As a student in Temple School in the 1940s, I never dreamed that sixty years later I would pay tribute to my teachers.
In first grade Miss Bowles was stern and no student would dare cross her. She taught respect for teachers. Miss Woods read to my second grade class daily after lunch. She taught that reading was fun. Ester Powell promoted me to fourth grade even though I didn’t know arithmetic (a result of California schooling most of that year). She spared me the humility of failing. Elizabeth Hooper’s geography lessons opened my mind to other cultures. Mrs. Vencill’s 6th grade class was a no nonsense experience. Erma Dawson demonstrated patience and caring from which I learned some of the same. Miss McClarty got us singing, and I’ve never stopped. Mrs. Blackburn led us into poetry, some of which I often remember. Pa Price taught Math and inadvertently storytelling. Mrs. Kennedy made us diagram sentences day after day. From that I gained knowledge of sentence structure which helped me through college and an Army career. Mrs. Hickerson taught speech and helped get me out of my shyness. Lewis Knight taught Agriculture. Looking back I can see that he was amazingly tolerant of the pranks of the boys in his classes. I know for a fact that most of those boys have turned out to be good men. Some have apologized to him for their behavior and others would like to apologize. Lewis a 1939 Temple grad attended the Tiger reunion and seems unscathed by our indiscreet behavior. I think he is a fine man and I know past students love him for his patience and kindness.
Athletic coaches were a big influence too. James Taylor was a great teacher. His example gave me the idea to go to college to become a football coach. (I was sidetracked from coaching by a military obligation that turned out OK.) It is a truth: Teachers make a difference in our lives.
(This is reprinted from my Kernels from Temple column in the Walters Herold in January 2006.) --Harold Powell
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I graduated from Temple High School in 1979. I went to school in Temple for 12 years. I remember the wonderful teachers that I had through the years! Mrs. Kerr, Mrs. Lowe, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Ginn, Mrs. Harrel, just to name a few. These teachers cared so deeply about their students. I can still remember the time that Mrs. Ginn gave several of us girls a busting. Us girls had decided that we were not going to study for a upcoming test that Mrs. Ginn was going to give us. We all failed the test. Mrs. Ginn chopped her own firewood. She gave us a hard busting, but we sure studied from then on for every test that she gave us. That was the only time that I ever had got a busting in school. Temple Public Schools had some great teachers and examples when I went to school back in the 60's and 70's. I am still proud to be a Temple Tiger to this very day.
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