The new Henrietta M. King School was the jewel of Kingsville. The community appreciated and fully supported it. The Mothers Club of Kingsville, a forerunner of the present Parent Teacher Association, became involved in every aspect of the new educational opportunity for their children. The Kingsville membership was the largest in the State of Texas.

The teachers were highly trained and experienced as well as excellent team workers. The educational program was officially designated as a “High School of the First Class” by the State Department of Education. What more could a community desire!

At the beginning the school served all grades starting with the first through 10th. One old timer remembered the little girls playing jacks on the floor of the entrance alcoves to the buildings. They couldn’t have been “high schoolers”! The two front entrances were settings throughout the school’s history for group pictures– students, teachers, teams, coaches. The brick banisters on either side of the entrance steps enclosed a group for easy picture identification. Teachers and coaches usually posed on one of the outside structures.

There was no dress code in 1923 when these students attended H.M. King School. See, Old King High no shoes on some! Mrs. Annie Ellis is on the top row left. In 1911 the first graduate, Miss Marjorie Elizabeth DeLeuw, received her diploma after completing the tenth grade. Then there were none in 1912 because the State required eleven grades and also set fifteen credits for high school completion. The next graduation occurred for three students in 1913. It was not until 1941 that the grades increased to twelve.

After Miss DeLeuw’s graduation, she became an elocution teacher. (Elocution is a word rarely used today, but it means powerful, expressive speech.) It was highly considered in those days before the glib and glossy words that tumble out of TV sets today. Both boys and girls enjoyed this popular course at King High. Miss DeLeuw’s students joined Mrs. J.V. Chandler’s music students in recitals and other performances in the Opera House located above Charles Flato’s hardware store on Kleberg Avenue. This activity was outside in the realm of basic courses, but an excellent experience for King High students.

The Girls Glee Club was formed by Jane Weller. The photograph was taken March 14, 1935. Mrs. Weller arranged a trip to Corpus Christi where the girls sang over the radio station and also performed at Menger Elementary School. Pictured are, front row, from left, Helen Ruth Bass, Mildred Tuma, Ruth Orchard, Jean Andrews, and Imogene Faulk; second row, Dorothy Nell Parker, Julia Peacock, Dorothy Roberts, Sylvia Lee Skipper, Lauragene Wright, Nellie Myers, and Luanita Parker; third row, Mary Ruth Ferguson, Mary Mikel, Anna Mae Bettge, Ruth Underbrink, Roslyn Roemer, Mrs. Weller, Lois Hayes, Eddis Ann Forrest, Edwy-Leanne Nelson, Evelyn Parker, Wettie Estelle Bayliss, and Winnifred Gloger; back row, Mardell Roper, Louise Lorenz, Lucille Goode, Margaret Williams, Marjorie Rasmussen, Leone Eddins, Letitia Shaw, Lula Lee Reador, Lenny Goodwyn, Burlene Murtishaw, Kathryn Roberts, and Sarah Porter. The Woman’s Club fostered an urge for more knowledge when nine ladies organized to create a free public library in 1909, the same year H.M. King School was built. Education was not only the key to improving the mind but also the quality of life in this young community.

By 1913 H.M. King was overcrowded. A bond election overwhelmingly approved the construction of two ward schools for primary students, called Austin North Ward and Lamar East Ward. H.M. King was now a high school. In 1924 Flato School was added to the Kingsville school system. Over time other buildings were constructed to accommodate a growing student population.

Change was always in the forecast. While the physical plants expanded on the campuses, the three R’s also stretched in other areas. Music lessons often were self taught or passed on to children by parents or relatives. This was not part of the public school curriculum. However, some teachers fused the cultivated arts into classroom lessons.

I remember in the fifth grade at Flato School my teacher, Mrs. Jane Weller, collected a quarter from each pupil and ordered harmonicas for the class. The overall result of her effort to teach us to play them was not that harmonious, but she made up for that attempt by telling us stories of great operas or introducing us to the lives of Back, Beethoven, Mozart, or Mendelssohn. I am sure she had a lesson plan, and I learned a lot from her! Perhaps, our cultural education grew from those beginnings planted by persons like Mrs. Weller and Miss DeLeuw.

Another outlet for developing our worldly knowledge was picture memory, a volunteer activity supported by UIL. We met after school and studied reproductions of pictured by Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Rosa Bonheur. To this day I remember the horses painted by Rosa.

Another teacher, Mrs. Annie Ellis, indelibly impressed all first graders from her early days at King High, at Flato, and at Santa Gertrudis School on the King Ranch. With great persistence she taught phonics for forty years. It was easy to learn to read with her method. It challenged the reader to pronounce every strange word encountered on a page. I will always remember later reading my geography lesson to my father and calling Florida a pen-in-su-la. He was grinning when I paused. I knew I had the right syllables, but perhaps this was the wrong stress on them! Mrs. Ellis, devoted to the Palmer Method of teaching writing, moved gently among the rows making us push-pull our arm muscles correctly for forming words. I wonder what she would do with today’s computer programs for six or seven year olds?

Let us hear about your school days in Kingsville! Next time I will return to the high school.