My memories of Midland began in July 1949. We were living in Mexia, TX. Dad came home and announced that we would be moving to Midland. The Pure Oil Co had a long-term contract to sell all its oil at a price that had been overtaken by inflation. I spent my first two weeks of my junior year at Mexia High School. In geometry class, we did nothing but memorize the twelve theorems upon which all proofs were based. This effort became germain my first day in Mrs. Phillipus’ geometry class at Midland High School.
We had moved into an apartment in the old BOQ at Terminal. I think that Mom took me to school the next day. The only thing that I remember from that day was meeting Coach Red Rutledge in the Principal’s office and again in my typing class (the most useful course I took in High School). I had been in the typing class for maybe two months, and during my time trials, I was typing about 35 words per minute. You should note that for each error, we took five keystrokes off of our score. At about this time, Coach Rutledge told us that he was changing the scoring rules. From that date forth, for each error, we had to subtract five words (25 keystrokes). On the next trial, I did the equivalent of taking 25 words a minute off a blank sheet of paper. I got a lot better as time went by.
Our physics teacher, Coach Patterson, took us out to a country road. We had at least one stopwatch. We got out, and Coach Patterson drove one mile down the road. He got out of the car and got our attention by waving at us. When we were all ready, he fired the shotgun. We started the stopwatch when we saw the smoke come out of the barrel and stopped it when we heard the bang. We had measured the speed of sound.
By changing schools, David Laverty, Guy Vanderpool, and I had lost one year of football eligibility. Therefore we practiced and played with the Junior Varsity team during the 1949 season.
On the 8th of October 1949, I became 16 years old and eligible for a Texas Drivers license. I went to the courthouse the first Saturday after my birthday. I aced the written exam, and then we started the driving test. I managed to get through the entire test, and the examiner told me that I had failed for many minor reasons. The next Saturday, the examiner and I got into the car and began the test. At the first corner, he said: “Turn Right.” I did, at the next corner and the next, and the next, he repeated: “Turn Right.” When we got to our starting point, he said: “Park.” He said: “you failed the test because you failed to yield the right of way on the first turn.” I wanted to spend some time in town sop Mom dropped me off, and I had to hitch-hike back to Terminal. A group of us were in the city park on west Wall Street. About 2:30 PM, I decided it was time for me to start my trip home to Terminal. About the third car, I thumbed stopped. I noticed something peculiar going on as he stopped. His window had opened, and his left arm was outside hanging down in the sign for stopping. It was the officer who had examined me that morning. For the next ten miles, he did everything right by the book. The following Saturday, I received my license without any comments.
I don’t recall anything else of significance for the rest of the school year.
During the summer, I got a job at the Washateria. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I did what I was told to do, nothing more, nothing less. After two weeks, I was told don’t bother to come back. Apparently, it was easier to do what they wanted me to do than to spend all day supervising my every action. I didn’t know that I had learned a powerful message until many years later.
During the summer between my Junior and Senior year, two events of note happened. First, we moved from Terminal to a house we rented at 1100 West Illinois. When I walked out the front door and kept on walking across the street, I found myself on the walkway to the main entrance to Midland High School. Across the street to the right of our house was the Youth Center. To me, it was an ideal location. I enjoyed school so much that I was the first one to school almost every day. The second event was that I became sweet on a young lady who could sing like a diva. To spend more time with her, I joined the Youth Choir at the First Medothist Church. The Minister of Music insisted that I sing tenor instead of the melody. When I got it right, I fell in love with harmony. A song was put in my heart, and I didn’t care which one it was. Just so you know my status, when I sang, I perceived that I sounded like Jim Neighbors. When I heard my voice recorded, I realized that everyone else was hearing Gomer Pyle.
Football season started immediately. Our ineligibility year was over, so Gus Baker, David Laverty, Guy Vanderpool, and Fred Underwood became members of the practice team preparing the Varsity for the games. Coach Tugboat Jones and his single-wing offense did very well. In District play, we lost to Odessa and soundly beat Lubbock Lubbock then beat Odessa. We were all set to be in a three-way tie for District Champions. All we had to do was to earn a win over little Lamesa (the district doormat). Alas, we lost 14 to 12. As I recall it, after the end of football season, the sweet young thing that put a song in my heart dumped me for a basketball player. I still thank her for putting that song in my heart. She now lives in Albuquerque
I took every math course the school offered and all the science courses except biology. I thoroughly enjoyed my two years living in Midland. After graduation, I went to the U.S. Naval Academy and retired 32 years later. By that time, I had no connections left in Midland. So we retired in Appomattox, Va.
My Junior year, I was a cheerleader. I don’t know how I was lucky enough to accomplish this, but it all started with Eloise Conger. We knew each other casually just by interacting in passings in the halls, etc.. One day she stopped me and said we need to talk. Wow! What could this be? We stepped aside and she asked me if I would be interested in being a cheerleader? What! Me, a cheerleader? After the talk, I learned she was wanting to build a team of six to do Cheerleading for next year. The team would be her, Margaret McDaniels, Ann Eliot (yes, Eloit), Bill Wristen, Bobby Saw and me. In short, we ran and we were elected as the team for 1957.
