Mom’s Memories Page 20 AKA Graduating High School
It hasn’t been that long since I had a Mom’s Memories post, but it just worked out that way. I was mainly looking for a nice photo of my mom when she was young and pretty. After looking a short time, I settled on her high school graduation photo. But she had three photos from her graduation photo session, so I decided to use all three of them. Why not? More for everyone! Once I decided on those photos, I started thinking about the changes in her life that these photos represented. Maybe she wrote about that in her little memory journal she kept when she was worried about forgetting important things about her past.
There on page 20 of her little writings, she starts off with the declaration that she graduated 3rd in her class. When her mother would say that she was the valedictorian of her class, she was quick to correct her. She did not want to mislead people into thinking something about her that she hadn’t actually acquired. She was not someone who tried to impress others or put on airs.
And most of her life, she had an amazing memory. She remembered things from when she was a young child and the way that she felt. She said that’s why she tried not to talk down to children. She remembered how it felt to be disregarded as a child. That didn’t stop her from using the phrase, “Fools and children should never see things half done.” She would say this when I’d tell her that something she was working on looked kind of strange. I always wondered if she was calling me a fool or a foolish child, yet I never felt insulted by it.
She also writes about being in the band starting her sophomore year. That was at Hathaway High School, but she also played in the (Jefferson Davis) Parish band, where she was recognized as most valuable player. That’s pretty good for someone who started halfway through her sophomore year. She must have been a very quick study. She also played in the football band and went to state festival for playing a solo piece on the baritone.
At the state festival here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she met her future husband, Bob Landry. He was a few years older than her, and he treated her kindly. There was no way they would have known the shared history they would have. My mom went back to Hathaway to finish her high school career and my dad stayed in Baton Rouge at LSU for another semester.
When my mom graduated in 1951, she wanted to go to SLI in Lafayette. That’s where her mom and her sister went. It was not where she thought she would see that nice guy Bob Landry. Her band director Vernon Daigle brought her to Lafayette to see about getting a band scholarship. She did not get one, because they didn’t want to give another one to a female student. She was told that a lot of the girls dropped out of school to get married. Mr. Daigle took her to McNeese and she was awarded a scholarship.
In the fall of 1951, young Betty Lou from small town Hathaway left to go to college in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It wasn’t that far, but it was away from home with people she didn’t know. It was a brave move. I’m sure she felt some fear along with the excitement and hopefulness. She wasn’t there looking for anyone in particular, but it wasn’t long before she ran into a familiar face that she had met in Baton Rouge. The band members got together before the school sessions began so they could get some practice in before the semester. On the first day of practice, she met that funny guy Bob Landry who had transferred back to his hometown when the local college became a four-year university. He asked her out for a date on that first night.
She said, “Yes.”