Danny Troutz

Hi just letting everyone know our friend Wendell Ward passed away this morning around 12:15 AM this morning.  He passed away peacefully at Harris Hospital.  He'll be missed by all,  He was a very special person and friend.  

Hope Griffith (Matthews)

Danny,

Thank you for letting us all know about Wendell Ward!  He was such a great guy and everyone loved him.  I have such vivid memories of the six of us going skiing at Benbrook and having such a wonderful time!  He will be missed!  Rest in Peace my dear friend!

Hope

Barbara Bell (Nemitz)

Rest in peace big guy! 💜

Cyndy Yoder (Kennedy)

So sorry to hear about Wendall...loved being in home room with him all those years..thankful for the memories of a very kind friend.. prayers for his family and loved ones...

Wade Clements

So sorry to hear about Wendells passing. He was a great guy. Our love and prayers are with the family

Wade Clements

Kathy O'Byrne (Bradham)

Thank you Danny for being such a good friend to Wendell, he was the sweetest guy.  We had the nicest visit at our 50th reunion, like time had never passed.  Rest in peace Wendell, you will be greatly missed. 

Chris Hawkins

So sorry to hear about Wendell. He was as genuine, likable, and unpretentious as anyone you could ever meet.

Lewis Wall

Denise Cason (Gregory)

Debbie Gafford (Devaney)

So sad to hear about Wendell.  It hurts to lose good friends and people like Wendell.  I remember he always had a friendly smile!  I'm thankful we knew him and he will be missed by all who did.  

Rick Selcer

Really eye-opening to read all the loving messages about Wendell. Though I knew him for many years, we were never close. In fact, we got into a couple of (near) fights in junior high school during P.E. Lost track of him at Paschal and didn't see him at any of the Reunions. So here we are now with his passing (funny how hard it is to say the word "die.") So many empathetic and sincere expressions of mourning. It's funny; no matter how rough and tough (insecure?) we acted in high school, at this point in our lives we're able to express genuine feeling, even reference God without embarrassment. I have gotten to know people at our Reunions that I never spoke to or even liked in high school. Now I look forward to seeing them at the next get-together. I guess we really do grow up and wise up if we live long enough. It seems I truly missed something by not getting to know Wendell at Paschal. We are a good bunch of folks. All the "jerks" and "assholes" we remember from high school somehow disappeared -- or were transformed into really nice people. Reminds me of Mark Twain's comment: something about how stupid/bad his father was when he was growing up. Then by the time he was 25, it was amazing, Twain said, how much his father had learned/changed! Think about it.

Susan Coleman (Russell)

Was so sorry to hear about Wendell's passing. We had many fun times at First United Methodist together. So glad we visited at the 50th reunion but now wish we had visited longer. RIP my friend and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Tom Brewer

So sad to hear of Wendell's passing. I remember the good times we shared and especially at our 50th reunion. We are losing so many of our friends and classmates. Try to enjoy everyday!!

Martha Minton (Rife)

Wendell and I were friends even before entering Trinity Episcopal Day School at age 4. Our friendship followed  as our parents' did, for a lifetime. I couldn't have asked for a more loyal friend for all our 72 years. He was like a caring and protective brother to me. I miss him very much.

Rick Selcer

Amen to Tom Brewer;s comment! Enjoy every day you are given -- and tell your friends and family members how much you care for them. (Never thought about such things when I was 18, 19, etc. But now. . . . 

George Abbott

I remember playing Little League and pitching for North Texas Steel when I was 12 or so.  Wendell was playing for another team whose name I can't recall, but I do remember he swung a black bat.  Well, the first time he came to the plate, I wanted to throw it hard and see if I could get it by him. I threw a pitch that I thought looked good and right where I wanted it.  Turns out Wendell thought it looked good, too, because he hit it over the fence for a home run.  I walked him a lot after that.  R.I.P., big guy!

Kipp Baker

Wendell Ward. Great guy. I'd agree. How do I know? Consider this:

In 7th grade at McClean Jr High, Wendell Ward was a stocky, football-player-kind of guy. I remember him trying out for the team. I thought I could play football too. We had faced each other in Gra-Y & Tiny Mites football, now we were rookies together.

Wendell had the size - and, if I recall, some good speed for a lineman. He also had a good football attitude of being tough when it counted. His friendly demeanor evaporated when competition showed up.

