The Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 1941 Page: 1 of 8
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MATHIS—the Ideal
Town—i n the Land
of Diversified Farming
Dairying, Ranching ,Oil
Gas—and Fishing- . . .
Dairying, Ranching, Oil
Mat It i
A Country that Prom-
isesPlenty—and Pays
Off, Where the Coastal
Plains Meet the Hills.
A Friendly Welcome
Awaits You Here.
YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER—EVERY ISSUE A BOOST FOR MATHIS
VOL. XXVI
MATHIS, TEXAS, SEPTEMBER 12, 1941
NO. 37
Mathis Schools Open
Monday; 435 Enrolled
‘Miss America of National Defense’
Increase Expected
After Cotton
Season
MR. & MRS- W. D. McNEILL
HOSTS AT LAWN PARTY
AND CHICKEN BARBECUE
An enrollment of 434 pupils
in the Mathis schools was an-
nounced by Superintendent
B. C. Banks Tuesday. The
enrollment is slightly over Iasi:
year’s opening week enroll-
ment of 428 pupils, and is ex-
pected to reach more than 500
as soon as the cotton picking
season is over.
In the high school 150 pupils
enrolled Monday, 180 in the
elementary school- The en-
rollment in the elementary
school is greater than last
year’s opening enrollment of
170 children. Last year the
high school enrolled a record
number of 178 the first week.
The decrease in the high school
is due partly to an unusually
small freshman class. A few
high school students are hold-
ing jobs that they may prefer
to keep rather than return to
school.
The Latin-American ward
school enrolled 94 Monday! Wagner,
compared to 70 pupils in 1940-
The second week in 1939, 125
children had enrolled and 150
the second week in the 1938
term. The opening week en-
rollment in the Latin-American
school 'is usually doubled by
Christmas, when the cotton-
picking season is over' and veg-
etable workers return to town
for the winter. Mrs. Carrie
Murray, teacher in the Negro
school, enrolled ten this -week
and ten the first week in 1940.
Saturday night Mr. and Mrs,
W. D. McNeill were hosts at a
lawn party and chicken barbe-
cue supper given at their home
at seven o’clock. Guests for
the four-course supper were
seated at three long tables ar-
ranged under the trees on the
lawn.
Out-of-town guests invited
were Mr. and Mrs- F- X. Dough-
erty of Lagarto, Mr. and Mrs.
George Reynolds of Orange
Grove, Mrs. Maggie McNeill,
Mr. and Mrs. Tom McNeill and
; son, Tommy, of Orange Grove.
| Others included were: Mrs.
C- M- Porter, Sr., Mrs. Mary
j East, Mr. and Mrs. Van Nelson.
Mr. and Mrs. Milby Porter,
Mr. and Mrs. L. T. Porter, Mr
and Mrs- Ran Nelson, Mr. and
Mrs. Reeves Brown, Mr. and
Mrs. C- A. Maedgen, Dr. and
Mrs. W. A. Guynes, Mrs- J. E..
Edmonds of Anderson, South
Carolina, Mr. and Mrs. R- I.
Blackburn, Dr. and Mrs. L N.
Thompson, Supt. and Mrs. B. C
Banks, Mr. and Mrs. F- Van
Mr. and Mrs. J. E-
Dawson, David Dawson, Mr.
and Mrs. B. S- Whitaker, Mr.
and Mrs. Chas- Foote, Mr. and
Mrs. Howard Ramey, Rev. and
Mrs. B. A- Myers, Mr. and Mrs.
J- J. Baker and Jane Baker.
COUNTY TAX RATE SET AT
541-2 CENTS BY COURT
The Commissioners' Court in public budget hearing Mon-
day, September 8th, 1941, set the County Tax Rates as follows:
County rate $ .541/2> DRD No. 1 $ .20, DRD No. 2 $ .88,
DRD No. 3 $ .40, DRD No- 4 $ .58, DRD No. 5 $ .50.
Below is shown the rates for past ten years, and the rates
for 1941:
Y ear
County
DRD
DRD
DRD
DRD
DRD
Ra;te
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
No. 4
No. 5
1931
$ .74
$ .30
$ .10
$ .70
$ .70
$1-10
1932
.69
.30
-10
.70
.60
1.10
1933
.71
.23
.10
.65
-60
.95
1934
.71.
