Episode 7: Doris Cullins
WHY IS SCHOOL SO IMPORTANT IN LIFE
DORIS CULLINS
DORIS
I’ve been in school all my life
KELLY
In 1880, shortly after the Civil War, a small group of people settled in an area of Northeast Texas, about an hour outside of Dallas.
Is Fate, Texas a good place to live?
One of the men suggested that they open up a post office and put their little town on the map. But in order to do that, they needed to name the town.
The man who had suggested the post office was named William Lafayette Brown. He wanted to name the town Brown Springs, but . . . the townspeople weren’t too fond of that idea. Besides, there was already a Brownsville, Texas.
His wife proposed that they name the area after Lafayette’s nickname: Fate. And so the tiny town of Fate, Texas, was born.
About fifty years later, the roads and automobiles connecting Fate to bigger cities had grown more accessible.
(SFX: Cars, people talking)
Now people could go to places like Royse City or Rockwall to shop, instead of Fate’s local markets. Fate’s economy started to decline, and with it, its education. High school grades had dropped significantly by the 1920s.
In 1923, a little girl named Doris was born in Fate. And so began a life that would change countless others.
Are teachers born or made?
DORIS
I think I was born to be a teacher because we played school after that and everything revolved around school
KELLY
I would guess it was fate when I walked into the principal’s office as a new 4th grade student at Rockwall Intermediate School. That principal was Doris Cullins, who would eventually become my neighbor when I was a young mom. On this episode of Qavah, we will learn about the namesake of Doris Cullins Elementary school and her career as an administrator.
Intro
DORIS
Very small country town add a square like the square that we have up there and that’s where the stores were we had to grocery stores
KELLY
wow! 2!
DORIS
right One across the street from the other and then we had a barbershop I think it must’ve intrigued me fate was small but had churches so now we were a nice little community I thought I’d never live anywhere else but fate
KELLY
Right and so did you go to school in fate
DORIS
I did We had our school is no longer there but it was a two-story brick building the we had a kindergarten through 10th grade and then it dwindled down as the years passed I went through school in fate through the ninth grade and then I had about 10th and 11th grade I went to Rockwall We had a Choice we could either go to Royse city or we could go to Rockwall but I chose Rockwall because I have family you know that was from Rockwall.
KELLY
Doris’ choice to go to Rockwall, instead of Royse City, was the choice that would one day bring our life paths to cross.
and what did you study what did you like in school
DORIS
I really like English and geography I think geography was my favorite I don’t know we call that social studies now we called a geography
KELLY
Do you remember any of your teachers
DORIS
Yes I remember all my teachers
KELLY
you do? who is your favorite teacher?
DORIS
Well my favorite teacher she was a young lady from Greenville and her name was Miss McNatt she she was black headache and I think I was in the fourth grade
KELLY
I loved my Fourth grade teacher too Ever her she was younger so I get it
DORIS
My first grade teacher well we called her Miss Eileen and I forgot her last name but she was at fate Citizen she was real sweet and Miss Mae Vernon
KELLY
yes! The school?
DORIS
right, the school is named for her but I was in second and third grade and I when was in second grade I was in her class so she was this other teacher was an older higher grade I think she was fifth grade Miss Mae has been my favorite all the years too I love school I think I played school I think I was born to be a teacher
What was your first memory?
KELLY
Right that’s wonderful
In one of Doris’ earliest memories, however, she recalls experimenting with other career paths at a very young age.
So tell me, what is your first memory?
DORIS
Well I think the thing I remember best I was almost 4 and I had a twin sister and so we lived in the big house.
(SFX: Footsteps on wooden floor)
we went upstairs to mother and daddy‘s bedroom because they had a big closet and we set up a barbershop in the closet. I remember distinctly moving some things around in the closet so we could get in there I don’t know why we didn’t just do it in the bedroom but we didn’t. But anyway I cut Dot’s hair.
(SFX: Scissors)
But really I gave her a good haircut. And she had to wear a cap she didn’t have any hair when she was born and I had hair and I had this thick red hair and here she was bald. And here she wear.... basically she wore I think the camp for a month before it all grew out you know.
KELLY
That is precious
DORIS
I’m not sure that I I was punish but I think they kinda thought it was cute
KELLY
Oh that’s sweet
Good parents
DORIS
Anyway I didn’t know whether I thought I’d be a barber but I didn’t get the idea after mother and dad took care of me I think they laughed you know but they didn’t think I’d do a thing like that
KELLY
So you have a twin sister and then you have some younger siblings and how many siblings and how many siblings do you have
DORIS
I have a sister that is six years younger than I am done and I or the first born and then I have two brothers my brother who is 18 months younger than we were and then I have a younger brother well he’s not young anymore but anyway said they were five children
KELLY
Growing up in a small town didn’t keep Doris from having a big imagination.
what did you do in the afternoon?
