Hunt Co., TX - 3,000 Books Delivered to Celeste Library
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     Wonder if any of these good Samaritans are still alive!  I remember this
day well, "When the Army came to Celeste" with all those books.  According to
this article, the books came from the Dallas area only. . .I never saw so many
books at one time. . .and thought that they had come from all over the State
of Texas.  I have thought that for almost fifty years!

Celeste Library Bulges as 3,000 Books Delivered
    Staff Sergeants Viol Schumacher and Jay Hyde saw their dreams come true
Friday when they each drove a blue Air Force station wagon up to the ruins of
the Celeste High School and said to Superintendent Clyde Heflin, "Sir, here
are some books we brought you!"  . . ."some books" was hardly an apt
description. . .there were over 3,000 of them and it took five station wagons
to carry them from Dallas where the sergeants and their buddies collected
them!
    Celeste was without a library after a morning fire completely demolished
the school building on December 17, 1955.  School children doubled up in
emergency rooms created in the school auditorium, which was separate from the
high school building, and did not burn.  Their school books were replaced, but
they had no other books to read. . .that is, until he sergeants got into the
act.
    Schumacher and Hyde are responsible for the Ground Observer Corps in Hunt
County and had helped organize a post in Celeste.   After becoming aware of
the desperate need for a new school library, they got busy and things began
happening in the Civil Defense Office in Dallas.  An appeal was made through
newspapers and over television to Dallasites asking them to donate books.
    The response was instantaneous (page 2 not found).
    "Operation Book" Completed in Celeste Friday--The Celeste School Library
is back in business in a big way after five station wagons full of books
arrived Friday.  The books, donated by Dallas citizens, were gathered by Civil
Defense and Disaster personnel after two staff sergeants, Viol Schumacher and
Jay Hyde, thought up the idea of collection old books for the school.
Standing in the center of the picture above are:  Staff Sgt. Schumacher,
Celeste School Superintendent Clyde Heflin, and Sgt. Hyde.  Other Civil
Defense personnel in the picture are Staff Sgt. James Baldridge, Master Sgt.
Carl Powell, and Staff Sgt. Coy Hadaway.  Now all the Celeste teachers have to
do is find a place for the 3,000 books since library bookshelves went up in
smoke along with all the school's books in the December 17th fire.
(--Herald Staff Photo by Tom Poole, Jr, undated clipping from Donna Haynes
Childress collection)