TCHS Alumni News - And the real story of 1950-56 is...

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And the real story of 1950-56 is...

By Rees Clark '60

Aug 24, 2004 -- Planning for the current 50th anniversary celebration has revealed a hole in history, and we alumni need to plug it.

I've been asking all alumni to help record the early history of the TC school district; there seems to be no memory of it actually IN the school district. Please help by adding your comments below. I'll salt the mine with some notes from letters I've received. See also other articles on the pre-TCUSD years.

I'd be happy to have (selected) photos from the 1950-1959 era for publication. Please choose well. If you can scan them as JPEGs that's best. Maximum file size is one megabyte.

Your fellow alumni report:

Anita (Merryman) Bowers (1956): I'll be happy to tell you what I remember. I arrived at Temple City Junior High School from Longden Elementary School in 1950 as the first 7th grade class. My sister, Marilyn Merryman Sandbom transferred TCJHS that same year from Wilson High School as a 10th grader. After one year at TCJHS she was transferred to PCC for her 11th and 12th year. I don't recall if she had other options. Every class before us, on finishing their 10th year, was transferred elsewhere. My class, the class of 1956, had no senior class ahead of us during our 10th and 11th years. Conversely, at the same time they were eliminating the entrance of 7th graders. For example, when we were sophomores, the last 7th grade class was formed and they took up the rear until after we graduated. They actually had the opposite experience. By the time we were seniors we were heady with power. Most of us were involved with the decision to have the Ram as our mascot, the fight song lyrics and the choice of school colors.

RC: My class (1960) was the one that spent eight years in elementary school, due to the decision to admit no more 7th graders. Longden, Cloverly and Emperor schools became K-8 for two years. So we were big frogs in those small ponds small ponds. By the end of 8th grade some of us had to reach way down to wash our hands in the classroom sinks. I can't remember what happened to La Rosa school. I don't think it ever was K-8, as I don't remember LR teams on the fields of athletic glory. :-) Lest those ahead or behind us be tempted to comment: No, we didn't have to stay in elementary school until we got it right.

And you?

Reader Comments

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Bob Morton	Aug 29, 2004	Bellingham, WA	Chemical Engineer
My 2 cents- I was part of the first group of kids that went to La Rosa. I think the first year was 1954. For us on the south side of TC, I can recall attending Encinita (Part of the Rosemead school district) thru grade 2 and then to Cloverly for grade 3, while La Rosa was being built. We attended La Rose through grade 6 and then moved up to Oak Avenue for 7th and 8th grade. One thing that stands out in those years was the limitation on school bus service, and (in th eera of one car families)the resultant controversy over who got to ride the bus and who got to walk.


Janice Helmer (68)	Sep 06, 2004	Temple City, CA	Retired
I was a member of the first kindergarten class at La Rosa starting in September 1954 school year. La Rosa was a K-6th grade school until September 1960 when it changed to a K-3rd grade school with 4th-6th grades located at Cloverly. That is how La Rosa and Cloverly are currently split. And yes there is a 50 year anniversary of our being the first kindergarten class in the though process of being planned for next year.


Anne Collins Walker	Sep 08, 2004	Jackson Hole, WY and Tucson, AZ	retired
Anita Merryman Bowers has a good memory for what our class, '56 contributed. We chose all the traditions because we were the upperclassmen for 3 years. Our campus was the Oak Avenue site, but with a wonderful clock tower in the middle of what once was a squash farm. I lived right around the corner on Camino Real and can remember walking through the field after the squash had been harvested, to find some missed gourds. We would let them dry out and paint them. They made great maracas! Temple City in the 50's was really right out of "Happy Days." We walked everywhere. The camellia parade was Americana at its very best. Football games were big deals. No one had air conditioning and I have vivid memories of coming home from shool to find my mom and her hilarious friends fanning themselves as they played bridge in their shorts and brassiers. They, and all their children, put on musicals. We even did a minstral show one year. It's a shame there is no historical record of these times.


Rees	Sep 08, 2004	Puget Sound	Editor
Anne, YOU are the historian. Thanks for your contribution. The more alumni who share their stories, the less you need lament the loss of the past. It's up to you, friends.


Judy Turner Conway	Sep 11, 2004	Laguna Niguel,CA	RN
Diane Macdermed and I were the first female cheerleaders, elected in 1955. Our cheerleading in those days was not nearly as athletic as it is now. I remember Dale Long was one of the three male cheerleaders. We got into trouble for climbing up on the roof of the gym to get some daring pictures for the yearbook. Anne is right, it was "Happy Days".


JAE	Mar 08, 2005	Ventura	Management
I lived on Camino Real and loved the fact that I was so close to Oak Ave Jr. High. The School served as my back yard for years. We had chicken coop that was adjacent to the perimeter fence to the school and as a result the “livestock” would often make their way on to the athletic fields. In one of my more foolish moments as a kid, I found myself stuck on the gym roof. The fire department was quickly dispatched to pluck my down.


Pat	Sep 20, 2005	Lexington, KY	Executive Assistant
I went to Menlo Avenue Elementary, John Adams Junior High, Manual Arts High School, all located in Los Angeles. I graduated from high school in January 1956. It would be lovely to hear from those who are familiar with these schools. Junior high was 1950 to 1953 and high school 1953 to 1956. I miss the way Los Angeles use to be. It WAS "The City of The Angels" and it is sad for me, when I visit, to see what my birth place has become. Thank you.

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