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Sharron Griffin (Strom) (1964)

response to #3172 Fred Taylor from Sharron Griffin.   Thanks for explanation... and I found you in the junior section !!!

Fred Taylor (1964)

Randy #3180

I'm glad your jacket still fits. I can still get in mine but I look like O J Simpson trying to get that glove on.

Sharron Griffin (Strom) #3181

I'm glad you found my picture in the yearbook. I was begining to think I really didn't go there.

Ruben Garza (1967)

Well. Went by good Old Sam today on the way to play golf at Wild Cat. The old buildings are still there from what I could see from the toll road. The track , football field and baseball fields are gone and a whole lot of construction going on. It's just a matter of time. For those of you that are going to the 50th reunion of '67, best not go by the old neighborhood after dark. It has changed quite a bit.

Albert Garza (1964)

Ruben I think that Wild Cat you picked up was the one Wallce Tolman took to Art Class, and tried to pass it off as a Tiger Cub, he wanted to do a oil painting of it for money.  I was wondering about that cat surprise it is still alive since 1964..........

Roger Bradshaw (1970)

#3183 - You wouldn't catch me anywhere in that neighborhood after dark. I have a permit to carry and do daily but still, I wouldn't go there. I don't want to have to use it. I'm not scared as some people think or say, I'm just wise in my older years. It's ashamed to say that about the old neighborhood but that's the way it is. Really a pisser...

Judy Maxwell (1971)

Roger #3185 ~~

I go there all the time ~ you should not be scared.

There is crime in all areas and all towns. My sister Shirley still lives just down Irvington from the School. People that are not from that area always seem to think it's a bad place! I'm going to Houston this week-end and will be staying at my sisters. We would not be afraid to walk from her house to the School ~ day or night. SO if your ever in the area you should not pass it by ~ There are good and bad people everywhere but that neighborhood is not that bad. You are just not familar with you now that's probably why you feel scared or threatened.

We will be at Alamo Tamale this week-end stop on by I will buy you a taco or some tamales! We will protect you!

Judy

Dorothy Walley (Williamson) (1969)

Are there plans for a reunion for class of '72?  If so, who is heading that up?  I'm asking for my brother who hates -- no refuses -- to use a computer.  

Ruben Garza (1967)

Hey Judy! You're right and it may still be a safe nieghborhood for some and I did not mean to scare anyone by my comment. But I don't live there anymore and I use to patrol that neighborhood and if you haven't been there in a while it may be a surprise to some. I'm just saying be safe if you are going to visit the old hood during you're visit at the '67 reunion. People living there now aren't use to seeing new cars such as Lexus and Beemers and Corvettes, unless they are stolen, and Suburbans or remodeled oldie cars driving thru thier streets. Just use caution. I did use to patrol the old hood at one time and it may not be as friendly as it once was. Hope to see most of y'all at the reunion. Leave your guns at home. Hee Hee!! ;)

Roger Bradshaw (1970)

3188 - wrong state to say leave your guns at home. :-)

Roger Bradshaw (1970)

3186 - Thanks Judy. Trust me, I'm ex harris county and I'm safe and protected. :-)

Caren Reynolds (Cates) (1965)

Ronnie and I took our grandkids to the old neighborhood a few weeks ago so that they could see our old houses and the schools that we attended.  Irvington Manor looked similar.  Luckily, most of the houses looked well kept.  After over 50 years, I think that the heat has had an impact......the streets are much more narrow - ha!  I will say that the grandkids thought Burbank and Sam Houston looked good.  

We have great memories of the North Side and realize that we were blessed to have lived in a more simpler era.

Melvin Surface (1964)

Did you take them by your dad's store on Aldine Westfield? My buddies lived across the road. Haven't been by there in many years.

Randy Tolman (1967)

The only time I was robbed at gun point was not in the old Sam Houston neighborhood but out in the "upper class" FM 1960 area! So just because the cover is worn and the pages are getting thinner, let's not judge the "Old Book" too harshly. 

Mary Ellen Walker (Thornton)

Good morning to our former students.  Life is good.  We both work part time, and enjoy 3 grandchildren:  ages 7, soon-to-be 5, and a 2-month. Frank teaches 3 classes of history at SHSU, and I work with alternative certification teachers in the Texas Teachers program.

Shirley Maxwell (Pace) (1970)

I have lived down Irvington from Sam Houston for 40 years & have not evered had any trouble. I got an appointment off 1960 for my sons to attend Westfield High School in 2001. First week our car was stollen, when we finally got it back it was broken into again. Then our appartment was broken into so needless to say we went back to the house by Sam Houston. I guess the old neighborhood has been a lot safer for me!  

Shirley Maxwell (Pace) (1970)

Ruben Garza

We do have Lexus, Beemers, Carvettes & even Cadillice Escaldes in our neighborhood. Alamo puts on an Oldies cars show almost every month where people that have rebuilt their old cars can come to show them off. May be should come by sometimes.

