In early 2004 Clyde Arnold called me (Perry Easterling) and asked me to look at the
HHS Class of 1951 web site and see if I thought that our class should also have a
web site. After looking at the 1951 class site I agreed that it would be something
good to keep our classmates informed and suggested that he start one up. Clyde
immediately said that he didn't have a computer, didn't know how to use one and
was only able to communicate on the internet via WebTV.
After lots of discussions I agreed to talk to Jim Edwards and see how their site was
created and how they kept it updated. Jim said that he had conned a next door kid,
who was a computer Geek, to create the site and be their web host. After the site
was placed on line, the kid moved and Jim had no idea how to update the site so
what they had was all they would get. Their class voted down paying for any space
on the web so it was eventually shut down.
By this time I was interested and realized that this was a real challenge because I
knew little about computers and nothing about a web site so I then agreed to see
how to get one. Clyde said he would get material to place on the web site as well as
see if he could get financing from classmates. After finding the monthly cost of, as
well as cost of additions and changes to web sites-such as those of two of our
companies it was decided that the only way to go was to do everything without going
through a professional. This would cost big bucks beyond our reach.
I agreed to use my computer, camera, scanners and other equipment but not pay for
any web software or on- line cost. Also because my typing training consisted of a
short course at Tyler Commercial College and no on-the-job training since 1954,
someone else would have to do the typing. Clyde then asked me to talk to Barbara
Taylor Burke about typing and the rest is history.
Perry
Equipped with his scanner and accompanied by his supportive wife Pat, Perry came
by our home in Benton, LA in May 2004. Perry had a purpose! To get pictures for a
newly started 1953 Web Site. Only a hint of friendship/partnership in web site
expansion began that day. My pictures from the 40's and 50's left with them since
with all the web site brainstorming going on there was no time to waste on scanning.
This was on the same trip to LA that Perry got photos from Nell Cassidy Butler at
her house and Donnell Bagley. Pat was a real encourager to both Perry and me in
this early phase of the project!
Since I had attended my first reunion of the class of '53 in October 2003 and seen
some people I hadn't seen in 52 years, I was captivated with an exciting possibility of
an opportunity waiting for me to see more of my old classmates! So after Perry and
Pat left, I began to dream on screen knowing that they would be back sometime
soon to bring back my pictures when they were in Shreveport. The first page for me
was the band page. I had been in news groups for a few years on the net learning to
do something similar to this type thing. This was my #1 hobby at the time. It was
time to put it to use for others if my help was needed!
Neither of us remembers exactly how it came about but Perry and I became
partners at producing a web site for Class of 1953 on that second trip to our house.
He had already begun with some pictures and the start of a Home Page using Yahoo
SiteBuilder that I viewed on the first trip. With my lifetime interest in music, the
band page was a joy to create so by the time he and Pat (our encourager!) returned
I had something to show them.
On the trip to bring my pictures back, Perry and Pat took a look at the band page,
smiled and first thing I knew I had agreed to be Page Designer, but didn't want to
learn to publish...that is Perry's forte. So now we had a Publisher (Perry), Promoter
(Clyde) and Page Designer (Barbara). Another thing I offered to do was find MIDI
(music) from the 50's to put on a few pages on the website. We have ended up
putting them on most all pages. A recent addition (2008) has been a player toward
the bottom of the page so you can shut off the music if you prefer silence. All we
needed was money to pay for the Yahoo Site and pictures, pictures, pictures. The
promoter (Clyde Arnold) was sure he could get both from the class. He had full
confidence in Class of '53 to come through.
Then came navigation and organization which was done through trial and error and
my minimum experience with this type thing. Both MENU and INDEX are good tools
for navigation. And each of those little buttons has a purpose! The sections are our
cooperative efforts of how to divide the many pictures we received and how to name
the sections. At first I touched up, cut, resized and returned Perry's scans, but now
he is so good at that, I'm not needed so just sit baffled at how he can arrange and
get them on line so quickly after an occasion. At that time I made "text images"; i.e.
took a picture of my typing to use as text on the web. Later Perry learned how to
"Copy and Paste" the typed text onto the web site---a much improved method for
both of us! Working with older photos was a challenge that we've tried to meet.
