Out of the Attic – 1964 Commencement Program of Thomas Jefferson High School, Dallas, Texas
Veteran members of the Society will remember a time when transcriptions of family records – bible pages, newspaper articles, obituaries, funeral programs, commencement programs, and so on – were regularly found in the pages of our publications. We’d like to revive this practice and start featuring family records in our monthly eNews. We need your help to accomplish this.
Rummage around in your genealogical “attic” for unique family records. Then email us a transcription. Include an introductory paragraph to explain what the record is and where you found it. We’ll do the rest.
Send your records to newsletter@dallasgenealogy.org.
by Barbara A. Ware, Ph.D.
The Document, Vol. VII, 1963
The 1964 graduation class of Thomas Jefferson High School (click to view) made local history with the graduation of “the largest senior class in Dallas public school history.”1 The Dallas Morning News listed the names of all graduates, which included 95 more girls than boys. Large graduation classes were common that year in many locations as those born in 1946 were on the “cusp” of the Baby Boom generation. Around 3,000 students were enrolled in the school, grades 10 to 12.
While going through several boxes of memorabilia, I found my commencement program. At the 50th class reunion, class members reflected on those friends who were no longer among us, the 1957 Dallas tornado2, the 26 portable building on the campus, and the 40 senior boys who were arrested before graduation for sleeping on the campus lawn.3 The Class of 64 spent the first semester of the 7th grade on the Jefferson campus and moved to the newly built Edward H. Cary Junior High in the spring semester of 1959.4
C. C. Smith was the principal when the Class of 1964 graduated. However, Richard Stroud was the principal when Thomas Jefferson, locally known as “TJ”, opened in 1956. He also served as principal for adjacent Cary Junior High for its first semester of operation where the Class of 64 spent its 7th grade year.5 Stroud (1908-1975) was my first cousin twice removed. I did not know this until after he left TJ for an administrative position. He was related to my maternal great grandmother. He spelled his surname differently than my great grandmother, Lydia Strode Russell. But that’s a story for another time.
SOURCES
1 “Record Number Get Jefferson Diplomas,” Dallas Morning News, May 27, 1964, section 4, page 4, col 1-2.
2 The 1957 Dallas tornado did not damage north Dallas, but the 2019 tornado damaged so much of Thomas Jefferson High School that it has been under reconstruction for three years.
3 40 Arrested In School Disturbance,” Dallas Morning News, May 22 1964, section 1, page 4., col. 1
4 Francis Raffetto, “Super High School Planned,” Dallas Morning News, December 9, 1953, section III, page 1, cols. 5-8. “Public School Week Opened By Dedication Ceremonies,” Dallas Morning News, March 2, 1959, section 4, page 14.
5 “Doors Open at Newest High School,” Dallas Morning News, January 31, 1956, section I, page 2, col. 5. Stroud also served as principal at Cary Junior High when it opened in January 1959.
