Bill Smith and Dewitt Robinett shot the rapids of the educational whitewater as classmates a goodly number of years back, and both are civilized and respected members of Deallyon nowadays.

The rough water apparently was easier to cope with for Dewitt, but Bill traveled without an oar.  Dewitt was corrigible, but Bill operated under a definite handicap.  According to reliable testimony Bill could hear the “Gee” and “Haw” directives, but for the life of him he was unable to remember whether “Gee” was the command to go left or right, and schoolin’ was not even in his top ten of life goals.

I was privileged to be seated within ear shot of those two worthies upon the re-emergence of sunlight on June 19 and witnessed them as they threw fresh fuel on the embers of days gone by.  Some of their testimony is grist for family consumption, but there’s lots of information that I wisely deleted and committed to the “off the record” chronicles.

As visitation ebbed away Dewitt was called upon to minister to an ailing air conditioner and he got up to visit the payout department, but then he came back and sat down and voluntarily provided a glimpse of Bill’s stormy school days.

Red Smith was Bill’s sainted father, and I’m sure he pursued some line of work that enabled him to provide groceries for his brood of young ones.  His two boys and a gal were a collection that he prized and his sideline occupation was cameo appearances at the head office at De Leon High School.

His aim was to reserve a seat in the classrooms for Bill and his main mission was seeing that Bill warmed those seats at a semi-regular frequency.  He made multidinous visits to the ramrod’s office, and was recognized by the cadre of instructors and the student body.  His attendance record rivaled that of his errant son.

Mr. Robinett summed the account with a personal observation when his story wound down and duty called him to his appointed rounds.

“I saw Mr. Red Smith so many times that for a long time I thought he was a teacher,” he said.

“In a way he was,” Bill agreed, “and he taught me several lessons that I’ll never forget!”

Let me hear from you.

My phone number is 254-893-5063, my official postal address is: 333 W AYERS AVE – DE LEON TX 76444-2113, and you can e-mail chupp@charleschupp.com.