The following article is that of the memories of Anita Harrower. Anita is the daughter of Dr. Woodrow Brown who recently went home to glory. To read more about him click on these links at the bottom of this article. I enjoyed her memories of the school in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. Her life as being the daughter of one of the professors at PBTS is an interesting perspective to read. Enjoy the words to follow.
My Thoughts and Memories of PBTS
By Anita Harrower
My father Woodrow I. Brown, graduated from Practical in 1948. Maybe because he had been a teacher before he came to Practical he was asked to stay on as a teacher. We moved into a converted barn on campus in 1949, I think. I was eight years old. We had no indoor bathroom so we had to walk across the road to the basement of the administration building and use the bathroom there. It was kind of scary to me because being a basement it was dark. I tried not to have to use it after dark! My father right away started digging in the back yard. He told my brother Ralph and me that he was digging a swimming pool! We were so excited and talked about the day that we would be able to go swimming in the back yard! To our dismay it turned out to be a hole for the septic tank! There were three children and only two bedrooms upstairs plus the new bathroom. When another child was on the way Dad built on a bedroom and garage on the back to give us more room.
We lived right next door to King Hall and Dad was the basketball coach so we stored the basketballs at our house. I could go over anytime and shoot baskets, that was way cool!
Our neighbor on the other side was Mr. and Mrs. Lowe and their three children. Loyd, Paul and Lucy. Loyd was attending school at that time I think. Mom and Mrs. Lowe became fast friends. Whenever I came home from school and Mom was not at home I knew she was next door. When Mom got her drivers license she and Mrs. Lowe would go shopping every week. Dad said that when Mom got her license he lost his car and his wife! After Loyd married Doris and moved to Washington State Paul went to live with them and finished high school there. He then joined the army and was gone for three years so by the time he came home I was a teenager. He asked his mother who that girl next door was and he was surprised to find out it was little Sissy! (That was my nick name for years)
I loved going to the basketball games and cheering for our guys. Dad went out very often to preach in various churches. If it wasn't a school night I could go with him and I loved to go with him. He was always my favorite preacher in the whole world. I consider myself so fortunate to have been raised on the beautiful campus of PBTS. I remember the wonderful singing & preaching. I was able to attend every graduation and retreat for the years I was there. I loved all the activities of graduation and especially the music. I took piano lessons from Mr. Ackerly, the lessons cost 50 cents! I learned so much from Mr. Ackerly. Every once in awhile he would play a classical piece for me. I would listen and watch in awe and wish I could play like that. That would make me practice harder. I play the organ at my church today and I have Mr. Ackerly to thank.
There were always pranks that the students played on my Dad. One time in class a note was being passed around and as it passed the person reading would look up at the ceiling. Dad saw what was happening and he intercepted the note, it read, "Look at the footprints on the ceiling!" Dad had a little Crosley car at one time and several of the guys picked it up and carried it up onto the front porch of the main building! Of course, Dr. Davis called Dad and asked him how his car had gotten there. The guys had a good laugh about that (after they carried it back down). Mrs. Davis was always looking for things for us children to do. She told us that she would give us a penny for every dead bird that we found! She also gave us a penny for every nail we picked up off the road. Mrs. Davis had a niece named Carolee and she was about my age. Whenever Carolee came to visit I was asked to come and play with her. I felt very privileged to eat lunch at the President's house! We would watch Roy Rogers on TV and eat from TV trays!
One time my sister Mary and I were home alone (Mom and Dad were at a prayer meeting) It must have been close to Halloween because two of the students came to our house and knocked on the door. They had scary masks on and when Mary answered the door we both started screaming and shaking. The students were very embarrassed and took the masks off to show us who they were. We never wanted to be alone after that!
We also got to go to all the parties at school including the Halloween party. One year they had an elaborate dark room that went on and on. You had to crawl through part of it and put your hands in bowls of spaghetti (brains) and grapes with the skins off (eyeballs).
Paul and I were married in October of 1956 and we moved to Calif. We had three children and then Paul became ill with lung cancer. He died in Sept. 1963. Even after we married I could not call my mother-in-law anything but Mrs. Lowe because that is what she always had been to me!
The school is so different now. Our house is gone, Lowe's house is gone, King Hall, the main building, the jail, the inner circle, the house that the Ackerly's lived in, the house where the Davis' lived, etc. I'm sure the presence of the Lord is still very much there and I have my memories of a wonderful childhood.
Some links about her father Dr. Woodrow Brown:
A photo of Dr. and Mrs. Woodrow Brown in 2004.
A memory of Dr. Woodrow Brown from Don Hall (class of 1950).
The Obituary of Dr. Brown.
Labels: Ackerly, Anita Harrower, Davis College, King Hall, Lowe, PBTS, prank, Woodrow Brown
