The following pictures are of my father and his bicycle on the campus of what used to be Daniel Baker College in Brownwood, Texas.  Daniel Baker is now the "Academy of Freedom"  and is part of  Howard Payne University.

Dad purchased this bicycle in 1940 from the local Firestone store for $25.00. He made monthly payments of $2.85 and he told me if you made all of your payments on time they gave you back your last payment. He did make them on time and they did return the last payment.

              Click the pictures to enlarge them.

While attending classes he would leave the bicycle under this oak tree so that his friends could use it. They always had it back under the tree when class was out so that he could ride it to work. Dad worked at a gas station located just west of the Pecan Bayou. It was a three mile ride.

This is dad sitting on the back steps to Daniel Baker. The steps he walked daily 61 years ago.

A.C. Elliott owned the house at 1515 7th street and he and his wife took in college students as borders. Room and board was $7.00 a week. $7.00 a week was dad's salary at the Sinclair gas station owned by R. B. Reaves. Mr. Reaves would tell dad how much he wanted for each used tire he had for sale. If he could sell the tire for a larger amount he got to keep the extra money.

Here dad is with his oldest of three sons Billy Don and his oldest grandson Jerrod. Billy Don has worked for Howard Payne University for the past ten years. Jerrod is the son of Bob and Jeanine Fishback and he graduated from Howard Payne with a Biology degree. Megan Fishback (Jerrod's sister) graduated from HPU with a degree in Business Administration.

Dad told me Howard Payne students and Daniel Baker students did not get along at all. If either caught the other on their campus a fight was on. Howard Payne's mascot is the Yellowjacket. The Daniel Baker students called HPU students  "Dobbers". Dad explains to Jerrod that Daniel Baker still RULES!

Dad and his grandson Jerrod stand in front of the "Academy of Freedom" under the statue of General Douglas McArthur. Jerrod is in the Academy program and takes classes in the same rooms his grandfather attended in 1939.

William started at Daniel Baker in 1939, but was drafted in 1942. He served four years in the 307th artillery attached to the 78th Infantry Division. He was awarded the Bronze Star European Theatre & American Theatre. Dad returned in 1946 and graduated in 1947. His first teaching job was at Early Elementary. One of dad's 7th grade students was Dr. Don Newbury who just retired as the President of Howard Payne University. Dad earned his masters a few years later and became the principal at Coahoma Elementary where he retired after twenty-five years.  He is 84 years of age and enjoying retirement..