Austin High School Alumni – Austin, Texas

Cactus Pryor, Austin’s original funnyman and a pioneer of local radio and television, died Tuesday afternoon. He was 88.

The cause was complications from a recent fall and Alzheimer’s disease. He fell and broke his leg earlier this month while living at an assisted living facility in Buda. With family around him, Pryor died at Hospice Austin’s Christopher House, where he was moved recently.

When Austin got its first local TV broadcast on KTBC in 1951, the folksy humorist was the first face viewers saw. Until 2008, he did commentaries about Austin haunts and personalities on KLBJ radio, but the station continued rerunning his old commentaries, a tribute to his lasting popularity with listeners. He ended each segment with a distinguishable but puzzling word: “thermerstrockimortimer.” Pryor never revealed what it meant. Read the rest of this entry »

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In September the Austin High School Alumni Association was the recipient of a contribution in the amount of $1,253.88 from Catherine Cruver and the class of 1990. They class recently held their 20 year reunion and voted to donate the remaining funds to the association. On behalf of the thousands of alumni who remain loyal to Austin High School, we thank you for your generous support.

2nd in a series submitted by Brian Schenk, AHS Archivist

In September, 1969, the taxpayers of Austin approved a $74  million dollar bond issue which included a renovation or replacement of the Rio Grande Campus of Austin High School.  The main building at that site was more than fifty years old and the newest additions had reached their thirtieth year.   Community support was lacking for “rebuilding at the old site” for parents feared the “splitting of the school” during the years of construction. Read the rest of this entry »

By Brian Schenk, AHS Archivist*

Stephen F. Austin High School is the “oldest, continuing, tax-supported, locally controlled, public high school in Texas” making it one of the oldest in Texas but not the oldest west of the Mississippi! Sixty-six students, 39 girls and 27 boys attended our first day on September 12, 1881. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Schenk, Archivist Emeritus
Jenna McEachern, Archivist
Angie Reeve, Librarian
A LITTLE LATIN – OUR MOTTO: As early as 1883 – when we had our first graduation – Austin High has used a “seal” with a design resembling the State Seal of Texas. Same star, same wreath in a circle, just like that of Texas. Of course we personalized the “Austin High School” around the edge, and added a little phrase in Latin at the bottom. “Mens Agitat Molem” is what it says in Latin and that means “The Mind Moves the Mass”.

Each year the Steering Committee recognizes one or two Honored Faculty and one or two Distinguished Alumni.

Nominations can be received until the end of December from any alumni who have knowledge of:

–An alumnus who has led a life of Merit that brings credit to the story of Austin High. Such persons are elected on MERIT.

–A teacher or administrator who stood above the rest and deserves – even after the passage of years – our recognition. Read the rest of this entry »

reprinted from the official student publication The Maroon
Compiled and written by:
Brian Schenk – Archivist Emeritus
Jenna McEachern – Archivist
Angie Reeve, Librarian

From 1925 to 1975, Austin High School was located at 1212 Rio Grande Avenue. Today that location is the Rio Grande Campus of the Austin Community College. The building had actually been built in 1915 as the John Allan Junior High School. Mr. Allen had made a major contribution to Austin schools in the 1890s, and the new building was constructed to provide additional opprtunities for girls and boys. Special programs in “manual training” and “domestic arts” were offered at the Rio Grande site in the early years.

Then, in 1924, everyone understood that the local “high school” had run out of space at its location at 9th and Trinity Streets. This location is now the site of the First Baptist Church. But in 1900, it had become the “Austin High School” and was called “the finest high school in the South”. It filled the entire block between 9th and 10th, Trinity and Neches Streets. And that, in the last years, was too small a space for a high school with a thousand students.

So, during the Thanksgiving Holidays in 1925, the high school students and junior high students packed their books and lunchboxes and headed home. When they went back to school on the next Monday, the high school students went to 12th and Rio Grande, and the Junior High kids went to “Old Red”, the former Austin High at 9th and Trinity. They “traded campuses”. Educational leaders in town thought that there was “more room to expand” at the 12th and Rio Grande site. And then they expanded the Rio Grande site in 1924-25 to provide additional classrooms.

And so it became Austin High for fifty years. In 1929 they built a “real gym” across West Avenue (behind the school), and in 1939 they built the “Annex” of 24 additional classrooms on the north side of the original building. A new Band Hall was also constructed in 1939 and a “tunnel” was built under West Avenue. The “tunnel” was provided so students could safely cross “busy West Avenue” to reach the Band Hall and Gym. And of course, the House Park athletic fields were “just down the hill” from the campus.

