Several hundred former graduates, students, teachers and community members — many wearing their school colors — gathered May 30 in the old Central High School gymnasium for a fond Beaumont ISD Farewell Celebration before demolition of the mission-styled building that once housed students from three high schools — Beaumont, Beaumont Charlton Pollard and Central.
Tables adorned with memorabilia from the three high schools included a BHS stadium seat cushion, an old baseball cap, two old footballs, two trophies, a cheerleader letter and two photographs.
BCP’s table featured a football from the school’s first district championship in 1976, a senior class photo, two trophies and several plaques.
The CHS table included two senior class photos, four trophies and a plaque.
Representatives from of each high school addressed the audience. Former Lamar University President and BISD Board of Managers President Dr. Jimmy Simmons and his wife, Susan, shared memories of Beaumont High School. Simmons, who graduated in the late 1950s, noted Beaumont High School started in 1984 in the downtown area.
“Our family history runs deep in Royal Purples,” Simmons said in the wake of listing a host of family members who graduated from BHS.
According to Simmons, a former band director at BHS, one of his favorite memories was in 1967 when the Beaumont High School band marched in the newly constructed Astrodome during the University of Houston Cougars’ halftime show.
“Being in the Astrodome was truly spectacular,” Simmons reminisced, also recollecting a time when students put his Volkswagen car on the steps of the school’s gymnasium. As Simmons shared, BHS students had several liberties not common today.
“We could smoke, and we had a place called the ‘bull pin,’” Simmons said of his time at BHS. “And we could leave school at lunch and drive anywhere we wanted to go to eat.”
Former BCP 1980 graduate Grayland Noah, president of Noah’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry of Houston, put on his green and gold high school letterman jacket before asking for 15 seconds of silence for former students and teachers from 1975-86 who died.
“My memories of being here consist of my classmates and other students,” said Noah. “From 1975 to 1986, what I liked about the desegregation of the schools was that we had students from the north end, the south end, Bevil Oaks and Pear Orchard. We had kids from all these different areas and everyone all came together. I think it added to what we are today. I think that made a big difference.”
BISD communications director Jackie Simien noted that Central was the “child” of Beaumont Charlton Pollard and French High School, from 1986 to 2018, that left an indelible mark on Beaumont youth including Alexus Popillion, a member of the final CHS graduating class, who said she had the privilege of serving as drill team captain, Student Body president and National Honor Society president.
“Today, I stand before you as an alumni of Prairie View A&M University with a degree in health sciences,” Popillion said, adding that she’s currently enrolled in the Business Administration masters program at Lamar University. “Growing up in Beaumont, I always knew Central was the school for me. Watching football games at Babe Zaharias Stadium as an elementary student, I was overwhelmed by the city’s support for our high school’s success.”
Denise Wallace-Spooner, a former educator and current BISD trustee, said her dream job was being a high school teacher; it was dream realized at Central.
“I stand here today, humble and very proud, to have been afforded the opportunity of teaching at Central High School and later Central Medical Magnet High School,” she said. Spooner noted she was named Teacher of the Year at the school and later Teacher of the Year in BISD. “That’s my memory and I will never forget it.” BISD Board President Matilda “Tillie” Hickman said she taught at Central after Hebert and South Park high schools, at her request.
“I chose Central,” she said. “For five years, I was the nightmare of senior AP English students who heard terrible, terrible things about me from their junior AP English teacher.”
Like those in attendance, Hickman said the building held fond memories she’ll never forget. Superintendent Dr. Shannon Allen closed out the event by echoing the remarks of her fellow leaders at BISD. Instead of saying goodbye, Allen chose to celebrate “the legacy of three awesome schools that all walk the halls of this building,” estimated at 90 class graduations.
“These classes produced entrepreneurs, educators, business owners, athletes, health care professionals and so much more,” Allen added. “The stage was set when Beaumont High School established that foundation of excellence.”
The building is scheduled demolition this month. The original three-story building, existing agriculture building and another smaller building are the only structures to be demolished.
The school was closed by the school board in January 2018.