Darryl Morris: Musings and Memories ....

We received this missive to the blog from Darryl Morris, written before the "Noah" post, but only received afterward, and wanted to share it with all of you.

Dear Nicki,

Despite my very busy retirement life (Ha!), I’ve been checking your class blog occasionally and have thoroughly enjoyed reading all the posts and comments. You’ve done a really good thing by setting all this up to provide a venue for your classmates to relive fond memories and to keep in touch. I wish my own Quail High School Class of 1956 had done such a thing, but it’s too late for us to attempt it now. First of all, only a few of the remaining 17 members (from a class of 22) even have computers. Secondly, primarily due to health considerations, none would have the time or energy to maintain the project at the high level you’ve established in your own blog.

Although I am reluctant to “horn in” on the Class of 1963’s very special and very personal space, I have wanted for quite some time to express my gratitude for the nice remarks that you, Jennifer, Sheila Davis-Martinez, and Betty Smith Merritt have made about me. Despite my gratitude, however, I find it so very hard to believe that in my bumbling first efforts at teaching, I had the personal impact expressed in the aforementioned comments; and I find myself wondering what on earth I must have done to warrant such nice remarks. When I was teaching at CHS, I was, to tell the truth, very insecure about my qualifications; and I didn’t think I was doing anything out of the ordinary—I was just hoping I could find some way for my students to come to enjoy poetry, literature, and just learning things as much as I did. I generally went home every afternoon hoping I hadn’t made a fool of myself and hoping as well that I hadn’t somehow led some student astray. Regardless, I am most appreciative—and most humbled—by all that I have read.

Several names have come up in the various posts and comments that have triggered memories of my own, and I would like to touch upon them here. First, I saw the name of Bettye Shahan. During my senior year at Quail, we played baseball against Childress; and if I recall correctly, the Childress pitcher—and a good one he was—was named Bill Shahan. Is this her brother? I also remember that a fellow named F. A. Davis was a member of the Childress baseball team, but I think F. A. was probably in the class of ’56 or thereabouts.

I also noted Shirley Neel’s name. I remember that on one of my Army leaves, I visited my old high school buddy Dean Maxwell in Childress, and we had a night out at the Country Club. Two or three of my former students were there (I wish I could remember who they were), and we had a nice visit. One of them was Shirley Neel. And, if I remember correctly, someone talked Shirley into singing with the band that was playing that night. I think she sang a country song, although I can’t say for sure. What I do remember very clearly, however, is that I thought Shirley had a very, very good voice.

I’ve seen the names of Don Seal and Jimmy “Atlas” Czewski come up in the blog on a couple of occasions. I really enjoyed knowing those two characters. I remember that I used to pronounce Jimmy’s name as “C-zoosky” to see if I could get a rise out of him, but he took it very well. On one occasion he and Don Seal took me on a spelunking adventure through some gypsum caves in someone’s cow pasture. I thoroughly enjoyed the outing with those two fun-loving guys. I recalled the cave adventure when I was in Vietnam and performed one stint as a tunnel rat—which was not enjoyable.

I remember Barry Wakefield as an excellent speaker; and I also remember a couple of other “wild thangs” in my class: Chicken Mitchell and Doug Greer.

In his picture, Wayne Havens looks like he’s feeling great. Obviously he’s doing great as an educator. One of my graduating classmates from Quail was Bob Havens, who now lives in Clarendon. I wonder if they are relatives.

I’ve seen references to the Saieds in a couple of comments. Another group of the Saieds also lived in Wellington. Mack and Fred Saied owned and operated the Leader clothing store there in town. Mack has long been retired, but he and his wife Lam are both still very active in the community, with Mack being particularly active in the VFW. Fred Saied married Barbara Farha from Childress, and they moved to Kansas where Fred also had a clothing store until he passed away some years ago. Barbara went to North Texas State College, and I saw her quite often when I would travel from SMU to Denton to visit with a Wellington buddy named Don Rayburn. We spent a lot of time in the commons area of Barbara’s dormitory, just visiting and joking around with her and two or three of her college friends. I recently saw Barbara at a Wellington High School reunion, and she was still as lively and fun-loving as ever. I remember that I taught Barbara’s little sister (whose name I’m ashamed to say has just escaped me) during my last year at CHS.

I also coached the freshman boys basketball team during my last year there. I don’t think we won a game that season, but the blame rests on bad coaching alone since the young men on the team were definitely a talented bunch.

Congratulations to Jim on his induction into the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame. One of our athletes from Quail High School is also a recent inductee. Her name is Jo Helen White Cabbell. She was an outstanding basketball player in high school, and she played with a team called Dowell’s Dolls when she was in college. Additionally, she was on the women’s basketball team which took gold in the 2^nd Pan American Games in 1955. I had the pleasure (and honor) of writing a letter of recommendation for her induction into the PSHF.

I’ve rambled on far too long, so I’ll bring this to a close. I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed your blog and to congratulate you for the wonderful job you have done in setting it up and maintaining it. Jennifer’s posts and all other comments have also been a delight to read, and I hope that more and more members of your class will soon start making their own contributions.

Sincerely,

Darryl Morris