As the city grew, school population reached 3000 at Austin High by 1951 and the Board of Education decided to build two additional schools – north and south. A. N. McCallum High School was built just south of Koenig Lane on the north edge of the city, and William B., Travis High School was built on the south side of town on East Oltorf Street. The city was split into THREE high school districts, and Austin High’s population dropped to about 1200 in 1953-54. African American students continued to attend a newly build Anderson High School on the east side of the city.

As time passed, parking problems became obvious at the Rio Grande campus. There wasn’t enough street parking around the school and that problem never got better. The building got older. Some major renovations, including air conditioning, were added in 1967.

Those who went to school at 12th and Rio Grande thought of their school as “’Austin High” of course. But because there were three other high schools in Austin – McCallum, Travis, and Anderson High for African Americans, the Board of Education renamed our school “Stephen F. Austin High School”, honoring the man for whom the city was named.

By 1970 it was obvious that something had to be done. The building was 45 years old. Parking was a mess. We needed new science labs. The cafeteria was cramped. It was time to replace the building or move.

And the Board of Education decided to move.

But the move needed to be near the city center, so the school could serve as “the belt buckle of the city’s desegregation efforts”. Out of four choices, the site at 1715 West First Street was chosen. And, after a lawsuit about whether A. J. Zilker’s donation of park land could be used for a school, construction began in 1973 and the first day of school at the Lakeside Campus was August 25, 1975..

We wish to thank everyone for their donations to the Loyal Forever Alumni Association. Your gifts support a number of causes at Austin High and continued excellence at AHS. We thank the class of 1962 for their lifetime donation to the Alumni Association and also thank Lynn Segall (AHS ’70) for his contribution of $500 to help us upgrade the Loyal Forever website (in process).

Join or renew your membership today.

Lifetime Members:

Charles Frazier, Class of 1943
Winifred Tichenor Hall, Class of 1944
Jeanne Smith Umstattd, Class of 1945
Jacquelyn McGee, Class of 1946

B. Goldsmith, Class of 1951
Ruth Prouse Morgan, Class of 1952
J. Carroll, Class of 1953
Robert Harris, Class of 1955
Ann Cox Bomer, Class of 1956
Kay Pinckney Braziel, Class of 1956
Brian Schenk, Class of 1956, Official AHS Archivist
Richard Chote, Class of 1958
Eleanor Tyler Chote, Class of 1958

Carol Clewis Bray, Class of 1961
Class of 1962 – Lifetime Donation
Samuel Boyd, Class of 1963
Kent Rider, Class of 1963
William Page, Class of 1964
David Barbour, Class of 1966
Mary Bailey Henderson, Class of 1966
Matthew Kreisle, Class of 1966
Neal Newberry, Class of 1966
Lolla McNutt Page, Class of 1966
Ann Moss Pieratt, Class of 1966
Deborah McCormick Vacek, Class of 1966
Lynn Pugh Remadna, Class of 1967
Larry Barbour, Class of 1968
Beth Butler Granger, Class of 1968
Tom Granger, Class of 1968
Norman Kieke, Class of 1968
Rita Ramsey Kreisle, Class of 1968
Sally Chandler, Class of 1969
Jane Ebersole née Patterson, Class of 1969
Debbie Thomas Lackey, Class of 1969
Ilda Quintanilla-Castillo, Class of 1969
Jan Stewart Smith, Class of 1969
Ray Smith, Class of 1969

Scott Baker, Class of 1970
Anne Steinhauser Bloomquist, Class of 1970
John Bloomquist, Class of 1970
Ben Crenshaw, Class of 1970
Woffie Denius, Class of 1970
Cathy Scott McElroy, Class of 1970
Bob Miller, Class of 1970
Fred Niemann, Class of 1970
Julie Ferguson Sayers, Class of 1970
Scott Sayers, Class of 1970
Lynn Segall, Class of 1970
Peter Barbour, Class of 1971
Melissa Owens Jackson, Class of 1971
Chris Hale, Class of 1972
Susan Pohl Lenora, Class of 1972
Jim Lindeman, Class of 1972
Cicero Lowe, Class of 1972
Michelle Segall Bassett, Class of 1973
Ruben Sanchez, Class of 1973
Thomas Davis, Class of 1975
Carrie Hendrix Eickenroht, Class of 1975
Tracey Hall, Class of 1975
Frederick Thomas, Class of 1975
Jodi Boston Zipp, Class of 1975
Ann Thompson Bauer, Class of 1976
Mark Bohannon, Class of 1976
Anne Alexander, Class of 1977
Joan Granger Talley, Class of 1979
Kathy McMillan Taylor, Class of 1979

