Suzanne Rehak/For the Chronicle
Maurice Wolfe, school namesake, walks to his seat at the 40th anniversary celebration at Wolfe Elementary.
Forty years ago when Wolfe Elementary School opened in 1969, it was the lifeblood of the surrounding area and became the venue of choice for activities and events for the larger community, according to local residents.
More than 500 former and current parents, students and teachers touted the school as the "hub" of the community during a 40-year anniversary celebration held Oct. 27.
Several Katy Independent School District trustees were among the guests who helped the school celebrate, including Rebecca Fox, Chris Crockett, Robert Shaw and Judy Snyder, who is a former Wolfe parent.
Katy Superintendent Alton Frailey, former Wolfe principal and current Area 2 assistant superintendent Patricia Paetow, Area 1 assistant superintendent Linda Menius and Taylor High School assistant principal Russell Faldyn were among the many administrators in the packed gymnasium at Wolfe.
"I was born and raised in Addicks, Texas," said Faldyn, who was a kindergartner at Wolfe the first year the school opened. "In 1969, Wolfe was the center of our community. We loved the school because it was part of Katy ISD as well as a great place to mix and mingle with people in the community."
The school at 502 Addicks-Howell Road near the Texas Energy Corridor is one of 32 elementaries in KISD. It has an enrollment of about 450 students.
The guest of honor and school namesake Maurice Wolfe took center stage and said years he spent at the school were his best.
"I could not wait to get to school because there would be something different and exciting happening every day," the 85-year-old ex-Addicks ISD superintendent said.
Wolfe delighted the crowd with tales of his tenure at the school. He told the story of a kindergartner who did not want to attend classes the first day of school one year. After Wolfe picked him up to take him to his classroom, Wolfe said the youngster stunned him by biting him on the arm and making him bleed. But he finally got the boy settled into his classroom and the boy was quiet the rest of the year, he said.
"Then he came to my office when he was in second grade and he apologized for the whole incident," Wolfe said.
Mary Ehler, who worked as Wolfe’s secretary, fondly remembered her former boss as "a very nice and supportive person, who was always devoted to his school community."
Virginia Crowson, who was Faldyn’s second-grade teacher, said the school brought parents, students and teachers together for academic and social events.
"This was a school that had a lot of help from the community," she said. "We had the best PTO and it was like a small town here where everyone knew one another."
Diane Dickson, whose mother, Katherine Tyra, was former Harris County District Clerk and the Bear Creek library namesake, remembers moving from Addicks Elementary School to the new school. She was among the first fifth-graders to graduate from the school the year it opened.
"It was exciting to move our desks and chairs from the red brick school, which only had five classrooms, to the new school," she said.
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Mr. Wolfe and Wolfe Elementary
It is fitting that the East End community honored Maurice Wolfe at their 40th Anniversary celebration. He was one of the best principals Katy ISD ever had.
When I was a parent in the early 1980's, several of us who lived in Nottingham Country tried to get our PTA to change to a PTO like Wolfe had. We didn't think the values espoused by PTA were those of our neighborhood or good for our children, and we didn't like it that half the money we raised in dues went to the state and national PTA's which mirror (and still do) the platform of the NEA.
Mr. Wolfe would let us meet in the Wolfe cafeteria when no one else in KISD would allow such a meeting. He was a brave soul, and he often bucked the system. He had been the superintendent of the Adicks School District before it was split up between KISD, Cy Fair and Spring Branch, so I suppose he wasn't easily intimidated.
When we were unsuccessful in changing Nottingham's PTA to a PTO, our group continued its activism, and he continued to let us meet at Wolfe. In those days the Katy superintendent (Gordon Brown) would not let parents organize parent organizations in the secondary schools. We all thought that wasn't right, and so we pushed to have them.
Some friends and I started the first one at Memorial Parkway Junior High (it was called Parents for a Better Education-- PBE for short). The principal at that school, Roy Mendez, agreed that we should be able to organize and helped us do so. Other schools quickly followed our initial action. Most of them were not PTA's.
It is to his credit that Mr. Wolfe was so supportive of parents.
I am amused at all the board members who showed up at the ceremony. Traditionally they have pretty much ignored that school.
When I was on the Board, Wolfe Elementary held a ceremony to honor Anna Baker when she retired. Mrs. Baker had been a 30 year employee, driving a school bus for 22 years and then managing the cafeteria for 18 years. She was (and is) a delightful person who was very worthy of such a retirement ceremony.
Funny though, I don't remember any other board members attending that one!
Mary McGarr
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