Deanna (Childress) Martin Class of 1976

I think we have had three or four generations graduate from Oakland High School. Elden Childress and Hazel (Innes) Childress around 1920. I'm not sure the exact year but it was close to this. Rex Childress and Daphne (Oliver) Childress, 1946 Dan Childress, 1965; Gretchen Childress, 1971; Davey Childress, 1975; and Deanna (Childress) Martin, 1976 Keith and Ellen Childress, 2012 Rex served on the school board several years in the early '60s to 1976. Rex and Daphne Childress drove school buses for several years and we had to clean them from time to time as kids. Ugh! Gretchen taught school from 1976 to 2010 for Oakland community school district. She substituted at Oakland (and even taught me, Deanna, as a senior!); then she taught music her first and second year. The job for teaching first grade came available, I think, when Mrs. Rhodes retired. She taught 34 years for Oakland. Davey was on the 1973 football team that won the Little Okaw Championship. Gretchen, Davey, and Deana were in band with Mr. Robert Juriga. We won the University of Illinois Band Competition in I think the fall of 1972. We participated in several musicals, such as Wild Cat, Oklahoma, Carousel, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and Annie Oakley. There was a lot of practice and hard work in the Music Department. Keith and Ellen are going to be the last class to graduate from OHS. Keith's football team won their conference in the fall of 2011.

Submitted for the "OHS: 90 Years of Memories" event held May 12, 2012, to commemorate Oakland High School in Oakland, Illinois.