Category: College

Literal Downlow Conversation

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1937 Cactus

Today I got my hands on a 1937 yearbook. I’ve been collecting yearbooks for many years, and have found that yearbooks from the 1930s decade are virtually non-existent. Annuals from the 1920s, however, are much easier to find. I chalk it up to the fact that during The Great Depression, which encompasses all of the 1930s, people were more concerned with getting food on the table and finding shelter than ponying up the cash for a yearbook, if they even could afford a university education. I imagine demand was not great, so fewer were printed than in the prior decade. But that is only my wager.

In any case, celebration and decadence still existed for some, as evidenced by the Delta Theta Phi banquet dinner in these images. Holidays were still holidays, and life went on.

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Mid-Century Must-Haves

The good Catholic boys of Corpus Christi College-Academy in 1950 listed their prize possessions for their yearbook senior portraits. You will find nothing technology-related. It was a simpler time. Take John Carew, for example:

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He cherished his bag of marbles and yo-yo. And if he reached his ambition, just think how many more marbles he could buy!

Some boys prized their own good looks, like Mr. Anderson.

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Honestly, would you have even known it was red?

Still others prized life at the academy itself, like the redundantly-named Brian O’Brien.

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These two favored material objects.

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And while no graduating 2016 senior would put a portable radio at the top of his list, some things never change. Men love cars.

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Here’s hoping Rob Klepac is still burning gas 66 years later.

The King Of Tex-Mex Rock ‘n’ Roll

Cactus 1984 by Bettie Hatch
Cactus 1984 by Bettie Hatch

Seated on this South Padre Island stage is Nuevo Wavo Rocker himself, Joe King Carrasco, at a free concert sponsored by Miller Brewing Company during Spring Break 1984.