Eugene Knox (1972)

Randy Tolman, i too was robbed at gun point at my rented house in Aldine, circa 1976 (not in the Sam Houston area).  Two skinny junkies.  Broad daylight.  Not fearing anything really, my roommate opened the door when they knocked.(no peep hole)  It was a friday afternoon, with some buddies over after work, and everyone had just cashed their checks (found out a few years later, one of those "after work buddies" had set us all up)...   I'll never forget that gun, right in my face....  

...Another thing i want to share, in 2012, four of us did a tour of the Burbank campus, and since none of us lived anywhere near for years and years, we discussed if we should be worried...   we could not have been more wrong.  The school was spotless, really no changes since the 60s, and everyone there, falculty, students, could not have been nicer to us "old folks", and even had some 8th graders walk around and take our photos all over with the school camera.  ...Then in 2013, five of us did a tour of Sam Houston with the same outcome.  They could not have been nicer, gave us free range of the entire campus, inside and out, and even the hall monitors got a kick out of our stories and the stuff we went through there.  

Now, i'm not saying there are not some bad areas/streets, and some bad hombres, but they have always been some bad hombres on the northside, eh?...

Judy Maxwell (1971)

Well I went to Houston for the week-end ~~ and YES I SURVIVED!!!!!  Not olny did I stay less than 2 miles from Sam but also drove by Dodson Lake Park ~ Laura Koppe ~ Luell and Jensen Dr.!

I see there are some others that have posted and feel like me that the old hood ain't that bad. If something is meant to happen to you I don't care where you are it will happen to you.

I do see that the Reuben and Roger are the 2 that feel the area is unsafe and that they each were "Patrols" I take it the patrol work was for HPD or perhaps  a secuirty service not sure ~ but if you were out on patrol then I guess you were looking for trouble. Not looking for trouble to start but people causing trouble ~ so the 2 of you have a different out look on things than an average citizen out and about. An officer is called to trouble going on where as us normal Joes' are out on the streets and not at "trouble going on".

I do feel that everyone should always be aware of their surrounds and not be an easy target for thugs but over all the old neighborhood by Sam is still a good thriving part of Houston! I go there every other week-end!

SO if you plan on going to the area swing on by and don't let the talk on here stop ya!

Judy Maxwell (1971)

Eugene ~ You know they say most crime is done by someone you know. That would be one less person that I would consider to be a "friend" Nothing like getting set up!

Eugene Knox (1972)

Absolutely correct Judy,    the dude that set us up, was soon in prison anyway.  He was a machinist that worked at the same place my roomate did, the only reason we even knew him at all.  There had to have been 5/6 of us, and one guy even had his wife with him, and they took her purse!   A few years later, someone at that same place of employment told my Xroomate the true story...   I wanna say maybe 20 years had gone by....

p.s.  they say, it is a large release of adreniline that creates memories that last, and I'm here to say, i remember it clearly...

Paula Ruzicka (1972)

Hi Dorothy Walley (Williamson) (1969) #3187
Tho I have tried...few seem interested in putting forth energy towards a get together!  You tell that brother of yours that I said HI!  Hopefully, everyone can get their act together and gather together a few plans within the next 5 years but I'm awfully afraid there will be fewer of us to attend.  The nature of aging....
(Jack WOULD be 'that' holdout...hahahaaa  That rascal!!!)
In the event that he would like to view a couple of the folks interested - if he'd like to look over someones shoulder...(hint, hint hahahaaa), tell him to go this facebook page;  'Sam Houston High School Class of '72'

Dorothy Walley (Williamson) (1969)

Thanks Paula. I will pass that information on to his wife.  

Our class tried for a 45th reunion, but didn't get enough interest to even cover the cost of the venue and so had to cancel.  However, one of the relentless reunion organizers (yes, Denise Woodyard, I mean you!) could not accept that answer and so issued a blanket invitation for anyone interested to join her at a local restaurant, followed by a trip to a bar to hear The Fab Five play some great music -- primarily Beatles.  Was a great mini-reunion, although we only had 6 or so classmates show up.

Paula Ruzicka (1972)

Dorothy, that sounds like great fun and if I lived in the area, I would do something similar!!!
Please tell them to hang in there and possibly we can all get together in the near future...or maybe in 5 years!
If I continue to sound off, it may happen!   We can hope!

Caren Reynolds (Cates) (1965)

Hello Melvin,

I didn't take the grandkids by Reynolds Grocery.  The last time I drove by, the building was a mechanic shop.:(

I worked for my dad all through high school and learned many life lessons.  He taught me how to count back change, stock shelves and good customer service.  He loved people and it showed, and had the gift of finding something good in everyone.  Dad has been gone many years but I still miss him!

Roger Bradshaw (1970)

Judy I worked for Hariis County S.O., not some security company. I worked for the real deal. Glad you had a nice safe trip to the ole 'hood.