I had shown I had good eye-to-hand coordination and relatively good speed, but at 4'5" and 100 lbs I was relatively small. When my 6'3"/235lb. dad showed up at practice with a new Riddell Pro style helmet, Coach Bray and Coach Clark decided to give me a chance to "grow" into the team. I was to learn it was a team that protected its own and did not care for special favors like a new pro-style helmet - just for one.

Next play, pads and helmet in place (sort-of, since it sat slightly askew from its too large adjustments), I took the position roughly described as left cornerback. My job was to cover our star wide receiver, Jimmy Perez as he cut over the middle. I had great position, but Jimmy's great hands made the catch. While I rejoiced over taking him down with the perfect "no-yards-after-catch" tackle, the coaches and rest of the team just glowered in disapproval.

The problem was, in PRACTICE, our star players - like our quarterback Johnny Meyerson and wide receiver, Jimmy, were NOT to be tackled.

Wrap them up - but keep them standing, yes!
Give them a polite shove? No problem.
But a picture perfect tackle to the dry, prickly half-grass hard-packed dirt of McClean's practice field

- BAD MOJO.

Who knew?

Another play immediately followed; the defensive line stepped aside and allowed the entirety of the offensive line to pounce and crush me...and my football dreams.

OK. Lesson learned.

What's this got to do with Wendell Ward?

My foggy memory is convinced  it was Wendell - HE was the guy that stepped into that haze of crushing boy-humanity, gave me a hand up, helped dust me off and never hesitated to greet me with a friendly smile and a "hey Baker!" in the hall or in the lunch room. Even if I didn't sit at the "football boys" table, those verbal tokens of acceptance, if not outright approval, have always been important to the hormone-challenged early teen. I was no different.

Like I said, Wendell Ward? Great guy.

Kipp Baker

Mel Cunningham. Another "great guy". Good golfer too.
Please forgive, this should have been posted back last August when Mel passed - but I didn't know how to put this into words. Inspiration struck today - and for whatever reason, I recalled that Mel had a wonderful and impish sense of humor. It served him well. Especially when remembering this story:

Growing up we lived just a short distance from each other(a good three-wood shot) he might have said, and we often saw each other around the neighborhood, sometimes at school.

One summer (1964?) Mel showed up with a shiny new Mo-ped - essentially a glorified bicycle with gasoline powered assist. I would see him puttering up the boulevard we knew as Bellaire - and its big hill - or down and around the neighborhood all summer long.

One day he showed up walking and very glum. A couple of us asked the obvious "Why?". I thought it was obvious because school was resuming in a few short days...

Long pause, then a sigh..."my bike won't run..." he answered...

One of the guys took his arm and said, "hey, let's go look at it...maybe it's a bad spark plug..." The next time we saw each other was in the hall at school. I asked, "What was the deal with your bike?"

He flashed that sheepish smile of his, his eyes crinkled in revelation, head looking down in a bit of embarrassment...

"She was just out of gas!" he replied.

Mel had enjoyed riding around on that Mo-Ped...the whole summer on ONE TANK of gas.
We laughed hard at that.

Suzie Allen (Graf)

I am sorry to hear of the passing of Wendell.  We went all the way through school together.  He was a genuinely nice person.

Claudia Kay

Received a call a few minutes ago saying Royce Andrews has died.  Have no further details at this time.  She has been living in Shreveport LA.

Cathy Hurley

Royce Andrews Simmons Murray

I just found out on Facebook that our friend Royce Andrews died today in Shreveport where she had been living. Sadly, I never knew Royce at Paschal. I wish I had. We seemed to have a lot in common. I know that she had been a fine nurse for many years. She was happily married and had children. She reached out to me a few years ago, and we became friends. She was so kind, gentle, and had the sweetest soul. We were both from railroad families and loved trains. I will miss her forever. My thoughts and prayers are with Royce and her family. I am hoping someone will post about arrangements.

Nicki Thompson (Tyler)

Cannot recall if we ever posted the link to the 50th Reunion Video.  Copy and paste the link below into your browser.

2018 PHS68 Highlight 1 copy.mp4 (dropbox.com)

Gyrene Koonce (Kennedy)

Thanks Nicki for posting the link to the Reunion Video.  Well done!

Ruth Ann Jackson/Woodard (Butler)

Steven McCommas

I just thought of something. Back when we were at Paschal, getting ready to graduate, if we had been visited by some alumni celebrating their 55th reunion, they would have graduated in 1913!  1913, people!