5/22/08
Record of the Massey family
Otis and Beulah Massey moved to a farm southeast of Friona in November, 1925, from Ellis County, Texas. At the time of their arrival in Parmer County, they had seven children: Elizabeth, Edward, Gordon, Geneva, Russell, Stanley, and Frances.
The four older children were school age and started to school at Friona in the fall of 1925. Betty, Wayne, and Marvin were all born after the family came to Parmer County.
Elizabeth graduated in 1932 (there were only 11 years of school then). Eight was the most Massey children in school at one time. Marvin, the youngest, graduated in 1950.
All ten of the Massey children graduated from Friona High School. Three were valedictorian or salutatorian: Geneva, Stanley, and Betty. Betty was also an all-state basketball player.
The oldest grandchild, Bessie Ferguson, started to school in September of 1942 and her brother Kenneth Ferguson started in 1944. Fred Ferguson started school in 1951 and Doris Ferguson started in 1957.
Bessie attended Friona schools 11 years then graduated from Grant High School in Grant, Oklahoma in 1954. Kenneth graduated from Friona in 1956, Fred graduated in 1963, and Doris graduated in 1969.
Also attending Friona schools during this time were: Delene, Tommy, Eddie, and Marcella Massey. They are Edward’s children. Tommy, Eddie, and Marcella, all Friona graduates.
Gordon’s sons, Leon and Weldon Massey, and Russell’s son David Massey, attended and graduated from Friona. Judy and Joy Massey, Wayne’s daughters, attended Friona school but moved to Washington state while they were in the lower grades.
Great grandchildren attending Friona schools were: Reba and Glenna Holt, daughters of Bessie Ferguson Holt, granddaughters of Elizabeth Ferguson, and great granddaughters of Otis and Beulah Massey. Reba graduated from Friona High school in 1972 and Glenna in 1975.
Sherrie and Jerrie Ferguson, daughters of Kenneth Ferguson, granddaughters of Elizabeth Ferguson, and great granddaughters of Otis and Beulah Massey attended Friona schools but also moved away in the lower grades.
Gary and Kristy Ferguson, children of Fred Ferguson, grandchildren of Elizabeth Ferguson, and great grandchildren of Otis and Beulah Massey both graduated from Friona High School, Gary in 1986 and Kristy in 1990.
Kristy’s daughter Kaylyn is currently a sixth grader. She is a great great granddaughter of Otis and Beulah Massey.
Heather and Alicia Smith, daughters of Doris Ferguson Smith, granddaughters of Elizabeth Ferguson, and great granddaughters of Otis and Beulah Massey, are also Friona High School graduates.
Doug, Mitch, and Brook Massey, sons of Leon Massey, grandsons of Gordon Massey, graduated from Friona High School: Dug in 1980, Mitch in 1982, and Brook in 1985.
Debbie Varner, daughter of Delene Massey Varner, granddaughter of Edward Massey attended Friona schools in the lower grades.
The last graduating senior from Friona High School was Alicia Smith in 1999. Kaylyn Gaussoin, daughter of Kristy, granddaughter of Fred Ferguson, great granddaughter of Elizabeth, and great great granddaughter of Otis and Beulah, started pre-school in 1999. She will graduate in 2014, marking 89 years of having a Massey descendant in the Friona School system.
(Thanks to Bessie Ferguson Holt for submitting this information.)
Linda Mannix-FHS 1962-1966
When I first got this email requesting stories about my time at Friona High, many images flashed through my mind. I attended 1962 - 1966 and the most vivid image was, of course, where I was when I first heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. Just finishing gym class and unbelieving, we all walked into the main building of the old high school and listened on the intercom to the events of that American tragedy.
But other memories included being the “new” kid in school as a freshman, running on the track during PE class, singing in the High School Chorus and the Trebleaires, listening to the World Series in Joy Mathis’ English class, cheering the football and basketball teams to victory, taking typing classes, chemistry class, and learning to drive.
But the most lasting and most important memory was of a group of us students sitting in Mal Manchee’s empty classroom after school and learning how to debate. Mr. Manchee was the History teacher, but also the Debate Coach. He gave me, and all of us, skills that have proven to be most valuable in life. How to speak in front of an audience, how to think on your feet, how to listen and understand both sides of a topic. He infused us into a world of politics and history that was happening outside our little world of Friona. He made us aware of greater things in the world.
Most of all, as a young girl, he gave me the confidence that I could think and speak and hold my own in a world of men. Mr. Manchee placed me with Dwight Whitaker as a “mixed” debate team and Dwight and I went on to win the Regional Debate Championships in Lubbock. A proud day in my life. No cheerleaders, no fans in the stands, but we were winners. And we used our brains.
So while I was neither the top athlete, nor the “most popular”, I learned much about life from Friona High School. Thanks to Mr. Manchee and all the other teachers, I went on to succeed in business and life. Friona High School provided a good foundation to move forward in life and I hope the students today understand that what they are learning now will last them all their lives.
Thanks! Linda
Linda Outland Mannix
Executive Coordinator
Durango Cowboy Gathering
P.O. Box 299
Durango, CO 81302
lindamannix@durango.net
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Evelyne (Eve) Thonney-Braunschweiger, an exchange student from Switzerland, stayed with Ernest, Valoris, Karen, and Joel Osborn in the 1962-63 school year. The following was received via email:
What has FHS meant to me? Coming from a different country with a different school system I had to learn to look at things differently and from other angles. Moreover I had quite a struggle with the Texan accent at the beginning. All of this of course opened my mind and helped me in my further education and many situations in my life.
But most of all FHS made me feel welcome and part of it as well by the teachers as by the students. Some contacts still last after over 40 years! Thank you.
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Dear Ron,
My most memorable and embarrassing moment of teaching in junior high was when an entire roll of movie film came unrolled when I was showing a film. We had a projector encased in a cabinet so I couldn’t tell what was happening until I checked after the movie was finished. I showed the mess to Mr. Jarboe who very quietly said he would take care of it. I’ve always wondered what happened to that movie but I never had the nerve to ask.
Thanks so much for all your efforts to help celebrate the Friona Schools’ Centennial. I have some corrections and additions to the Hadley Reeve descendants who have graduated.
1937 Ruth Reeve Hume 1997 Andy Kendrick
1939 Virginia Guyer Bayless 1998 Joni Johnson Graham
1953 Glenn E. Reeve, Jr. 1999 Matrhew Kendrick
1957 Don Reeve 2006 Jennifer Kendrick
1961 Joe Reeve 2006 Beth Bridges
1962 Floyd S. Reeve 2008 Justin Bridges
Also, it was Adaline Reeve (not White) who served on the school board.
Again, thank you for helping us celebrate, and we will look forward to reading other family histories.
Sharon Reeve White
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I started school in 1954 in the old red brick building. Before the year was out the new elementary was completed. I remember carrying our desks (which seemed as large as cows) across that wide street to our new room.
Our teacher was Mrs. Ethel Benger. The new room had lockers in it and seemed the size of a gymnasium. So we were the first first-graders in the new elementary. Then we were the first senior class to graduate from the new high school building in 1966.
The move to the new high school was not nearly as momentous to me as that trip across the street from Old Red to that sleek new elementary.
Frieda Floyd Dickens
Class of 1966
fdickson@wtrt.net