Newspaper, Grassroots & Cockleburrs, The Times They Are Changing..., LaSalle Parish, LA. GRASS ROOTS AND COCKLE BURRS- The Times They Are changing… By Jack Willis Sponsored by Finch Motors Transcribed by Pat Ezell, PatEzell@worldnet.att.net Submitted by: Kathy LeMay Kelly, P.O. Box 219, Trout, La. 71371 From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Wed., July 12, 2000, Section A, Page 11 Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** THE TIMES, THEY ARE CHANGING… While the LaSalle Parish School systems were in transition with the pending consolidation of Jena High School and Trout-Good Pine School, in the fall of 1948, there was some unfinished business as far as the Lady Red Devils basketball team was concerned. Their school year was not over yet, and being the proud possessors of an enviable record of 47 games basketball games won, while only losing seven, they were off to the Louisiana State Basketball Rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Lady Red Devils team was composed of the following members: Anne Duke, Dottabeth Whatley, Freddie Mae Taylor, Helen Hudson, Vita Ruth LaCroix, Paula Justiss, Hilda Corley, Angie Williams, Barbara Teddlie, Millie Thompson, Gertrude Miller, Annie Ruth Taylor, Bettye Roberts and Betty Jo Dean. They were ably coached by Coach Sara Aldrich. When they got to Baton Rouge, their first opponent was a team from the Lafayette District, Scot High School whom Trout Good Pine bested by a score of 30 to 25. Their next foe was Grayson High School, Champions of the Ruston District Rally. The Lady Devils came out on the short end by a score of 30 to 19, after a fast and furious game, thus ending their State Championship aspirations. But this still was not the end quite yet. The faculty and staff, alumni, the School Board, and parents planned to end the year with one of the great celebrations the Trout-Midway Metroplex had ever witnessed. It wouldn't just be relegated to a typical end-of-school party, but it would be a homecoming honoring graduates all the way back to 1921, when the first class was graduated from Trout-Good Pine High School. For with the consolidation of Trout-Good Pine and Jena High Schools, there would no longer be a high school in residence, only an elementary school. The event was planned for Friday, May 14th, and Saturday, May 15th, and would kick off with a baseball game between the Jena Giants and the Trout-Good Pine Red Devils at LaSalle Oiler stadium in Tall Timber, beginning at 2:00 p.m., Friday afternoon. A tea would be held in the lunchroom from 4:00 to 5:30. Reunion of classes was from 5:30 to 6:30. Special rooms were set aside for the reunions of particular classes. An assembly program was then set for the gymnasium from 6:30 till 8:00. The Trout-Good Pine High School graduated it's first senior class in 1921. It is not clear when the school began holding classes, but six members received diplomas that year. At the 28th annual commencement program that was held on May 10, 1948, 42 seniors were awarded diplomas. This was the largest class ever graduated from Trout-Good Pine High School, and would be one of the last classes to attend 11 years instead of 12 in order to graduate. During the 28 years the school was in operation, approximately 514 persons graduated, and almost in the middle of the school's 26 year tenure, the whole school house burned in 1931, and the building in existence today had to be built to replace it. One of the members of the 1924 class was Stuart Purse, nationally known artist and writer, who taught at Louisiana College in Pineville for several years. He also penned the book, APPLEHEAD, which tells of his adventures growing up in Good Pine and surrounding communities. The book goes into great detail to illustrate the hard life many people were subjected to in a typical sawmill town in the South in the 1910s and 20s. Another graduate, Sylvia Davidson would go on to become Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana. On Saturday, May 15th, the day dawned bright and cheery, and over 1,000 people came back home to Trout-Good Pine and brought their families for one final visit to their old Alma Mater, before the doors were closed forever as a high school. Every graduation class from 1921 to 1948 was represented. An exhibit room was arranged, featuring pictures of student groups by classes, athletic teams and faculty. The picture exhibit was immensely enjoyed by the older graduates and their families. A long, colorful parade through the communities of Trout, Good Pine, Tall Timber, Midway, and Jena was staged from 1:45 till 2:30 with every graduating class having at least one automobile in the parade. Then the various classes held their reunions in rooms set aside for their purposes, from 4:30 to 6:30. From 6:30 to 7:30 everyone enjoyed a fish fry served on the Trout-Good Pine campus. At 8:00 a program was presented utilizing a commencement exercise format. All the class members marched into the Gymnasium-Auditorium according to their yearly class rankings during the processional. Dargan Brooks, the principal at the time, served as Master of Ceremonies. Gifts of affection were presented during the evening program to Mrs. Elsie Ellard Seals, former Trout-Good Pine principal; Mrs. Lucy Austin, Trout-Good Pine English teacher for many years; Mr. Brooks, and also Mr. E.E. "Colonel" Griffen, long time custodian and operator of the school canteen, who utilized a bicycle as his mode of transport to and from his home in Midway every day, rain or shine. Graduates were present from the following Louisiana towns and cities: DeRidder, Good Pine, Olla, Jena, Monroe, Sulphur, Bogalusa, Shreveport, Pineville, Trout, Oberlin, Tullos, Sterlington, West Monroe, Alexandria, Lake Charles, Winnfield, Winnsboro, Natchitoches, Swartz, Leesville, Plain Dealing, Georgetown, Baton Rouge, Haynesville, Zenoria, Lafayette, Little Creek, Urania, Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier City, Ruston, White Sulphur Springs, Slaughter, and Cotton Valley. There were many out of state graduates with most from the great State of Texas, along with the one who traveled the farthest to attend, from Denver, Colorado. IN the weeks following, scores of letters of appreciation poured in from the former graduates expressing their thanks and compliments for a job well done. Thus ends the sage of Trout-Good Pine High School, whose main purpose was to send forth graduates that would touch, and help reform the whole world and help make it a better place to live. And accomplish this they did!