In May of 1949, the RHS Senior Class was bussed to Galveston
Island for our Senior Trip. We stayed in the Coronado Courts,
right on the beach. It was the first time that many of us had
seen such a big body of water, the Gulf of Mexico with endless
sandy beaches, lots of (make that, too much) sun and all that
parental control left back in Ranger. We all knew about catfish
but many of us learned for the first time about crabs, shrimp,
ocean fish filets, and that delightful sea creature, stinging
nettle and something called the Spanish man'o'war and a few
learned about the exotic Margarita substituting for the rare
Mingus bottle of BUD - WISER!!!
Two brave faculty members, Coach Sam Ails and Miss Margaret
Meacham, accompanied us as sponsors/chaperones. Did anyone
think to chaperone those two?
Actually, we were pretty well behaved and it was quite a
learning experience, especially for our sponsors---chaperones??
Would it be fun for that same group to go again? Maybe for
a few, but probably not for the majority.
We had one tagalong -- John Gilbert --but that's okay because
he later married Joy Harper. Doak remembers that we had trouble
getting back up Ranger Hill due to engine overheating, but we
made it along with lots of great memories. The photos are faded
because May of 1949 was over 55 years ago:
John Gilbert & Joy Harper and THE BUS
Where we stayed.
It was great fun but soon time to hit
the road for the return to Ranger.