Dunbar High School Alumni Association Officers
Johnnie Ross, President (LHS ’73) – Place (Picnic/Banquet/Food) Chair
Leon Bagley, Sr., First Vice-President (’62) – Business Development Chair
Virginia Howard Thomas, Second Vice-President (’62) – Program Chair
Bennie Mock-Paschal, Recording Secretary (’62)
Sandra Richard Bradford, Assistant Recording Secretary (’65)
Myrty C. Richard, Financial Secretary (’60)
Tim Hale, Treasurer (’70)
Walter Butler, Assistant Treasurer (’59)
Jurlene Menefee Sparks, Parliamentarian (’68) – Scholarship Chair
Dan Garcia, Sgt.-At-Arms (’70)
Sydney Benemon, Chaplain (LHS ’71) – Meet & Greet/Registration Chair
Roosevelt (Ted) Howard, Correspondent-At-Large
John McClendon, Chair (’70) – Advertising/Media
Effie Rhodes Ross, Chair (’68) – Decorations
Louise Menefee LaVane, Chair (’65) – Souvenir Booklet
Scholarship Recipients
2018
Corinthia Skinner, granddaughter of Rosalind Hadnot
Jurlene Sparks
Zariah Hadnot, granddaughter of June Lewis
2017
Kala Stripling – Lufkin High School
Ian Cavenal – Pineywoods Community Academy
Grandson of Willie C. & Bennie Brewer Rogers*
Niles Duffield-Diboll High School
Grandson of Carrie Mumphrey Waters (deceased) & Niece of James C. Wortham*
2016
Paige Coleman – Lufkin High School/UT Arlington
Granddaughter of Arthur Ray & Emma (Wheeler) Coleman*
Sequela Minor – Lufkin High School
2015
Brittany Bell – Sam Houston State University
Granddaughter of JoAnn Bagley Jones & Roland Jones
Niece of Leon Bagley
Marcus Garrett – Stephen F. Austin
2014
Patrice Coleman – Sam Houston State University
Granddaughter of Arthur Ray & Emma (Wheeler) Coleman
Samuel Phillips – University of Houston
*Dunbar Alumni
The History of Dunbar High School
The school term of 1923-24 was a period for the beginning of a new school location for the Black people of Lufkin, Texas as chronicled by Bill Lambing in a September 1987 Lufkin Daily Newspaper article. Dunbar Elementary-Junior-Senior High School was built and occupied by one principal was Mr. N.C. Brandon. The teachers were Mrs. Malinda Garrett, Minnie B. Johnson and Annie Penson.
It has been traditionally reported by early Black Lufkinites that Mrs. Malinda Garrett and her husband donated the land on Leach Street for the new school because of Mrs. Garrett’s intense desire for a good school building for Black children of Lufkin. The students who first moved into the new school building from Lucky Ward were given the privilege of naming the school. They chose the name Paul Lawrence Dunbar in honor of the great writer who was one of the most popular poets of his time and certainly the first Black American writer to achieve national and International reputation, Dunbar, a hero to the Black community, was the son of slaves.
The graduation grade level had been ninth grade at Lucky Ward School. However, when the new Dunbar School was occupied, the tenth grade became the level of graduation. Some of the first graduates of Dunbar were Hester Austin, Fannie Castle, Lottie Jackson, Mable Jackson, Freddie Johnson and Leroy Lewis. Chester Collins would have been one of the graduates, but he transferred to a school in Nacogdoches before the move to the new school.
In 1951, Dunbar High School was built on 1806 Lake Street and remained until the end of 1969-70 School year. Old Dunbar became known as Garrett Elementary, named for one of its first teachers, Mrs. Malinda Garrett.
The only sport the students engaged in prior to 1932 was basketball. In the fall of 1932, the first football team was organized by Coach Develous Johnson. The first band was organized in the fall of 1939 by a blind musician, Melvin McClendon. The football team, which traveled on Robert Denum flatbed trucks and later on Continental Trailways buses, won three State Championships and one State Final under the leadership of Head Coach Elmer G. Redd and his staff.
State Final: 1960- Corpus Christi
Championship Games: 1964- Marlin 1966 – Witchita Falls 1967- Texarkana
The Prinicipals were:
N.C. Brandon 1923-1924
W.H. Brandon 1924-1940
F.W. Thomas 1940-1946
J.T. Washington, Sr. 1946-1952
E.E. Cleaver 1952-1959
M.E. Lyons 1959-1968
Travis Carter 1968-1970
Coaches were:
(No Football Program)
Develous Johnson 1932-1934
George E. Spencer 1935-1936
C.L. Franklin 1936-1942
Willie Ray Smith 1942-1945
C.L. Franklin 1945-1953
Elmer G. Redd 1953-1970
Oscar Kennedy 19xx-1970
Willie Ross 19xx-1970
James Hall 19xx-1970
Willie Mae Burley 19xx-1970
Carol Ann Pierre, English Instructor, was the last teacher hired at Dunbar prior to integration. In 1970, Lufkin Independent School District integrated; Paul Lawrence Dunbar changed to Lufkin Intermediate School, seventh graders only for the entire school district. In March 1982, the school was renamed Paul Lawrence Dunbar Intermediate School.