MHS graduations, back then, consisted of an all-night dinner/dance/music/prize event. If you lasted long enough to stay for the final prize drawing, you could see which graduating senior won a brand new CAR! Yes, a CAR. Now I don’t know who thought this car gift up, whether it was donated by Elder Chevrolet, or the school board budgeted it for the grad gift, or some generous Midlander gifted it, or just what, but in the preceding years, 1955, 56 and 57, one very lucky graduating senior had received a brand new car! Of course, this was the highlight of the evening (morning), so most of us stuck around to see who was to be that lucky person.
The summer after graduation, I decided to make a cool car cruiser out of the old ’48 Chevy. I went to my friend, Bruce McKague’s house to use his welding torch to heat the front springs on the ’48 to lower the front end as low as i could. This was supposed to make it look as cool as possible, but it just made it look more like a tumble bug! Next, I took all the seats out and leveled the floor with plywood, and found some old carpet and padding for guys to sit on. Then, using an old webbed lawn chair as a drivers seat, a bunch of my friends and I would cruise around playing poker and drinking beer (Norman Booth could pass for 21).
When I got my first car, I began taking girls out to the movies, etc. At the end of one of my dates, we pulled up in front of her house and began some casual talk. As we sat talking, I saw that her profile reminded me of someone, and I blurted it out…”Hey, you remind me of my Grandmother!” Of course, she said, “WHAT!” I was startled because I loved my Grandmother. She seemed upset. But as I explained that her profile looked like what my Grandmother’s profile would have looked like when she was in her youth, she calmed down a bit. I wonder if that’s why she got out of the car then?
Sadly, since this writing, Marvin passed away October 28, 2021
CAN YOU SEE IT??? A BRIGHT STAR THAT APPEARED JUST OVER THE CREST OF THE DA VIS MOUNTAINS ON 5 MARCH 1941 IN BREWSTER COUNTY, ALPINE, TEXAS. THERE WAS 4 WITNESSES AND ONE PARTICIPANT IN THE BIRTH OF THIS STAR.
GEORGE D. WILLIAMS, (FATHER), NORA A. WILLIAMS, (MOTHER), DESMA Y. WILLIAMS, (SISTER), GEORGE V. WILLIAMS, (BROTHER), AND DR. D.O. JETER. I WAS TOLD MUCH LATER THAT EVERY ONE WAS ELATED TO SEE SUCH A PRETTY BABY (with big ears).SEE ABOVE PHOTO.
MOTHER AND DAD DECIDED TO MOVE TO STAMFORD, HOWEVER OUR STAY THEIR WAS SHORT. WE THEN MADE THE MOVE TO MIDLAND. I CAN’T REMEMBER THE DATE. WE LIVED IN A TRAILER HOUSE ON NEW YORK ST. WHICH WAS VERY CLOSE TO SOUTH ELEMENTARY . I REMEMBER DURING MY 1 sT & 2ND GRADE, I WOULD RUN HOME, JUST SO I COULD SUCK MY THUMB. (Don’t laugh) I HAD SOME GOOD FRIENDS, WHICH ALL OF YOU SHOULD REMEMBER,.DONALD HERRING, MIKE JONES, DOYLE HARDIN, DWAYNE LIESKE, RAY WHITLEY JUST TO NAME A FEW.
IF MY MEMORY DOESN’T FAIL ME, HENRY HARDING WAS THE ALL TIME JOCK DURING OUR 6rn & 7rn GRADE. I DID PARTICIPATE ON THE TRACK AND FIELD TEAM. I WON A COUPLE OF RIBBONS IN THE PULL UP COMPETITION. I DON’T THINK I WEIGHED 100 LBS IN THOSE DAYS. I ALSO REMEMBER DON, MIKE, AND I WAS MESSING AROUND ONE DAY AND DON TALKED ME INTO TAKING MY ONE AND ONLY CHEW OF “DAYS WORK”. I GOT SO SICK, I COULD HARDLY WALK HOME.
SOMETIME LATER, WE MOVED TO KANSAS ST. WHICH WAS IN WALKING DISTANCE TO THE STADIUM. I WENT TO SAN JACINTO, JHS. WHERE I COMPLETED MY 8TH & 9TH YEAR. THEN I WENT TO THE ONE AND ONLY “MHS.” I REMEMBER SO MANY GOOD THINGS DURING THE NEXT THREE YRS. THE YOUTH CENTER, CLUB 15, THE DRIVE IN MOVIES, (we would put 2 or 3 friends in the trunk so only one would pay to get in, pull to the rear of the parking
area, unload the trunk and enjoy the movie), THE BLUE STAR INN RESTAURANT, RENDEZVOUS DRIVE- IN, (we pulled in one night just in time to watch a few jocks pick up a VW and put it on the walkway). FOOTBALL GAMES (Go Bulldogs) JR & SR PROMS, AND SO MANY OTHER MEMORIES. WHEN I GRADUATED I GOT A JOB WITH THE SOUTHWESTERN DRUG CORP. BEFORE LONG I GOT ITCHY FEET, AND WHAT I DID NEXT, CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER.