Phyllis Schneider Russell, Class of 1980
Boone Almanza, Class of 1981
Tim Dudley, Class of 1981
Sheri Shelby Krause, Class of 1981
Martha Moody Degrasse, Class of 1983
Casey Turner Magnuson, Class of 1985
Stephen Erickson, Class of 1987
Alexandra Prentice Saenz, Class of 1988
Marty Jastrow McCartt, Class of 1989

Laurens Fish, Class of 1990
Randall Schultz, Class of 1990
Amy McMichael Paddock, Class of 1991
Nancy Niemann, Class of 1993
John Avery, Class of 1995
Lindsay Treadwell Rosenthal, Class of 1995
Desiree Hofman, Class of 1996
Grant Gottesman, Class of 1997
Blake Gottesman, Class of 1998
Lincoln Rose, Class of 1999
Katharine Saunders, Class of 1999
Christopher Sayers, Class of 2000
Cary Gottesman, Class of 2002
Ian Saunders, Class of 2002

Steve Saunders, Friend of AHS

Alumni Members:

Chris H. J. Adams, CPA, Class of 1919
Bowling “Bo” Byers, Class of 1936
Nancy Bowman, Class of 1946

Jo Betsy Szebehely, Class of 1952
Willis Bodine, Class of 1953
Laurence A. Becker, Ph.D., Class of 1954
Martha McKay Jones, Class of 1954
Mary Ellen Embree LeBien, Class of 1954
Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Class of 1957
Robin Jones Cooper, Class of 1958
Charles D. McCullough, M.D., Class of 1958
Rox B. Covert, Class of 1959
Susie Snowden Craig, Class of 1959
John M. Davis, Class of 1959
Ted J. Taylor, Class of 1959

Alice Marshall Davis, Class of 1960
Kay Fitzpatrick Finnell, Class of 1961
John W. Billingsley, Class of 1965
William Price Boone, Class of 1965
Mark James Hanna, Class of 1965
Dena Sue Hardin, Class of 1965
Christopher H. “Chris” Adams, Class of 1966
Richard F. “Dick” Craig, Class of 1966
Nancy Nash Harper, Class of 1966
Linda Jones, Class of 1966
Wade D. Shaw, Class of 1966
David D. Livingston, Class of 1967
Sandra Lee Magruder, Class of 1967
Kevin Michael Magruder, Class of 1967
Danay Covert, Class of 1968
Steve Head, Class of 1968
Barbara A. Railey, Class of 1968
Will Wilson, Class of 1968
Jim D. Wynn, Class of 1968
Jack Balagia, Class of 1969
Carl Daywood, Class of 1969
Coryell Price Duty, Class of 1969
Tula Neighbors McCormick, Class of 1969
Jim L. McNutt, Class of 1969
Dena Blakeway Rousseau, Class of 1969
Kathy Kuhlman Skaggs, Class of 1969
Michele Correll Turnquist, Class of 1969

Griff Andrews, Class of 1970
Knox B. Fitzpatrick, Class of 1970
Stephen M. Pearce, M.D., Class of 1971
Andrew K. “Andy” Fish, Class of 1972
Mark B. Sprague, Class of 1972
Brenda Buaas Black, Class of 1973
John Carlos Pearce, Class of 1973
Brian F. Gaston, Class of 1974
Ruben N. Ray, Class of 1974
Thomas M. Schieffer, Class of 1974
Lisa Fancher Blonkvist, Class of 1976
Barbara Powers Crockett, Class of 1976
Leslie Rost McConnico, Class of 1976
Rudy Garza, Class of 1977
Mariben Ramsey, Class of 1977
Will Eckert, Class of 1978
Greg Talley, Class of 1978
Joseph S. Babb, Class of 1979

Lisa Andrews Ard, Class of 1980
Janet Joseph Taborn, Class of 1982
Christopher K. Bell, Class of 1984
Kim White Klein, Class of 1985

James P. Dyer “Jim”, Class of 1991
Martha Montgomery Moore, Class of 1998

Bradley Moore, Class of 2004

Betty Bird, Friend of AHS
Bob Jenkins, Friend of AHS
Charles Heimsath, Friend of AHS
Hanna Debbie, Friend of AHS
Bill Glover, Friend of AHS
Morris Gottesman, Friend of AHS
Michael J. Hines, M.D., Friend of AHS
Donna Parker, Friend of AHS