DORIS
We live exactly half mile out from fate there’s a square at the end of the square there was a road that went to our house and then it turned back this way so we were half mile and then walk to school sometimes there we had a Shetland pony and daddy let us let the pound and three kids on the back of that pony Jimmy was 18 months younger than we are but he was this tall as we were in fact people thought we were triplets I’m sure her mother and daddy felt that way and I thought I’d never want to live anywhere else KA right...so after school you would walk him and would you play
I’m pretty whether we’d want Psalm and there are several children that live beyond us so we are at kind of played around on the way home but other than that of course in bad weather we lived on a muddy road daddy would bring that Shetland pony up and put three of us on his back I was country
KELLY
yes that’s awesome that’s good stuff. did you have chores that you had to do after school? Did they or did you have any chores or anything at your parents?
DORIS
After school we always changed our clothes and got into playclothes and we played and of course having a brother and my twin sister there was always three of us around Catherine Catherine was younger and Clyde my brother was younger it was like having two people around you all the time with
my sister in my twin sister and my brother
KELLY
You were never lonely you always had somebody to play with
DORIS
Always had somebody
I think my graduating class had about 35 people we were very small
KELLY
So is that what after you graduate from high school Rockwall High School what did you do then
DORIS
I went to college it was east Texas state teachers college it’s now Texas A&M
KELLY
Yes ma’am I know where that is
DORIS
In commerce
KELLY
Did you live there
DORIS
I lived there
KELLY
OK so you lived in a dorm
DORIS
I was really excited about going to college and living in the dorm and the dorm we lived in was news the first year it open back in 1939 that’s when I graduated
When did the first female attend college?
KELLY
Wow now at that point in 1939 was that typical for a young lady to go away to college
DC Yes
KELLY
So most of your girls you knew y’all went to college and that
DORIS
There were several of my class 78 to East Texas some of them in commuted because it wasn’t that far about 40 miles and then but I lived in the dorm I loved it and of course my twin sister was my roommate in fact we room together all four years in college
KELLY
Doris attended East Texas State Teachers College at a historic turning point for women in education. From 1930 to 1940, the number of female college students increased by more than 700%.
By the time Doris enrolled in college, women’s suffrage was just two decades in the making. The 19th amendment, which had given women the right to vote, had been passed by Congress in 1919. Twenty years later, women were still unable to serve in governmental positions that would allow them to earn more rights for their gender. But, they were able to get their education. Women like Doris saw this as an opportunity to influence the world - starting with the classroom.
KELLY
what did you study
DORIS
Elementary education
KELLY
So that’s what you decided to to be was a teacher
DORIS
Well actually I took the basic my freshman course and then I wasn’t quite sure but I thought I wanted to be a teacher and I loved my teachers they were really orientated on education for children so I never did go to summer school I went for long-term’s for years and stayed at East Texas
KELLY
and you So do you did you graduate in four years with a bachelors of science
DORIS
I didn’t get my masters until I had married and had my baby and well I took some extension courses but professors from East Texas came out to our school and offered courses and we took whatever in fact that’s really the reason I was eligible for a principle or administrators when I got my masters because The courses that I had in my early days of my extra work we had teachers whatever they offer that’s what we took some of them were administrative so in fact I was shocked I had not even thought of being in administration I just thought I’d be a classroom teacher I love it and it was hard to me to say yes I’ll take principal
Because I like my little cluster
KELLY
where did you meet your husband?
DORIS
High school
KELLY
oh y’all went to school together
DORIS
We went to school
KELLY
Oh I didn’t realize that OK
US NAVY World War 2
DORIS
OK but we had a lot of years of courting so to speak the War years came I was in college enter the war and he was in the Navy and of course he was over there and we did not marry and after he got out of the service and he was on Guadalcanal for four years so I was an older bride I was almost 30
KELLY
That is yeah that is very so while he was gone for quite a while and I didn’t realize that he was in the Navy thank you thank you
DORIS
He work for Ford motor company
KELLY
So you Married had a little boy
DORIS
One child I should’ve had more
KELLY
Because he’s wonderful
What is A Classroom Teacher
Doris’ career in education flourished, and it took her to many different classrooms, where she met many different kinds of students. During these years, she learned just as much as she taught!
so you we’re at the classroom teacher for how long
DC A classroom teacher for well I was I started teaching in 43 so that meant I was in college and high school to college from college to the classroom so I was I was an education for 42 years that includes my principalship in fact I I started teaching in Ennis Texas but it was rather strange my sister knew she wanted to be a teacher immediately and I wasn’t quite sure because I had work and the address culture department at the Rockwall courthouse and I liked it it was my first job $60 a month but anyway 14:50
So I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a teacher but anyway then Dot got This job in Ennis
So which began in August I thought you know maybe I better teach but my daddy my mama just left it up to me if you like your job more than this you can otherwise your sister is going to be teaching in Ennis so I just before school started I thought I think I do want to teach so I my sister had already been hired in Ennis so I went up to Ennis and applied in Palmer which is smaller that there and I got the job there and in the meantime a vacancy had occurred school had not started had occurred in Ennis fourth grade They called me and then the two superintendence talked and Palmer would release you and you could teaching in us if you’d like with your twin sister so I chose to go to Ennis it was a larger school system so dad and I talked together because she had six grade and I had fourth grade and she moved to we came back to rock Royse city and talk together it was fun teaching with her she had third grade I had second grade… You won’t believe this but in our day we tried as many as 40 kids in one class teachers couldn’t do that today
KA No that is a lot of people
DC It was but that children were different
KA Yes ma’am yes ma’am I can see that
So when you had that many students was it The whole grade
DC I had the whole grade
KA So like you had
DC In other words I was fourth grade teacher
KA Right for everybody
DC not always then I came back to second grade and I taught second grade for about seven years and then Walter and I lived in rockwall and I decided I needed to get into Rockwall schools so I applied no vacancy there but one occurred at teacher thought she was pregnant and she was that and so I got a fourth grade position but listen to the story and this teacher wasn’t pregnant and she wanted to come back and the superintendent came down and talk to me and I said I will not take fourth grade I’m not gonna take Peggy’s fourth grade that she thought she needed to leave and I took seventh grade teenagers my students were taller than I OK but I have taught one year seventh grade teacher but I liked it but I really wanted the fourth grade and I teacher resigned and I got fourth grade so I taught fourth grade for years and Rockwall.
