Paulette Brown:
CLASS OF 1966
Bellaire High SchoolClass of 1966
Bellaire, TX
University of New OrleansClass of 1972
New orleans, LA
Baylor UniversityClass of 1970
Waco, TX
Paulette's Story
Life
Being a determined sort of person after an epiphany in early 1966, I made my way to Baylor University. It was a big place for a shy girl. I had made up my mind to learn not only Chemistry and Calculus but also Small Talk, Makeup, and Hairdos. I found I needed Interior Design (our dorm room was all purple) and Submitting to Authority ("Keep off the grass") as well. I met a guy that Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead") would approve of, and after making a MS in Chemistry I made my "Mrs." degree as well. (Except I flunked Housekeeping, being more interested in science fiction and computer programming...) I learned Zoology taught by my future father-in-law, and birdwatching from my mother-in-law after starting my family.
I worked in chemistry labs and in computer programming. We have three kids now, a picture of whom is posted at Baylor's alumni pages. When they were small I did Cub Scouts, taught the 2-yr olds in Sunday School, was "the PTA lady" at middle school for seven years, and high school PTA after that, and District PTA as well. And no I don't plan to do State or National PTA. We are proud of our children. The oldest is out on his own now, and the youngest was a grad student at Rice University after being valedictorian of high school and playing two years in the LSU Tiger Band while earning two degrees: Music and Chemistry. She got her MS in Chemistry quickly enough, the PhD took longer. Our middle child married his high school sweetheart and we visit our 2 grandchildren regularly.
For years I used my computer to make church directories, school directories, and neighborhood directories. I like to think that they helped keep people in touch with one another. I also use my computer to make family tree charts to use at family reunions. And I started web pages for my Baton Rouge church when the Web was new, and for PTA. This helped keep people informed so they can continue to work together and be connected. Those pages are gone now, and my personal page at Tripod, which never amounted to much, is in need of an overhaul and update.
With the empty nest and college bills, it was time to look for work, so I am now a seasonal tax preparer for H&R Block. Here I can help people get their Earned Income Credit, and teach them how to look for deductions. I helped convince my son to start an IRA to get the "saver's credit", and helped one person who had just the right situation to increase her refund by starting a $600 IRA. I've now done 13 tax seasons. (as of April 2015.)
I continue to peck at the computer. I did surveys (I won $10 once) and beta-testing. I use Macintosh, and all 3 kids are into computers in some way or other. Currently I'm not into directories or web pages, and I play on my iPad for hours. I am staying off Facebook and other social media as long as I can. Google put me on Google Plus, and I got onto LinkedIn, but I don't do much with those.
My husband and I moved back to Texas in 2012. (Yay!) He volunteers at the museum, and I signed up with the local Baptist Church and the local H&R Block franchise.
High School
One of my favorite teachers was Oscar Sarabia, who taught me Chemistry. Mr. Sarabia had me doing an extra project with crystallography. I learned what a "unit cell" was, so when the teacher in college (Dr. McAtee) forgot to mention this in his lecture, I was able to answer the question on the test. I went on to major in Chemistry in college (Baylor) and to get a Master of Science degree in Chemistry. I have had three jobs using chemistry. I kept in touch with Mr. Sarabia through Chri...Expand for more
stmas cards, and even stopped to visit at his home once. He died some years ago.
I was in Mu Alpha Theta, the math club. With Mr. Sarabia's encouragement, I entered a competition in the senior Math division and won first place for my presentation on the Hypersphere. In college I attracted my future husband's attention as I tried to teach him about the 4- and 5- dimensional cubes and told him what a googol and supergoogol were, and my own invention for a notation to expand into ever larger and larger numbers. I gave up eventually, because with numbers getting larger and larger, infinity is still infinitely far away! Mrs. Gaines would take an Excedrin before our geometry class, and called the redhead (who played violin) "Punkin head". We had to make a model of a geometric shape. I made mine of cardboard and string, and then other people brought similar ones of colored Plexiglas and wire on wooden bases! How is a teacher supposed to grade something like that? Mrs. Hertzog taught analytical geometry, and in college I had to take the exact same book, though I pleaded to take advanced placement. I took it in the evening, and learned the constellations while walking to class; the teacher used my papers as the answer key!
At Bellaire High, I decided to pretty up my physics lab report, and the teacher was so impressed he gave me 12 out of 10 points! In no time, the whole class was doing the same thing, and my grade dropped back to 10. It was fun to do so many physics experiments right after the other. I kept thinking about electrons and positrons, neutrons and protons. I had an idea that hyperspace was somehow involved, and that positrons were just electrons going backwards through time. Prominent scientists are now thinking the same sort of thing.
I really love science. I like computers too, and on the computer aptitude test I made a higher grade than the teacher. We learned Fortan IV from xeroxed galley proofs of a new book, and went downtown every other week to laboriously keypunch our cards. I had two jobs in computer programming, before the Internet. Auggie Bugge was my computer partner at Bellaire.
Bellaire had a good PE department. I took archery and tennis as well as softball and basketball. There was a pool but I'd had swimming at Pershing Jr. High. The girls wore one-piece gym suits, with our names embroidered on them. We changed our street shoes for gym shoes for PE.
Mrs. Ragsdale taught English, and the class was really loud. The Vice Principal once came to the back of the room and slowly a wave of quiet spread to the front.
I joined Jr. Achievement, which again was downtown every other week, and met a guy who wanted a date for the prom. So I went to his, and he went to mine. That was the only time anyone ever asked me out in high school - I think I scared away all those who knew I made such good grades that they actually had the nerve to ask me to miss a few test questions on purpose, to lower the curve a little.
I didn't make the Honor Society because I wasn't social enough. I didn't take choir partly because I never found where the choir room was! No one used backpacks for books in those days, and even the ones riding bicycles used a basket instead. My dad would drive me to school and I would take the bus home or walk to save the bus money. (I never found how to catch the bus to go TO the school.)
My graduating class had 864 people. I was in contact (by Christmas cards) with only one of them, but I've lost track of her.
I attended the 10th reunion in 1976, and the 40th reunion in 2006. Google pcbrown5931.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Photos