Perry is very selective in the photos he wants to represent and has done a good job
selecting and later learning to touch them up to his satisfaction!
Remember the photos on the web site are "thumbnails," and can be expanded. This
is a feature offered by Yahoo SiteBuilder that Perry learned to use almost
immediately. And recently (2008) Videos have been added because of Perry's
equipment and ingenuity. We haven't tried to copy any other web site style and
don't know if this one would pass the test of a pro, but it's been our pleasure to
design it specifically for the class of '53 with lots of your help and encouragement!
From the beginning, it was amazing to me how Perry and Clyde thought nothing of
traveling around not only to Hope but other places to get pictures. Clyde provided a
huge class picture that Perry meticulously worked into what you see on the Class
Picture Page--not without some extremely tedious work! Clyde has also dug up
some very old football pictures that are now published in the sports section and has
made many long distance calls and trips to solicit pictures. We asked him to work
particularly on the sports section getting photos from our HHS days since that was
his strong suit! He was aptly named "Promoter" as he passed the basket, made the
first 6 months payment himself, and solicited pictures from a lot of people in the
class. Nelda Thompson Doyle was also a great financial contributor to the beginning
of the web site in the first two years and has been a big supporter ever since.
Other early-on-the-scene pictures as Perry recalled were from Bobby Bruce and
Clyde who gave them to Perry to scan, a very time-consuming job. Bonnie's
collection of albums of pictures was a "gold mine" so to speak. Perry picked them up
in person at Bonnie's home, scanned, and posted. Ann Houston Ruppel sent some
invaluable photos and designed her own Golden Anniversary Page. Had Ann's
health been better, she would certainly have been more involved in the designs of
the site. Bobbie Sparks had been an enthusiastic supporter of the class projects in
contacting Hope people for us. She has also done some of the scanning so that
photos could be sent electronically (attachments in email) to Perry for publishing.
Bernard Dunn has furnished lots of interesting pictures including one of his father,
Happy Dunn, whom everyone in Hope knew because he was a local policeman. He
brought even more to the 2008 reunion.
In May 2004 in Shreveport Perry contacted Nell Cassidy Butler and Donnell Bagley.
Donnell lives in Vivian, LA (a few miles from Shreveport) which required a little
effort to bring pictures to Shreveport where Perry and Pat were "visiting." Donnell
was convinced by a promised free meal at Horseshoe. The next day Perry and Pat
made a trip from Shreveport to Benton, LA (about 15 miles) to get some pictures
from me. Helen Harris sent some great pictures by mail! And, Gene Holdridge
brought some to the recent 2008 reunion. It's never too late to send pictures for
publishing on the web site! Surprise us with more!
Some of our writers have been Clyde Arnold, Nell C. Butler, Donnell Bagley, Perry
and I. Most of the memories of the reunions were written by Clyde; fishing and golf
by Donnell. I volunteered to do the editing (spell check, grammar, etc) so the writers
wouldn't have to worry about that and all writers need do is type it on some screen
(or paper) and send. We are still looking for help with writing so if you have been
hiding your talents, we need you!
This year for the 2008 reunion memories, we'd very much like to have short
writings from a bunch of you. Wanda Sinclair McCorkle deserves recognition for
sending a poem by Marlene Russell Formby along with memories to be put on
Marlene's obituary page. We were able to get photos of Marlene from her page on
the funeral home's memorials. We have a few stories from others of their memories
of the deceased of our class. As for the communication to the class by email and
then repetition on the announcement page, I believe it was Pat Easterling who
suggested we have a prayer list. Duplicated on the Announcement Page, the email's
purpose is to get the concerns and joys to you quicker; then on the web page for
reference in the future. Betty Willis, Bobbie Sparks (Mrs. Terriel), Jesse, Perry,
Bonnie and others have played an active role with that. Others are invited to help.
