dunroamin 1955

wearing my "Chief of the Choctaw Tribe of Dunroamin Camp".....1st "big bonnet" on the right.....having been elected "Chief" of the small camp of three "tribes", the Choctaws, Cherokees and Chickasaws.....AND the award for fastest swimmer, performing the inverted breast stroke, I brag; the Best Archer award and the Shuttlecocker AND riflery AND tennis awards, I sought the approval of my parents who were concerned that I was too wacky a child.......Mother took these photos, from a great distance with Grandmother's old lensless kodak camera...the only one she ever used....Grandmother, that is.........My parents were not so quick with compliments, but faster than a speeding bullet with their criticisms.....a phyrric victory, I guess! Well, I had my eyes on the "big bonnet"....it was the most beautiful, I thought; and was only worn during this quaint ceremony, in the presence visiting parents........

Miss Irene Jones' Yule Formal

December, 1959....14 year olds in Pastal bouffant gowns, under the watchful eyes of Mrs. R.C. Campbell and Mrs. Irene Walling, assisted by Mrs. Lee Hale, Mrs. Bill Jones and Miss Alta Trotman were given another opportunity to demonstrate their good manners and accomplished dance skills at the Russel Erskine Hotel Ballroom. Mabry Miller and I won the Viennese waltz competition that year.....Our dancing accomplishments would appear strictly amateur in the light of America's new-found interest in ballroom activities, wouldn't it?