In researching this photo which was given to me by Mary Alice Reding, a member of the school reunion committee, I found that one thing led to another in trying to gather facts from seventy years ago.

I found that Alta Rice Pate is very interesting to listen to as she remembers happenings from her school years in Aubrey. She has spent her life in its entirety in Aubrey and the surrounding area.

She vividly remembers her activities when she was a high school student in Aubrey. Alta was the class valedictorian when she graduated from Aubrey High School in 1934.

Her comments about her classmates are very complimentary. She believes that the photo was of the entire high school, yet she doesn’t remember the photographer.

She says that all of the high school teachers were in the photo. Jack Bryson was the biology and science teacher. Mr. William M. O’Hair was the history teacher and Weldon Smotherman was the math instructor. Mrs. Gibbons was the English teacher and Mrs. Jerome Moore was the Latin teacher.

"We had no school buses back then, but the bus was added during the next two years," she said. "I was privileged to be able to drive my parents’ Model A to school each day. I had a friend and neighbor by the name of Buster Tribble that rode with me each morning."

Alta said that she passed the primer and first grade in the same year when she was attending Springhill school.

The Aubrey school only had eleven grades. She said that she wanted to take typing in high school but she had to take Latin instead, "I had no choice of the subject to take and that was seventy-five years ago." She said that she was grateful for the good high school education that helped her in jobs that ranged from management responsibilities and sales clerks to keeping payroll.

Alta commented that some of the children dropped out of school after the 9^th grade, because that was as far as they could go at Springhill. "My thanks to Aubrey High for hanging in there for so long," Alta said.

Alta also said that the older boys called her Alta Oatmeal since her last name was Rice. She didn’t like them making fun of her name, but didn’t show it because she was afraid that if she did, the nickname would stay with her throughout her life.

May I also take this opportunity to thank Mary Alice Reding for all of the old photos and Alta Rice Pate for her recollections and her help in future identification of individuals in photos.

The names of the students in the photo are as follows:

BACK ROW: Francis Blanks, Edward L. McIntosh, Gene Henderson, Marion Phillips, Sam Hodges, Byron Holmes, Dallas Webb, Otis Lipstreu, Crellon Whorton, Curtis Cadell, Richard Helms, Mr. Jack Bryson (teacher)

THIRD ROW: Mr. Wm. M. O’Hair (teacher), Carol Peterman, Florine Coffey, Alta Rice, Nina Lou Luster, Jasmine Homes, Mrs. Jerome Moore (teacher), Wilma Haren, Jessie Margaret Gibbins, Ruth Haynie

SECOND ROW: Mary Helen Lewis, Mary Janette Tribble, Louise Ratchford, Mary Powledge, Mildred Hodges, Mary Phillips, Reta Smotherman, Edith Phillips, Ruby Fae Moore, Edith Perle Simpson, Olen Wilson, Hodges Haren

FRONT ROW: Fred Curry, Fred Davis, R.B. Hamby, Julian Cadell, Leroy Phillips, J.M. Hawk, Herman Blanks