Confession Is Good For The Soul ...

I am interested in what is good for my soul and for your soul. I think you share those interests. An old Scottish proverb says, “Open confession is good for the soul.”

Remember that in previous columns, I have confessed to numerous activities of my youth. There was the time as a teenager that I drag raced a cop on Pearl Street in downtown Beaumont. There was that day in the summer of 1952, when I wore a gorilla costume around the sidewalks of downtown Beaumont. I was an usher at the Jefferson theatre and was assisting in promotional activities of the classic movie King Kong. There was a King Kong advertisement on my back but not on my front. It was fun scaring little kids until some parent with no sense of humor reported me to theatre management.

As you can see from the foregoing I have tended to the good of my soul regularly by confessing things to you that most people have never known about me for over half a century. My soul feels well-tended.

But what about the good of your soul? If you lived in Beaumont and or Jefferson County as a teenager during the 1950s, I am persuaded there are a few things that you should confess. Here are some suggestions to help you get started.

I would love to know who embedded that FOR SALE sign in the South Park High School front campus. I am pretty sure the deed was done by a Beaumont High School Royal Purple. Make that several Royal Purples. The sign was too big for just one person to handle. Why is it likely that Purples pulled off that marvelous stunt? Because it took place the night before our annual Greenie-Purple football game. Stuff like that always happened during the week of our football game. South Park and Beaumont High enjoyed a ferocious rivalry. I just know that many of you reading this column have confessions to make about things that happened in those days.

Someone reading this may know who painted “Purples” in purple paint on the grey wall of Greenie Stadium fence. It was reasonably neat in appearance. The lettering was evenly aligned. Whoever did that took more than just a few minutes to accomplish the task. Please include the following tidbits of information in your confession: What time of night did this take place, how long did it take to do the job, and how did you avoid being detected?

And who pulled that switch during the halftime show causing nearly half of the stadium lights to turn off? Most considered it to be an “inside job” but I always wondered. After all, it was during a Greenie-Purple football game. C’mon, come clean. Your soul is beckoning to you.

Maybe you can shed light on who painted “Yea Purples” on several of the SPHS school buses. And don’t try to cast blame on any other school. The signature speaks for itself.
How did the cow paddies get on the front steps of the high school building? I am certain of this one thing. No cow was ever on our front steps.

And does anyone know who carried Miss Eppie Quicksall’s little Crosley car up those same steps of the high school building and left it there on the porch? Wasn’t it coach Manning who drove it gently back down to earth?

Ok. Here’s the thing. How would you like to share your confessions of yesteryear? This inquiry is not limited to Purples and Greenies. If you are a French High Buffalo, Hebert High Panther, Charlton-Pollard Bulldog, St. Anthony Bulldog … well, I won’t try to list all of the schools in Jefferson County. If you have a confession to make then you know who you are.

Someday, I may even get around to telling you who threw that carton of eggs onto the entrance sidewalk of Beaumont High School. I may have to change my name to protect the guilty.

Do you not agree that the deeds of our school days are precious? Share those deeds, even if it means confessing to a thing or two. Remember the Scottish Proverb and do what is good for your soul.

Winston Hamby
The Beaumont Enterprise
WinHamby@gmail.com