Year one at Lee was a time of change and making friends.

Change was a key word in my first year at Robert E. Lee, the Home of Champions. 

The Lee yearbook, Traveler, had never had a cover any color other than red, gray or black -- at least that is what I was told. 

But, the first year, the cover was bright yellow and tan and black with artwork by a student who went on to achieve honors with her art, Rosario Carillo. And the cover material was burlap.  

I'm not sure how the students liked the change, but it was refreshing for me -- I don't think the staff members liked it very much but most of them went along with the changes -- perhaps to humor me.

There were many happy moments during my six years at Lee, one of which was meeting my best female friend, Lillian Levy Brinkley Parker (left), the French teacher at the school.  Lil and I had a blast, and our friendship continued after I moved on to San Antonio College. Lil was one of a kind: loud but loving, profane but super-intelligent, always loyal and trustworthy.

Another good friend was Bessie Cutcher, an English teacher (right). She had moved from teaching in a high school on the Gulf Coast where she had worked with enriched senior English students. At Lee she was placed teaching "slower" learners. She did not complain. 

"I'll take whoever they send me," she said. She filled her classroom with posters of teen interests: football players, movie stars, TV personalities.