DECKER SCHOOL
 
Nolan County, Texas




Decker School in 1914*    Pictured above are members of the Decker School 
in 1914 ( *actually this date is probably 1921 to 1923, since my mother,
2nd row right end, was not born until 1915).  Boys are, front row, J.D. Clay, 
Bernice Ray, J. G. George, Cletis Farley, Walter Estes, Osley George, 
John N. Reed, J.C. Windham, Ferris Stokes, Marvin LeWallen; three boys
second row, Jack Chapman, Elton Estes, Alvin Estes.  Girls are, second
row, Ina Fay Ray, Goldie Mae Windham, Ileta Sanders, Alma George, 
Louise Craig, Mary Louise Everett, Bonnie Bell Windham; Nora Ruth Russell, 
Rena Ramzel, Gladys LeWallen, Nancy Cochran, Christine Estes, Clarabell 
Reed, Carrie Rudd Cochran, Leoh Pruit; back row, Monore Hollowell, Opal 
Craig, Edna George, Edith Craig, Ethel Chapman, Martha Gaines (teacher); 
Maggie Gaines, (teacher); Jewell George, Annis Chapman, Jennie V. Lanier 
and Mabree Craig.

Article from Sweetwater? Reporter Sunday April 20, 1986, page 2C


Curtain Separated Classes at Decker One-Room School

by Ethel Chapman Duncan
Roscoe

   I started my school days in 1914 in a small two room wooden school 
at Decker, in southern Nolan County.
   This was a two room, two teacher school.  The first year I attended 
school in the building, it was one long room.  A large curtain was used 
to make rooms for grades one to six and grades seven to ten.  In 1915 
a room was built on to the existing room to be used for the upper grades.
   At this time lessons were taught from the same kind of books and written 
examinations were used the same as in town schools.  We bought all of 
our own school books.
   Pupils attending this school lived from a short distance away up to 
five or six miles away, and they walked or rode on horseback, came in a 
buggy and some rode on a one seat, two wheeled cart.
   The teachers worked out their own schedules to teach each class and 
grades.  When time came for a particular class, those in that class would 
go to the front of each room, sit on a bench.  The teacher taught each 
class and assigned a study for the next day.
   We had a fifteen minute recess at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and an hour 
at noon to eat lunch and play.
   Games played included drop the handkerchief, farmer in the dell, pop 
the whip and the favorite, wolf over the river.
   Sometimes the girls brought their dolls and played with them.  The boys 
would spin tops and play marbles.  We always had a good time at this school.
   When basketball playing started, we had a boys and girls team.  We 
played other small schools.  In the spring, baseball was popular.  We 
paid for balls and other equipment.  One method of raising the money was 
to have box suppers.
   Decker had a nine month school term, but in the fall school would be 
dismissed two weeks so the kids could pick cotton.  Lunches were 
brought to school in syrup buckets, wrapped in paper and a few had 
lunch baskets.
   The building was heated with two large coal stoves.  The teachers 
started the fires each morning.  The older boys helped keep the fires going.
   The morning programs were started by singing school songs and talks.  
Friday afternoon we had arithmetic and spelling matches.
   Programs including plays, drills and speeches were given on Friday 
nights for community entertainment.  Many pupils have gone out from 
this little school to become leaders in the professional world.  They 
served their country during 'World War I and II.  Raymond George 
gave his life in the Pacific area in WW II and is buried in the Decker 
Cemetery.
   Maggie Wilson Bullock, a former teacher and probably the only 
surviving one, lives in Roscoe at the present time.
   I have never heard of a pupil from the Decker School being charged
with a crime.  Each year we return for a summer reunion at the 
roadside park north of Blackwell, the first Sunday in June.



Picture scanned from original newspaper clipping.