The web site is available to publish the reunions when needed. We like to put up the
date as soon as it is decided on so that people can mark and save the date to avoid
conflicts if they plan to come. Then we will add details as the reunion plans progress.
Other projects as a result of the web page have been the two children pictured at
the bottom of the announcement page. One of them was started by Ron Richards
and Nell C. Butler. The other is the grandson of a classmate, Bobby Lafferty. We
hope these projects have brought both emotional and financial support to these
families. We try to keep them updated as opportunities arise.
The plaque presented at the 2008 Reunion (55th) was a complete surprise to both
Perry and me and very much appreciated. An award for enjoyment of the project is
pure delight! Thank you all; another thank you to Roy Seymour who initiated the
project!
My conclusion of the web page work and my renewed association with the class of
'53 is that it has been a big blessing in my life---just under five years. Without you,
the class of '53, this web site would be nothing.
Barbara TAYLOR BURKE
Hope Schools 1st through 10th
Crossett HS 1953 Graduate
PURPOSE OF THE HISTORY: Through the history we want to maintain records of
this big class project that has evolved into a method of communication in our later
years when we need each other.
Also we want to encourage other HHS classes to start and maintain one. The
secret? Spread the fun and work around. Without lots of classmates being involved,
the work is stymied.
Thanks to all who have sent even one picture, one idea, or one word of
encouragement! The phone calls to classmates when they are having health
problems are invaluable: Jesse, Clyde, Bonnie, Francis, Betty, Bobbie Sparks and
Perry have done a lot of phoning. Robert Power and Mary Jo have been our faithful
contacts in the Little Rock area when classmates have been there for medical
treatment.
If I have left out something or someone that needs to be put in our history, please
contact me or Perry!
Barbara
HHS Class of 1951 web site and see if I thought that our class should also have a
web site. After looking at the 1951 class site I agreed that it would be something
good to keep our classmates informed and suggested that he start one up. Clyde
immediately said that he didn't have a computer, didn't know how to use one and
was only able to communicate on the internet via WebTV.
After lots of discussions I agreed to talk to Jim Edwards and see how their site was
created and how they kept it updated. Jim said that he had conned a next door kid,
who was a computer Geek, to create the site and be their web host. After the site
was placed on line, the kid moved and Jim had no idea how to update the site so
what they had was all they would get. Their class voted down paying for any space
on the web so it was eventually shut down.
By this time I was interested and realized that this was a real challenge because I
knew little about computers and nothing about a web site so I then agreed to see
how to get one. Clyde said he would get material to place on the web site as well as
see if he could get financing from classmates. After finding the monthly cost of, as
well as cost of additions and changes to web sites-such as those of two of our
companies it was decided that the only way to go was to do everything without going
through a professional. This would cost big bucks beyond our reach.
I agreed to use my computer, camera, scanners and other equipment but not pay for
any web software or on- line cost. Also because my typing training consisted of a
short course at Tyler Commercial College and no on-the-job training since 1954,
someone else would have to do the typing. Clyde then asked me to talk to Barbara
Taylor Burke about typing and the rest is history.
Perry
Equipped with his scanner and accompanied by his supportive wife Pat, Perry came
by our home in Benton, LA in May 2004. Perry had a purpose! To get pictures for a
newly started 1953 Web Site. Only a hint of friendship/partnership in web site
expansion began that day. My pictures from the 40's and 50's left with them since
with all the web site brainstorming going on there was no time to waste on scanning.
This was on the same trip to LA that Perry got photos from Nell Cassidy Butler at
her house and Donnell Bagley. Pat was a real encourager to both Perry and me in
this early phase of the project!