IN 1960 I JOINED THE ARMY AND FELL IN LOVE WITH IT. IN 1963 I MARRIED MY FIRST WIFE, CYNTHIA JOHNSON, THE DAUGHTER OF DR. HOMER B JOHNSON OF MIDLAND . SHE AND I HAD 3 CHILDREN, TWO BOYS AND ONE GIRL.
THE MILITARY TOOK ME FROM THE WEST COAST TO THE EAST COAST, GERMANY X2, ALASKA, HAWAII, KOREA, AND VIET NAM X2. IN 1994 I DEPLOYED TO VIET NAM. AFTER MY RETURN FROM VIET NAM, I ATTENDED THE DRILL INSTRUCTORS SCHOOL. I WAS THEN ASSIGNED TO FT LEONARD WOOD, MO AS A DRILL INSTRUCTOR. BESIDES TRAINING NEW RECRUITS TO BECOME SOLDIERS, I COACHED T-BALL FOR 3YRS. FLAG FOOTBALL FOR 2YRS. FOR THE DEPENDENT YOUTH ACTIVITIES ON BASE. I BECAME A DEN FATHER FOR THE CUB SCOUTS. I STAYED ON DRILL INSTRUCTORS STATUS FOR 7 YRS, HOWEVER THOSE 7 YRS WAS INTERRUPTED BY MY SECOND TOUR IN VIET NAM IN 1969. MY IDGHEST POSITION HELD WAS WITH THE AVIATION BRIGADE, SECOND ARMORED DIVISION, FORT HOOD TEXAS. I RETIRED ON THE 301’H OF NOVEMBER 1988 . AFTER MY RETIREMENT I WAS ELECTED, THE VERY FIRST CIVILIAN, AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE H.O.W. “HELL ON WHEELS” ASSOCIATION SECOND ARMORED DIVISION, WHICH DIDN’T LAST LONG. (another story)
AFTER MY RETIREMENT I WENT TO WORK FOR THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS. A WHOLE BUNCH OF STORIES COULD BE TOLD DURING MY 10 YRS WITH THEM. HOWEVER I DON’T THINK THE LADIES WOULD APPRECIATE THEM
CYNTHIA AND I GOT DIVORCED AFTER 28 YRS. OF MARRIAGE. I STAYED A BACHLOR FOR 9YRS. IN 1996 I MET MY CURRENT WIFE, FERN, AT A DANCE AND FELL IN LOVE AGAIN. WE LOVED TO DANCE TO C&W MUSIC. AS A MATTER OF FACT, FRED ASTAIRE AND GINGER ROGERS DIDN’T HA VE A THING ON US. OUR DANCING DAYS ARE OVER WITH, DUE TO ME HAVING 3 MAJOR BACK SURGERIES, ONE KNEE REPLACEMENT AND FERN HAS HAD. BOTH FEET OPERATED ON. LIFE IS AB—- BLESSING.
WE LIVE IN JARRELL, TX. WITH OUR TWO VERY HAIRY LITTLE BOYS OSCAR & AXEL (POMERANIANS). BETWEEN US WE HA VE FIVE CHILDREN, FOUR GRANDCHILDREN AND ONE GREAT GRANDCHILD. PRIOR TO OUR MARRIAGE FERN LOST HER HOME, AS MANY OF HER NEIGHBORS DID IN THE FS TORNADO IN 1997. IT TOOK 27 LIVES IN ABOUT FIVE MINUTES. THANK THE “LORD” THAT BOTH SHE AND HER DAUGHTER WERE AT WORK. WE INSTALLED A STORM SHELTER SHORTLY AFTER WE WERE MARRIED IN M. ARCH OF 2000. W.E NOW LIKE TO THINK WE ARE AS HAPPY AS A “BUG IN A RUG” EVEN IF WE CAN ‘T GO BOOT SCOOTIN ANY MORE. THIS IS WHAT I DO SINCE MY RETIREMENT. “I don’t think so”
Pictures and Clippings from the Personal Scrapbook of Jerry Callaway
Bruce Monroe was Davieann Monroe’s big brother. He went on to play for TCU, then law school at UT. He met his wife Lee, at TCU. After law school he went to Alaska to work in the governor’s office. He spent many years in Alaska, and his family loved the outdoor life there. He retired to north Texas and passed away several years ago.
There was a beautiful blonde young lady named Diane (or Diana) David
I think this would be the right years.
But this is just a guess.
Bulldog Offensive StatsBulldogs of the WeekCoach Tugboat JonesDon Rone, Tugboat Jones and Jim OwensFootball MHS 1954Football MHS 1954Jerry Callaway 1954Larry Cooper, Buddy Whitley and Wahoo McDanielLarry Cooper, Johnny Branson and Wahoo McDanielMHS Football Team 1954WahooTom Inman
