Albert Don Henderson

I grew up in Malakoff, Texas surrounded by my Grandfather's love for books and for writing. Since my grandparents were the ones who raised me, I suppose I grew up with many old-fashioned ideas, which I still harbor even today. Growing up in a small town and attending a small school gave me a background that I could not have gotten elsewhere. My summers were split between my Grandparents and my Mother, Sister, and stepfather in Port Neches, Texas. My summers in Pt. Neches gave me a look at the Gulf coast and the organisms found at McFadden Beach; Here I was first exposed to the wonders of the Gulf and the seashore animals that live on or near the beach. Little did I know at the time that years later I would be teaching Marine Science to high school students and taking them on fieldtrips to collect organisms. Some of the organisms we collected were brought to school and placed in saltwater aquariums in our classroom. We went on field trips when I taught at Sam Houston High School or Spring High School starting in the early 1970's and ending in 2000 when I retired from public school teaching. Every trip was an adventure in one way or the other and that was the course I most enjoyed teaching. Let us back up a little.... I suppose I put the cart before the horse. Some of my earliest writing was influenced by my grammar schoolteacher, Miss. Annie Pope. In about the sixth grade, she had us diagraming sentences and learning the grammar rules. Miss Annie Pope was very strict (I know she is in another realm but I believe she would be correcting my errors even now if she could, because I know there would be many) In Malakoff High School Miss Doris Fowler was our grammar drill Sargent equally as tough or tougher than Miss Annie Pope. During my senior year, my favorite class was journalism taught by another good English teacher, Mrs. Alice Cartilage. This class gave me an avenue for learning more about writing. After high school (29 in our graduating class) nine of us began our college at Henderson County Junior College (better known as Hick Chick, now Trinity Valley Jr. College) which is 9 miles East of Malakoff. After one year at HCJC I decided to stay with my Mother, Sister and Stepfather in Pt. Neches and commute to Lamar Tech. At the time I thought I wanted to be an Engineer but this country boy's direction was changed by Calculus and several other courses that were beyond my capabilities. I quickly learned those 'hanging things" most of the students in my classes were carrying on their belts was a "slide rule". While I was still trying to work problems by long hand, those "slide rule carriers" were whipping out answers faster than a modern-day calculator. Slide rules were before any of the modern-day electronic devices and I knew nothing about them. After struggling in my Physics class, I happened to go back and read the prerequisites for the course. To my surprise and dismay, I read: Use of a slide rule highly recommended. So, having come slam up against a barrier, my "major" of necessity changed. This is when I began to pursue a degree to become a teacher of science and that is what I did. After graduation from Lamar with a bachelor’s degree in education, a minor in chemistry and biology, I had my first teaching assignment at Hartman Junior High in Houston, Texas. This was back when Junior High meant 7th,8th and 9th and I taught ninth grade science and I loved it. This was a time in Houston when NASA was in its infancy and plans were being made to launch a man into space and eventually to the moon. Science was of great interest at this time, especially space science. It was a great time to teach science. During the spring of '66 I applied for a national foundation grant to attend Texas A&M and was eventually accepted. I spent one year at Texas A&M, working on a master's degree and experiencing an outstanding science program. There were approximately twenty teachers from all over the USA and one foreign student from Italy. Our program was an Academic Year Institute (AYI) and we studied Physics, Chemistry, Oceanography, Meteorology, Geology and Education. Upon completing the year, I went back to Houston and taught at Sam Houston High School on the north side of town. This is where I met my wife who was a computer clerk at the school. The day I went to turn in my grades (way back when we used punch cards) I literally ran into my wife and next year we will have been running into each other for 50 + years. After leaving Sam, I spent the next 27 years at Spring High School, where I taught science including Oceanography (Marine Science) and was a JV soccer coach. My connection with schools was not over. In 2000 I retired from public schools and went to work at Concordia Lutheran in Tomball, Texas. At Concordia I taught science and was an assistant soccer coach. After two years at Concordia, I taught one year at Sweetwater Christian where I taught science and again was JV soccer coach. I was not through with schools yet. The next year I went to work for McGraw-Hill selling science books. My job was to go to different high schools and do presentations that would lead their school district to adopt the McGraw-Hill science book. After this, I retired again, which gave me time for my favorite pastime which is Tennis. It also gave me time to begin writing. Remember when I told you that I began teaching Oceanography at Sam Houston High School? Well, after retirement, one day I was looking through some old pictures of our fieldtrips and found a picture of a boy and girl taken on a '71 field trip. The boy's name was given, but not the girl's. I posted the picture on a Sam Houston website with the question, "Do you remember going on this fieldtrip?" I had forgotten about the post and about two months later I received a reply, Lonnie Phillips was indeed on the fieldtrip, but he did not remember the girl. Long story short, Lonnie, among other things, had become a publisher and he wanted to publish a book for me, but I only had one book and that was the one I had re-published called "How to Talk Texan". The book was originally written by my cousin, John Farrell, in 1986. After John passed away in 2010, I obtained the rights to the book from his sister and began an attempt to re-publish the book, which I eventually did with a company that did work for my wife's office. Lonnie said "The Return of How to Talk Texas" was too small and I needed something different. I then thought of all the stories my Grandfather told me and I began to assemble these stories. Lonnie and his wife worked with me and I was able to get my first real book published and so Lonnie, my former student, became my teacher and thus launched my new career as a writer. I now have four books on Amazon, "Diary of a Backwoods Preacher" which is the one Lonnie helped me with, "The Return of How to Talk Texan", "The La Grace Beauty Shoppe" (my Grandmother's beauty shop) and "My W.C. Fields" (My Walnut Creek Fields) all basically due to the original help by Lonnie Phillips. Lonnie recently passed away, so for that reason, I dedicate all my published books to my former student, Lonnie Phillips, who became my teacher.