Since I had attended my first reunion of the class of '53 in October 2003 and seen
some people I hadn't seen in 52 years, I was captivated with an exciting possibility of
an opportunity waiting for me to see more of my old classmates! So after Perry and
Pat left, I began to dream on screen knowing that they would be back sometime
soon to bring back my pictures when they were in Shreveport. The first page for me
was the band page. I had been in news groups for a few years on the net learning to
do something similar to this type thing. This was my #1 hobby at the time. It was
time to put it to use for others if my help was needed!
Neither of us remembers exactly how it came about but Perry and I became
partners at producing a web site for Class of 1953 on that second trip to our house.
He had already begun with some pictures and the start of a Home Page using Yahoo
SiteBuilder that I viewed on the first trip. With my lifetime interest in music, the
band page was a joy to create so by the time he and Pat (our encourager!) returned
I had something to show them.
On the trip to bring my pictures back, Perry and Pat took a look at the band page,
smiled and first thing I knew I had agreed to be Page Designer, but didn't want to
learn to publish...that is Perry's forte. So now we had a Publisher (Perry), Promoter
(Clyde) and Page Designer (Barbara). Another thing I offered to do was find MIDI
(music) from the 50's to put on a few pages on the website. We have ended up
putting them on most all pages. A recent addition (2008) has been a player toward
the bottom of the page so you can shut off the music if you prefer silence. All we
needed was money to pay for the Yahoo Site and pictures, pictures, pictures. The
promoter (Clyde Arnold) was sure he could get both from the class. He had full
confidence in Class of '53 to come through.
Then came navigation and organization which was done through trial and error and
my minimum experience with this type thing. Both MENU and INDEX are good tools
for navigation. And each of those little buttons has a purpose! The sections are our
cooperative efforts of how to divide the many pictures we received and how to name
the sections. At first I touched up, cut, resized and returned Perry's scans, but now
he is so good at that, I'm not needed so just sit baffled at how he can arrange and
get them on line so quickly after an occasion. At that time I made "text images"; i.e.
took a picture of my typing to use as text on the web. Later Perry learned how to
"Copy and Paste" the typed text onto the web site---a much improved method for
both of us! Working with older photos was a challenge that we've tried to meet.
Perry is very selective in the photos he wants to represent and has done a good job
selecting and later learning to touch them up to his satisfaction!
Remember the photos on the web site are "thumbnails," and can be expanded. This
is a feature offered by Yahoo SiteBuilder that Perry learned to use almost
immediately. And recently (2008) Videos have been added because of Perry's
equipment and ingenuity. We haven't tried to copy any other web site style and
don't know if this one would pass the test of a pro, but it's been our pleasure to
design it specifically for the class of '53 with lots of your help and encouragement!
From the beginning, it was amazing to me how Perry and Clyde thought nothing of
traveling around not only to Hope but other places to get pictures. Clyde provided a
huge class picture that Perry meticulously worked into what you see on the Class
Picture Page--not without some extremely tedious work! Clyde has also dug up
some very old football pictures that are now published in the sports section and has
made many long distance calls and trips to solicit pictures. We asked him to work
particularly on the sports section getting photos from our HHS days since that was
his strong suit! He was aptly named "Promoter" as he passed the basket, made the
first 6 months payment himself, and solicited pictures from a lot of people in the
class. Nelda Thompson Doyle was also a great financial contributor to the beginning
of the web site in the first two years and has been a big supporter ever since.
Other early-on-the-scene pictures as Perry recalled were from Bobby Bruce and
Clyde who gave them to Perry to scan, a very time-consuming job. Bonnie's
collection of albums of pictures was a "gold mine" so to speak. Perry picked them up
in person at Bonnie's home, scanned, and posted. Ann Houston Ruppel sent some
invaluable photos and designed her own Golden Anniversary Page. Had Ann's
health been better, she would certainly have been more involved in the designs of
the site. Bobbie Sparks had been an enthusiastic supporter of the class projects in
contacting Hope people for us. She has also done some of the scanning so that
photos could be sent electronically (attachments in email) to Perry for publishing.
