Greenie Fight Never Dies ...

Once upon a time I was an insider looking forward. Now I find myself being an outsider looking back. Actually, I am an insider and an outsider. Confusing? Allow me to elaborate.

I started school in 1941 at J. L. Giles Elementary, in the old South Park Independent School District in Beaumont. I reached South Park High School by 1949, graduating from there in 1953.

Many experiences transpired in my school life from 1941 to 1953. This account is not intended to list those events of my educational history. Rather, I am observing situations from the vantage point of being an insider who is living as an outsider. That’s right. I no longer live in the old South Park District, which merged with the Beaumont Independent School District. In fact, I no longer live in Beaumont. But I am still a South Park Greenie. Always will be. Thus I can say that I am an insider and an outsider.

Remaining a Greenie should be no mystery. If you were a Beaumont High School Royal Purple, then you always will be a Purple. The same things can be said about the French High Buffaloes, the Charlton-Pollard Bulldogs, Hebert Panthers, St. Anthony Bulldogs or whatever school you attended. There is that school spirit that you understand so well even though I cannot describe it adequately.

So, here I am, a 72 year old Greenie. I hear about many events that transpire in my hometown of Beaumont. Particularly, I am referring to the old South Park High School building. I drove to Beaumont and looked around the campus. Have you seen that high school building? What a lovely edifice. And that beautiful natural fence of majestic oak trees lining the campus is breathtaking. What a magnificent monument to the history of education in South Beaumont.

But, you know what? There is a buzz going around that some may think that the old high school building should be razed. The dictionary defines “razed” as, “to tear down or demolish.”

Ok, I’ve got two cents to spend so here they are. Do not destroy the old school building. That building is so much more than brick and mortar. Renovate the structure if necessary but do not change that stately outward appearance. The radiance of Greenie Spirit emanates from within that building. Therein is the pride of South Park.

While in Beaumont, I stopped at the Stadium Shopping Center and snapped a picture of the home plate plaque. Those Beaumont Exporters and the Texas League were brilliant in their day. I drove down Pipkin Street where I grew up. So much has changed. The Lamar Theatre on Highland Ave. looked like a stash of driftwood washed up on the beach. The old pool at Alice Keith Park is gone. There appears to be a new one there now but a bit of history has been removed.

Then when I saw the South Park High School building, what memories flooded my soul. They flashed through my mind like a VCR on fast forward. That building deserves to live. It carries not only the Greenie Spirit but the Spirit of quality education ever since the early 1920s.

As an outsider, I do not pay taxes there. I do not vote on bond issues. I am not involved with politics in and about Beaumont and Jefferson County. But as an insider … a Greenie insider, I say, “Find a way to preserve that building. Do not destroy one of the last beautiful reminders of an era now past but which shall never be forgotten.

The closing lines of the South Park High School Alma Mater say it so well:

“South Park, South Park,
Dear old South Park,
Time the change may bring,
Still the name of
South Park High School,
Evermore we’ll sing.”

Winston Hamby
Greenie '53
WinHamby@gmail.com