How Do You Pass a Legacy
KELLY
So after teaching second grade, then third grade, and then seventh grade, Doris finally ended up as a fourth grade teacher. This is where she stayed for years and years.
I had the chance to speak with one of her fourth grade students, who has since grown up and become a teacher herself! Her name is Shelly Bennett.
So tell me you had Miss Cullins as a fourth grade teacher
SHELLY
Yes I did so I we had just moved to Rockwall in January 1973 so I came in the middle of the year in fourth grade in Mrs. Cullins was my fourth grade homeroom teacher and of course back then I had her for all classes and I remember coming in and she had that beautiful beehive hairdo on top with the with her dark rim cat eyeglasses and I was pretty shy and pretty timid it back then and always remember being so scared that I would disappoint Mrs. Cullins and that she would have to call on me so but we had an open classroom concept back at Dobbs Elementary at that time Dobbs was the only elementary school at the time so you would think that in that type of setting that there might be chaos because we didn’t have any walls but you know leave it to Mrs. Cullins that everyone or students and teachers were in line and that there was no chaos so it was you know that was a great memory a great experience with her
HOW TO BECOME AN ADMINISTRATOR
KELLY
Doris was, in fact, such an extraordinary teacher that one day, the superintendent called her into his office.
DORIS
the superintendent called me one day to come over to the office he wouldn’t even talk to me and I said to my principal but I’m teaching he said well I have someone to cover cover for you go to the superintendent so I did he offered me the job of opening the intermediate school we were taking The fourth and fifth grade out of elementary and putting them in the intermediate school and so I was there principal and I love to that
KELLY
Was it Rockwall elementary school that was called initially OK and then Rockwall in intermediate school which was fourth and fifth
DORIS
so I took the intermediate school and we did it for seven years I believe we were building Rochell elementary that was out in the country then well I opened the elementary school then and then I taught there I think about seven or eight years and in the meantime we were building Reinhart they were growing so fast I knew that I took that challenge and I open Reinhardt to after opening the intermediate school Rochell.
KELLY
Doris’ fingerprints are all over Rockwall ISD to this day. She was at the front lines of education in this area, starting schools left and right.
As Fate would have it, the former 4th grade student, Shelly Bennett, reunited with Doris after graduating from college.
SHELLY
And then I was fortunate enough as years went on I became a teacher and moved back to Rockwall after graduating from Baylor with an education degree and Mrs. Cullins hired me to help open a school with her and I was a fifth-grade teacher there at Reinhardt elementary so she was wonderful she was such a great mentor to me and always felt welcome to come in and talk with her and help me plan and help me just become a good educator strong educator I did have a student that year that my heart went out to many peoples hearts went out to this young man who really came from a really troubled past and as a first-year teacher didn’t know how to deal with a lot of the things that he was going through And thinks that he would do in the classroom and so she was very instrumental in helping me sort through that and be empathetic and sympathetic to her situation and I really needed someone like her at the time that was strong but also nurturing and help me to know that I was still valued as a teacher she ended up having to remove him from my classroom probably mid year and take him to a more experienced teacher just because it was it was quite a struggle but she never made me feel like I failed she always made me feel like I was doing a great job and I will always be so thankful for her
KELLY
What an awesome administrator to have the wisdom to to know how to deal with some things so difficult and know exactly how to make you feel good as a teacher confident as a teacher to continue and you’re still doing it today
As Doris and I reflected on her years in education, she smiled, knowing that people’s lives had been forever changed.
now you have a school named after you
Doris Cullins Lakepointe Elementary School
DORIS
Right that was a shock and a thrill
KELLY
Yes isn’t that wonderful and all those students that you get to affect with just your name and your expertise and what you’ve given to the community and we thank you for all of that you were my principal when I was a little girl that was at the intermediate school and my husband so thank you so much
SHELLY
I’m still teaching today and I think back on Mrs. Cullins often and just a great legacy that she has left and teaching in the role model she was for so many of us here in the Rockwall community so very thankful for Mrs. Doris Cullins
KELLY
Today, Doris Cullins Elementary School serves about 700 students each year. It’s a place that many children call a second home, just as I did when fate led Mrs. Cullins to be my principal.