.23
.10
-85
.60
.95
1935
.70
.10
-10
.75
.60
.85
1936
.70
.50
-90
.75
.60
.85
1937
-66
.50
.90
.75
.64
.75
1938
-56
.50
.90
.73
.64
.73
1939
.56
.40
-90
.60
.64
.65
1940
.57
.20
-90
.50
.60
.60
1941
•541/2
.20
.88
.40
.58
.50
Alma Carroll, 18, above, captured the title of “Miss America of
National Defense” awarded during the annual Mardi Gras celebration at
Venice, Calif., by the army, navy and marines. Candidates were “draft-
ed” in drawing from goldfish bowl, designating them to represent training
camps throughout the U. S. Then enlisted men made their selection.
Miss Carroll represented Quantico, Va., marine base.
A & I Javeiina Grid
Schedule Announced
TEAM LEAVES TODAY FOR
CALIFORNIA FOR 1st TILT
Five Carloads Grain
Shipped From Here
Five carloads of grain have
been shipped from Mathis this
season and about an equal
amount has been moved out by
truck. One carload of corn
was shipped by Walter Koep-
sel. The other four carloads
were hegari, one being shipped
by Adolph Bonier, one by Wal-
ter Murphy and Chas. Foote,
one by Walter Murphy and
George Chopelas and one by
Otto Winsauer-
SEVEN OF TWENTY-ONE LOCAL TEACHERS ARE
MATHIS HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNAE
WALTER E. DICKERSON RE-
SIGNS AS C. P. & L.
VICE-PRESIDENT
Kingsville, Sept. 8.—Open-
ing a schedule which is one of
the most ambitious in the his-
tory of Texas A & I College
the A & I Javelinas will leave
for California Friday, Sept. 12,
for two inter-sectional games- Mr. and Mrs. Amon Short
On the Pacific Coast they will! have received a most interest-
MR. AND MRS. SHORT RE-
CEIVE INTERESTING AC-
COUNT OF JEAN ETTA’S
MUSICAL ACTIVITIES
encounter San Jose State, chain
pions of the California Colleg-
iate Athletic Conference, to
open a schedule listing five con-
ference title-holders. The San
Jose game will be played the
night of Sept. 19.
On their way home from Cal-
ifornia the Hogs will meet the
Arizona State Bulldogs, cham-
pions of the Border Confer-
ence- This is also a night
game, and is scheduled for
Sept. 26 in Tempe.
Back in Texas, the Javelinas
will suffer no let-down in the
quality of their competition.
On Oct. 4 in San Antonio’s
Alamo Stadium they will tackle
the still formidable Texas A &
M Aggies, co-champions of the
Southwest Conference.
Homecoming at last will
find the Hogs meeting Sam
Houston State in Kingsville
Oct- 11. On Oct. 17 they go
to San Marcos for a game with
the Southwest Texas Teachers,
and their second home game is
with Oklahoma State of Ada in
Kingsville, Oct. 25-
Stephen F. Austin is their
Nov. 1 opponent in Nacog-
doches. Following an open
date on the seventh they go
back to San Antonio for a tuss-
le with their most ancient riv-
als, the St. Mary’s University
Rattlers Nov. 15.
West Texas State will come
to Kingsville Nov. 22„ and the
Texas Weslyan Rams will close
the Hog schedule in Kingsville
Nov- 29- West Texas won the
Alamo Conference flag last
year and the Rams finished
first in the Lone Star race.
ing account from their daugh-
ter, Jean Etta, who is in Le
Mars, Iowa, with the Parkinson
Ensemble, a nationally known
musical group, of her work and
study there.
The Parkinsons are sponsors
of a group of musicians chosen
from the best talent in the
country. Annually they make
a nine months tour of the coun-
try playing for schools,
churches and other organiza-
tions. Jean Etta writes that
their collection of modern, old,
antique and even ancient mus-
ical instruments are numbered
by the hundreds and include
everything imaginable from or-
gans down to the tiniest instru-
ments.
Jean Etta (they are calling
her Texas and Jean and having
a lot of fun out of her southern
accent) is practising
to 10 hours a day on a trum
pet, fluegal horn, alp horns,
over-shoulder horns, bugles
'with a wide range of notes and
some other instruments that
she can’t even remember the
names of.
She says that when they
play on some of the ancient in-
struments they do not use mod ■
ern music but the same music
that was used in the age when
the instruments were new- She
is very much amused at the
Alp horns. They are about
the size of a gas pipe, look like
snakes and range in length
from seven or eight feet to 13
feet in length-
About Christmas the Par -
kinson Ensemble will play in
the Rio Grande Valley.
