High school faculty of the 1930s

A LOOK BACK

No matter how old we become, or where we were raised, we never can

forget those years we spent in school and the people who helped us

through them.

They were the teachers who stood at the head of the classroom who

taught us how to live in the grown-up world outside of the safety of

the classroom. There was the school staff who kept track of our lives

and maybe even gave you a talking to in the principal’s office that

you may have deserved.

Last week we looked at a few of these dedicated people who made up

the staff and faculty at Central Elementary School, which today is

known as Dwyer Middle School.

This week, we’ll walk down the halls of the high school as we

briefly look at the staff and faculty of Huntington Beach High School

of the 1930s. I hope it will bring back a few more happy memories.

Since joining the school as principal in 1919, M.G. Jones was a

familiar face on campus for many of you. He received his training at

the University of Michigan and from prestigious Columbia University.

Jones continued as principal until 1945 when he retired.

Helping the principal with all the paperwork was the duty of the

vice principal. This duty fell on the shoulders of Ray Elliott. He

joined the school faculty in 1923 to serve as a math and history

teacher until 1929 when he was appointed the school’s vice principal.

When Jones retired Elliott became the school’s principal. Elliott

received his education from Pomona College and from USC.

If you had been absent from school and returned to face the office

staff with a note from Mom, you would have seen one of the office’s

secretaries. Ruth Smith was the school’s business secretary who

joined the school in 1930 after attending the University of Maine.

Also in the office was Julia Payne, who came to Huntington High in

1917 after graduating from Hastings College in Nebraska. Also sitting

at her desk in the office was Marion Sherman from Fullerton.

Harry “Cap” Sheue was making a name for the school in the ‘30s.

Another name that is almost as familiar as his, is that of Alvin

Reboin, the school’s head football coach. Reboin joined the school in

1937 after receiving his degree from USC. He also taught the students

typing and citizenship. Teaching physical education to the girls was

Velma Morrell and Ada Bowers. In 1928 Morrell came to Huntington

after graduating from Pomona College and Bowers joined the faculty in

1935 after her graduation from USC.

In think one of the hardest subjects to teach boys is English. And

judging from some boys you hear talking on Main Street today, it

still is. This subject was taught by Margaret Bliss, a graduate of

the University of Minnesota who started here in 1927 and Phyliss Jamison who came here in 1924 from South Dakota State College to

teach us how to congregate a verb.

Social problems were the specialty of Clive Adams who also taught

civics and U.S. history. He was educated at USC and came to the

school in 1936. Lloyd Hamren was the teacher Huntington Beach

resident Gordie Higgins remembers most. Hamren came here in 1924

after getting his training from the University of Utah.

Teaching physics and chemistry was the realm of William Frazer and

he must have done a good job since his class didn’t blow up the

school. Frazer started here in 1930 after graduating from the

University of Washington.

In the way of shop teachers, two stand out the most. The shop with

its smell of fresh cut wood was the domain of Dale Braybrooks and he

started teaching how to make beautiful pieces in wood in 1923 after

coming from Michigan’s Western State Teachers College. And what boy

would forget his auto shop instructor, especially Byrl Harper. He

showed the students the inner workings of Mr. Ford’s Model T and

those straight eight engines too. He also taught advanced algebra, a

subject I don’t want to recall today.

A name that has popped up in several Look Back columns is that of

Ruth Harlow. She came from the College of the Pacific to begin her

long teaching career in voice and glee club in 1922. But teachers

were not the only adults to be found on campus. There were the bus

drivers that picked you up in the rain and mud and delivered you

safely back home and you can thank Charles Walton, O.O. Troop, Walter

Griffin, Havden Gardner and Verne Breeding many times over.

Keeping you warm in the classroom in winter was the duty of R.M.

Robb, the school’s engineer. Keeping the school ship-shape and clean

was the responsibility of the school’s janitors Ribel, J.E. McManus,

M.L. Russell and William Tretheway and they were under head custodian

H.A. Gallienne. Keeping the grounds looking nice was the job of R.C.

Huff. There are, of course, many more wonderful people who worked for

the high school in the 1930s that we could bring to mind. To some of

you these names may only be names printed in black ink, but to those

who attended the school at the time and remember and cherish those

memories, these people were their important heroes who, for them, sat

on the shoulders of giants.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington

Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at

P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.