Bad Decisions Remembered From the Class of '52?

Jerry Bowles, THS class of 1952 writes from his home on Lake Martin, Eclectic, Alabama. He was my neighbor and buddy about from birth on. --Harold Powell

Every thing is going well here. I stay busy doing flowers, yard, and working on things. I have pretty much finished remodeling the inside and out side of my lake house. I am taking some time off to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I have had several groups here for parties this summer and that helps to keep me motivated. Otherwise being that I am 75 years young now, it is much easier to put things off. I was sorry to hear that Alfred Poemoceah died. I remember his playing basketball so well. He was quick as a cat and was always stealing basketballs from the other teams. When he was a senior, in the state playoffs, we lost to Mangum by 2 points and they won the state championship.

I remember Sue Wilson being in the band. The things that I remember about being in the band go way past the things that she told about.

The highlight of my band experience was as senior and finally having the seniority to sit on the back two rows of the band bus. A lot of stuff went on back there. We took a lot of teasing from the football studs about being sissies and being in the band. I told them that while they were on the football bus holding their helmets, we were on the band bus holding their girls.

My strongest memory and lesson well learned was when we were in the band room waiting to go out and play for a football game. Norma Jean Reece played the snare drums. She was standing with her back to me and I poked her in the butt. Bad decision. I didn't know that she had a drum stick in her hand. I soon found out as she turned and whacked me on top of the head.

The two band directors that I remember are Mr. Neaderhiser and Mr. Powell. Mr. Neaderhiser was tough on us and would carry a clipboard around and scream, holler, and shout 4 letter words at us. We did end up having a pretty good band. Mr. Neaderhiser went to Midwest City and the School hired Mr. Powell.

Mr. Powell was sort of a wimp and we took advantage of him. Our senior year he was having us play some slow arrangement. Vonden Richardson played the bass tuba and I played the trombone. We decided to liven things up and started playing Bartlesville Boogie underneath the rest of the band. Yes, Mr. Powell did get upset and said if you can't play right go to study hall. Vonden got up and put his horn in the storage room and I did also. We didn't go to study hall; we went to the drug store down town. Bad decision. We both got our butts chew out and whipped. That was the only whipping that I ever got in school.

Being in the band was a good experience and a lot of fun. We went to a many band festivals and got to march at Norman and see OU play football, MSU at Wichita Falls, and Cameron in Lawton. Later on in life, I became involved in ballroom dancing. Being in the band and knowing the basic of music and how to count music really made learning to dance much easier. I'm still dancing today because “my song is not sung, my bell is not rung and my dancing is not done”. I'll have to admit that my fling is pretty much done.

-Jerry Bowles, THS Class 1952