Seven of the 21 teachers in
the Mathis public schools this
year are new teachers, but two
of them are alumnae of the
Mathis High School.
Russell Curlee, new elemen-
tary school principal with a
Master of Education degree
from the University of Color-
ado, comes to- Mathis from Go-
liad, where he was elementary
school principal. Before go-
ing to G.oliad he was superin-
tendent of the Charco school in
Goliad county for six years.
Curlee graduated from Math-
is High School in 1927. . After
that he studied two years at
the SWTSTC at Ban Marcos,
one at the University of Texas
and took his B- S- degree from
A & I College in Kingsville.
Then he entered the University
of Colorado at Boulder, receiv-
ing his Master of Education de
gree from that University. His
thesis was a survey of the pub-
lic schools of Goliad county
and a proposed plan for their
re-organization. This summer
he was one of 28 men elected
to the Phi Delta Kappa, na-
tional honor educational frater-
nity.
Curlee’s attendance at var-
ious colleges was not a mere
whim but in accordance with a
belief that a well-rounded edu-
cation can better be had by at-
tending several colleges and
universities than by spending
the entire time in one.
The Mathis High School’s
new football coach, Emil Bar-
wis, received his B.A. degree
from the University of Texas
where he had a four year
course in coaching under Dana
X. Bible- Before entering the
University he attended Junior
College in Corpus Christ! and
worked, in Richardson’s Shoe
Store in Corpus Christi-
Valdemar Rodriguez, who
took his B.A. degree from A&I
from six College in Kingsville, comes to
the Mathis schools as teacher in
the Latin-American ward
school, from Kingsville where
he taught an adult class in citi-
zenship. He was born and
reared in Kingsville and receiv-
ed his elementary school and
high school education there.
Miss Eva Mae Leber, new
Spanish teacher in the high
school here, received her B.S.
degree from Texas University.
She is a Mathis High School
alumnae-
Miss Rebecca Woodson, new
primary teacher, has a B.S- de-
gree from the West Texas
State Teachers’ College and a
Master of Science degree re-
ceived in 1941 from the Univer-
sity of Texas. Her thesis sub-
ject was concerned with the
social study content of 109
readers adopted by the state of
Texas for primary use since
1919.
Mrs. Gordon Cabaniss, who
took her degree at A & I Col-
lege, was formerly a teacher
in the Mathis schools. She is
returning this year to help
handle the additional primary
•work occasioned by the addi-
tion of the 12th grade.
A band teacher is being add-
ed to the faculty this year, but
he has not yet arrived in town
from the army.
CATHOLIC ALTAR SOCIETY-
NAMES NEW OFFICERS
\
The Catholic Altar Society
this week named the following
new officers: president, Mrs
Willie Dolan; secretary,
Frank Golla; treasurer,
Basil Westover.
Mrs. John Sutherland
appointed on the Committee
For Clean Literature in the
National Council of Catholic
Women.
Mrs.
Mrs.
was
Walter E. Dickerson, who
several weeks ago moved from
Corpus Christi to San Antonio
to open an office as consulting
industrial engineer, has resign-
ed his position as vice-president
of Central Power and Light
Company, according to Lon C
Hill, CPL .president. An-
nouncement has been made
that Dickerson has accepted
an appointment as deputy co-
ordinator for Southwest Texas
for the Office of Production
Management, duties of whicn
he will perform in addition to
his general engineering prac-
tice.
Dickerson’s resignation ter-
minates five years as an officer
of CPL. He continues to be
available for consultation on
an advisory basis on industrial
development problems in CPL
territory. In 1925, the engin-
eer was employed as manager
at Victoria and later became
district manager. In 1928, he
moved to the Home Office,
then in San Antonio, to take
charge of the newly created
Department of Industrial De-
velopment. Dickerson held
this position until his removal
to San Antonio last month. At
various times, he has served as
asistant to the president and
as vice-president.
ROTARY
REPORT
Mrs. Tommy Sutherland and
son, Tommy Tucker, are visit-
ing her aunt in Ft- Worth.
The Mathis Rotary Club
assembled Tuesday noon with
only two absentees. Out-of-
town visitors were Gordon
Kirkland, Clarence Miller and
Henry Hill all of Beeville.
