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August 14, 2011
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS Just as we are finishing one project, others appear. There must be a grapevine that lets people know that the volunteers have cleared the work table and people appear with new gifts to the museum of family artifacts. We received this week some household items from the RO ranch and George Schoenhals collection of Avon car bottles. As you may remember, we accept items conditionally as the collection committee reviews all items and determines whether they meet our collection criteria and if not, whether they could be used for exhibits or education. We also tell donors that some items are sold for museum funds. We have a collection policy that the public is welcome to review upon request. Georgia and I were on our way to Post, Texas Monday to attend the Texas Plains Trail Regional Roundup. This is the annual meeting of the 52 county of our region. It is the meeting that museums, chamber of commerce, and historians meet to enjoy one and half days of education and networking. This is also our LAST trip of the year. This year was especially busy due to the three national meetings that met in our region. They will not meet in our region again for ten to twenty years so we felt we had to attend. The national meetings were informative but I prefer the state and regional meeting that provide better networking and one to one consultation. HISTORICAL MUSINGS With school starting again, I thought a visit to some of our original schools would be nice. In the volume 3, issue 14 of the Lipscomb Heritage, fall, 1991, the historical commission profiled some of our one room schoolhouses. Among the ones profiled were the Liberty School, Camp Creek (Page), Broyles, Sand Creek (Lone Star), North View, Mitchell, Freedom, Gillaloo, Loland, Shadeland, Willow Creek, Plains, and Valley Park. Each of the one room school houses had a teacher who taught reading, writing, and arithmetic to all grades. Lois Ellen Slack was one of the early teachers. Lois Ellen Millhollon Slack was born in Haskell, Texas on December 8, 1897. She came to the Panhandle in 1899 when her parents homesteaded in Ochiltree county, where they lived in a dugout near the head of Wolf Creek, a few miles west of what is no Lake Fryer. After the birth of two more children the family moved to Higgins in 1905 to be near a school. Lois graduated valedictorian in 1915. She then attended West Texas Normal (now West Texas State University) for one year and earned a permanent teaching certificate. She married Cedric Slack in June, 1918, in San Francisco, where he was a soldier in the Coast Artillery Corps during World War I. After a few short months he was transferred to New York. Lois returned to Higgins and subsequently taught at the Page School on Camp Creek. After the cessation of the war her husband rejoined her in Higgins, where they lived for several years before moving to Oklahoma. A son, Joe, was born in 1924. They returned to Higgins in 1932. Lois began teaching in the Higgins School system in 1934. She assumed the duties of first grade teacher in 1935 and continued in that position until 1949. In later years she worked for the First National Bank. She had a great fondness for her students. During World War II she corresponded with many of her former students who were in military service. Lois was an accomplished pianist During her teaching years she was active in extra - curricular school functions involving music. She was also the pianist for the First Baptist Church for most of her lifetime. A stroke in 1980 left her blind. Even then she continued to play the piano until additional strokes paralyzed her left side. The museum hopes all our schools will have a good year and we look forward to their visits. She died September 10, 1983, in Newport Beach, California. |
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