiel); “...you have helped us a
lot.” (Carolyn Casper, Chorus teacher); “....sort of
nutty but neat.” (Chet Roberts); “....sometimes a
stupid nut.” (Jerald Hedrick); “If your pay is small
and your jobs are few, remember that the mighty
oak was once a nut like you.”—unsigned