John Hamilton of Los Angeles,
Calif., was a guest of August
Koepsel. Local visitors were
Otto Winsauer and J. J- Baker.
Chief speaker on the pro-
gram was Mr- John Mobley,
past president of the Corpus
Christi Chamber of Commerce,
who discussed the needs and
benefits to be derived from an
active chamber of commerce in
any live community, such as
Mathis. Mrs. Wald on Lon-
don and Mrs. Frank Dehnisch
were Club guests, and repre-
sented the ladies of the Mathis
Culture Club. Mrs. London
gave a very interesting talk
relative to the various civic
clubs of the community spon-
soring the establishment and
operation of a community li-
brary.
H. D. CLUB TO MEET IN
BLACKBURN HOME
The Mathis Woman’s Home
Demonstration Club will meet
Friday afternoon at the home
of Mrs. R. I- Blackburn with
Mrs. E. G. East as eo-liostess,
Miss Elizabeth Brooks, County
Agent, will conduct the pro-
gram-
South Texas’ Last Indian Raid is Recounted
by Mrs. Alexander; Observes 84th Birthday
Friday friends of Mrs. Min
nie Alexander were guests at
a birthday party given for her
at the home of Mrs- Gordon
Cabaniss, the occasion being
Mrs. Alexander’s 84th birth-
day anniversary. It was the
second party given for her last
week. Wednesday night her
nieces, Mrs. Emmett Cryer and
Miss Edith Dobie of Taft and
Mrs. Cryer’s daughter, Lu-
cille, were hostesses for a sur-
prise family supper party giv-
en at the honoree’s home in
Mathis.
Mrs. Alexander has for many
years been one of Mathis’ most
energetic residents- Few wo-
men past 80 are able to walk to
town every day for groceries,
but Mrs. Alexander enjoys
shopping a lot and she fre-
quently walks six or eight
blocks on a trip to the store,
the postoffice and the fruit
stand. She gets around a lot
visiting her neighbors and sel-
dom misses day services at the
Church of Christ. Mrs. Alex-
ander says she is getting so
deaf she can’t hear a word the
preacher says, but she enjoys
going anyway.
She is always busy keeping
her six room house in order,
working in her big yard, full of
flowers and even preserving a
little. There is always some-
thing growing in her vegetable
garden. Her friends say she
is forever putting in a little
patch of roasting ears, yams,
cushaws or black-eyed peas.
Mrs- Alexander was born
Minnie Dobie at Buffalo Bayou,
Sept. 4, 1857- When she was
two years old her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Sterling Dobie, mov-
ed to Live Oak County and set-
tled on a big ranch near La-
garto. Their first home on
the ranch was a picket house
left there by Indians or former
Mexican settlers. But soon
her father built a lumber ranch
house, part of which is still
standing, and a log kitchen.
The Dobies brought with them
four slaves, one of whom re-
mained after the Civil War.
(The others moved to Corpus
Christi when they were freed
to fulfill a wish dear to their
hearts “to get into Corpus
Christi society”).
Mrs- Alexander tells many
interesting tales of the early
days in Live Oak County
Some of her most vivid memor-
ies are of the very real fear of
Indians that the early residents
lived under. The last Indian
raid was in the early seventies
near Oakville. One day when
a 15-year old boy by the name
of Tullos rode out to bring in
his father’s horses he was chas-
ed toward Oakville by a small
band of Indians. The towns-
men made up a posse and went
in pursuit of the Indians, ov-
ertaking them the next day.
One warrior fled and the rest
took refuge in a gully and gave
battle with bows and arrows.
All of the Indians were killed,
the last to fall being a squaw,
who fought long after her com-
panions were dead. The man
who escaped was popularly be-
lieved to have been a white
man known in the country as
McDonald or O’Donnell. The
Oakville Indian fight was re-
counted for many years in
Mathis because Henry New-
berry, who ran a store here, ac-
quired two of the Indian skulls
as an advertising attraction for
his store where he kept them
on display.
Mrs- Alexander is the last of
her generation living. She out
lived -all her sisters, brothers
and cousins. Her children are
Leslie Shipp of Hot Springs,
New Mexico; Lee Shipp of Bee-
ville; Roy Shipp of Boulder
City; Mrs. Clarence Mallett of
Tyler; and Jim Alexander of
Mathis.
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Blackwell, J. O. The Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 1941, newspaper, September 12, 1941; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1039779/m1/1/?q=+date%3A1941-1945: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mathis Public Library.