Bernard Dunn has furnished lots of interesting pictures including one of his father,
Happy Dunn, whom everyone in Hope knew because he was a local policeman. He
brought even more to the 2008 reunion.
In May 2004 in Shreveport Perry contacted Nell Cassidy Butler and Donnell Bagley.
Donnell lives in Vivian, LA (a few miles from Shreveport) which required a little
effort to bring pictures to Shreveport where Perry and Pat were "visiting." Donnell
was convinced by a promised free meal at Horseshoe. The next day Perry and Pat
made a trip from Shreveport to Benton, LA (about 15 miles) to get some pictures
from me. Helen Harris sent some great pictures by mail! And, Gene Holdridge
brought some to the recent 2008 reunion. It's never too late to send pictures for
publishing on the web site! Surprise us with more!
Some of our writers have been Clyde Arnold, Nell C. Butler, Donnell Bagley, Perry
and I. Most of the memories of the reunions were written by Clyde; fishing and golf
by Donnell. I volunteered to do the editing (spell check, grammar, etc) so the writers
wouldn't have to worry about that and all writers need do is type it on some screen
(or paper) and send. We are still looking for help with writing so if you have been
hiding your talents, we need you!
This year for the 2008 reunion memories, we'd very much like to have short
writings from a bunch of you. Wanda Sinclair McCorkle deserves recognition for
sending a poem by Marlene Russell Formby along with memories to be put on
Marlene's obituary page. We were able to get photos of Marlene from her page on
the funeral home's memorials. We have a few stories from others of their memories
of the deceased of our class. As for the communication to the class by email and
then repetition on the announcement page, I believe it was Pat Easterling who
suggested we have a prayer list. Duplicated on the Announcement Page, the email's
purpose is to get the concerns and joys to you quicker; then on the web page for
reference in the future. Betty Willis, Bobbie Sparks (Mrs. Terriel), Jesse, Perry,
Bonnie and others have played an active role with that. Others are invited to help.
The web site is available to publish the reunions when needed. We like to put up the
date as soon as it is decided on so that people can mark and save the date to avoid
conflicts if they plan to come. Then we will add details as the reunion plans progress.
Other projects as a result of the web page have been the two children pictured at
the bottom of the announcement page. One of them was started by Ron Richards
and Nell C. Butler. The other is the grandson of a classmate, Bobby Lafferty. We
hope these projects have brought both emotional and financial support to these
families. We try to keep them updated as opportunities arise.
The plaque presented at the 2008 Reunion (55th) was a complete surprise to both
Perry and me and very much appreciated. An award for enjoyment of the project is
pure delight! Thank you all; another thank you to Roy Seymour who initiated the
project!
My conclusion of the web page work and my renewed association with the class of
'53 is that it has been a big blessing in my life---just under five years. Without you,
the class of '53, this web site would be nothing.
Barbara TAYLOR BURKE
Hope Schools 1st through 10th
Crossett HS 1953 Graduate
PURPOSE OF THE HISTORY: Through the history we want to maintain records of
this big class project that has evolved into a method of communication in our later
years when we need each other.
Also we want to encourage other HHS classes to start and maintain one. The
secret? Spread the fun and work around. Without lots of classmates being involved,
the work is stymied.
Thanks to all who have sent even one picture, one idea, or one word of
encouragement! The phone calls to classmates when they are having health
problems are invaluable: Jesse, Clyde, Bonnie, Francis, Betty, Bobbie Sparks and
Perry have done a lot of phoning. Robert Power and Mary Jo have been our faithful
contacts in the Little Rock area when classmates have been there for medical
treatment.
If I have left out something or someone that needs to be put in our history, please
contact me or Perry!
Barbara
CLASS OF 1953 WEB SITE HISTORY