Sunday, August 2, 2009

BHS Class of '39


-click to enlarge-

Had a request to post this montage of the graduates of 1939, their associates and sponsors.

I apologize for cutting off some of the data at bottom; the article was larger than my scanner bed. I scanned it in 3 sections, but it absolutely would not stitch together, no matter how hard I tried.

Bet some of you have relatives in the photo, or can recall some of them.

Trivia: What was Armour Lee Gentry's nickname that he carried with him all his life?

______________________________

Courtesy of Betty Smith Massengill.

24 comments:

  1. how about "SCRAM"? haha

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  2. Is that Lanny Outlaw's mother on the top row?

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  3. Yes, Mrs Elbert Outlaw is Lanny Outlaw's mother. Several familiar faces on this one.

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  4. Lanny was born about 3 years later after this, the very night the tornado tore up Baldwyn in 1942.

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  5. The principal, G.E. Oakley was George Oakley, my second cousin. He had 2 sons that played basketball for Booneville High School. They are George Samual Oakley and his brother Bob Oakley.
    He later owned a grocery store at Wheeler and the one Frankstown.

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  6. George Samuel did more than play basketball for Booneville. He was arguably the best guard of the 50's, very fast and good shooter and Harrison Arnold had their offense built around him and Bob Arnold. He also played under Babe McCarthy at Mississippi State U.

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  7. Wasn't John or Dorsey McKay a long time Methodist minister?

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  8. Speaking of ball and Wheeler, I was at a DSU Alumni meeting in Brookhaven last week and visited with Alton Ricks who grew up in Wheeler. He told me that Delta State played the Republic of Mexico at the Wheeler gym in Feb. of 1942. Anyone know anything about that??

    Henry

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  9. Don't know about the basketball game because I wasn't born until 1943. Alton Ricks sounds like he might be kind to Mrs. Aileen Ricks Hoover. She went to Wheeler School and lived around Medow Creek.

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  10. Thanks for the picture of Annie Laurie Walker. She was a FOX. Verrrrry pretty and poised!

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  11. Alton and Aileen are siblings. They also had a brother, Gordon. They're my mother's first cousins. I tell you, I'm kin to half of Prentiss County.

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  12. Jo Carolyn,
    You should be proud that you are kin to half of Prentiss County. That's a good thang! There are a lot of good God fearing folks from Prentiss County.

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  13. Sure enough. If you're a Ricks, Glover,Prather, Pratt, Bartlett, or Grisham, I'll claim you. Not too many of my Andersons are left around there. Oh, yes. Mustn't forget the Nanneys.

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  14. Jo Carolyn,
    I was born in Booneville and the doctor that delivered me was Dr. Anderson. Was he any relation to you.

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  15. Jo Carolyn,

    John Ray Ricks coached at Delta State for many years. i taught his son Phil who is a doctor in Oak Ridge, TN. I think John Ray is a cousin of Alton?? Both of them played basketball at Wheeler and Delta State.

    Henry

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  16. Dr. Anderson was from a different bunch of Andersons. John Ray Ricks, Alton, and mother are first cousins. You may know John Ray's brother, Arliss.

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  17. Dr. Anderson was a prominent physican and GP in Booneville for many years. He was also publisher of two papers there, The BANNER and INDEPENDENT. His wife was active in the newspaper business, also. My dad worked for both papers simultaneously. He received his Army draft notice during WW2 and told Mrs Anderson he had to quit to go. She stormed out and came back later with a deferment for him. That's how much weight she carried in that town.

    Dr. Anderson removed my tonsils just before I started school in '45. I remember it well due to the agony of the ether that they used to sedate me then. I still smell it today.

    Even small towns in those days had a need for two newspapers - a conservative and a liberal one each.

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  18. Carl,
    Since your daddy was in the newspaper business I bet you would know another of my cousins...Gerald Hodges. I have already told you that George Oakley was my cousin. By the way do you still have any of those "good" comic books that you used to show around in High School?

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  19. I remember Gerald well. He and dad worked together at the Booneville newspapers for a time. Gerald went away to work at a larger paper, don't recall which or where, but came back to Wheeler and opened up his own business at his home. He worked there for the rest of his career.

    One of his creations is the basketball finals program further back on this blog. His photo is on a posting even further back.

    I assume you are referring to the comic books that the peanut man sold? No, haven't seen one in many years!

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  20. Hey, we are all kin! Arlis Ricks was married to my aunt Maude Enis(she passed away in 08)
    He is in thebasketball coaches Hall of Fame in Jackson. Coached at Hinds Jr. College in Raymond for years.
    Virginia T.

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  21. Was it Hinds or Copiah Lincoln? There was one Ricks at CoLin.

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  22. While yall are at it; check the basketball coaches hall of fame for Billy Oakley another second cousin of mine. He coached many years at Northwest Junior College in Senatobia. His daddy Claude Oakley played baseball at Mississippi State. Billy had 2 sons, Kenny and Dickey Oakley that played baseball for Ole Miss.

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  23. Arlis was at Hinds and CoLin.

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