Drayton, Don, Dave
Editor’s Note: This story is condensed from an article in The Wichita Eagle, May 11, 1995.
Three generations of Alldritts have graduated from East: Don Alldritt, class of ’36; Dave Alldritt, class of ’60, and Drayton, class of ’80. And that doesn’t include a number of spouses, too. See The Alldritt Family Chart below.
The place may have been the same, but the experiences were not. Back when Don was a student, he could buy a school lunch for 15 cents. There were no hamburgers; there were balanced meals and everyone ate lunch at school.
Lunch aside, many things have changed since Don graduated in 1936 during the midst of the Great Depression. He and his friends would walk to East from their homes on Hillside. That was more than 60 years after Wichita graduated its first class of seniors. His seven sons, a few of this daughters-in-law and
three of his 14 grandchildren also graduated from East, the most recent one in 1989.
Most of those changes went straight from American society into the corridors and classrooms, say members of the Alldritt family . They gathered in Don’s College Hill home in 1995 to reminisce about East. They concluded that East has kept in pace with the times. “It was a very disciplined school; it was a closed campus, and we had monitors on every door. It was an honor to be made a monitor.” (Above, Kay Brinnon Alldritt)
What Don, 77, appreciated most about East was the sense of cohesion among the 550 other students who graduated with him. Even now, he meets with some of his classmates for lunch, a tradition that began several years ago.
By the time his grandson Drayton graduated in 1980, East lacked some of that same spirit. “It was not nearly the community that it was in my grandfather’s day,” Drayton said.
One of the factors that transformed East, and America, was the automobile. By the time Dave, 53, Drayton’s father and the oldest of Don’s children, was in high school, shark-finned cars were already in vogue among some students.
Most students no longer stayed on campus for lunch, preferring instead to tool around the east side of the city or go to Sandy’s, a burger joint that used to be at the corner of Douglas and Hillside.
In the classroom, however, things stayed relatively the same. But especially in Don’s era, teachers demanded respect and hard work. “We had to work hard to make good grades,” he said. “And if you were absent, they would call your home immediately.”
So many things have come and gone at East, but the Alldritt family is sure that students can still find a good education there.
Dave went on to Harvard when he graduated in 1960. Drayton and younger sister Megan followed in their father’s footsteps. Their brother Barry attended the University of Kansas.
“The quality at East High continues to improve,” Dave said.
Proof of that can be found in East’s International Baccalaureate program, an intensive academic track for accelerated students, and in the large number of National Merit Scholars that East boasts every year.
But the school is no longer “the cosmos” it once was, Dave said. “As the city got larger, that had to change.”
When Don was in school, he lived in what was then the center of the residential east side. Over the years, that center has gradually shifted. In Dave’s heyday, the center was closer to Douglas and Oliver. By the time Drayton was in school, Woodlawn had surpassed Oliver. Now Wichitans think of Rock Road as the east side.
That has had a profound impact on the number of students who attend East. About 750 graduated with Dave, closer to 400 with Drayton. This spring, East will graduate a little more than 300 students.
The decline in enrollment can be partially attributed to the fact that several new high schools went up in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Southeast opened in 1957, Collegiate in 1963. And Kapaun Mt. Carmel became a coed school in 1971 at Rock Road and Central.
Those were the years when another trend was emerging among the best students at East; they were beginning to opt for colleges out of state.
Dave chose Harvard, as did two other 1960 grads. About 25 of his classmates went to top-notch universities and small liberal arts colleges nationwide. Yale, Stanford, Northwestern and Princeton were among the picks.
As a consequence, fewer East grads were returning to Wichita after college to settle down. Nearly all of Don’s class could easily make it to the reunions over the years. Dave estimates that three-fourths of his class have to travel, many from out of state, to attend reunions.
Drayton, who has his father’s easy grin, is among the few who returned to their hometown after going to Harvard. He is now a vice-president at the Fourth Financial Corp.
“It made a lot of sense to come back here,” he said. “The cost of living is better here. One thing, the quality of life is good. It’s a great place to raise kids.”
He is thankful for what East, an increasingly diverse school, taught him. In comparison to the education of some of the Harvard students who went to elite college preparatory schools such as Exeter, Drayton’s education at East was just as beneficial as at an Ivy League school, he said.
“I felt that my education at East had just as much to offer. Some of the private school students were removed from the real world. They didn’t have a lot of common sense.”
Drayton, who has three young sons of his own, won’t hesitate to send the oldest to Wichita public schools. The younger boys will follow when the are big enough.
In fact, Drayton has already figured out the graduating class of each of his boys: 2006, 2008, 2013. They, too, are expected to carry on the tradition of the Alldritt family at East High School.
“In looking back almost 60 years through the eyes of three generations,” Dave said, “East High means much more than just a geometry class, a Friday night football game, or prom night. During those highly formative years, all of us create the ties that bind our college careers, our careers, and our families together.”
Dave
See also —
- Remembering Dave Alldritt, 1942-2008
- Back to School, East High Today
- Wichita East History, Part 3, Academics and Athletics
Editor’s Note #2: Have several generations of your family graduated from East? Please relate your story in the Comments section following this article.
My mother and father graduated from East in the 1920’s and my siblings graduated from East in 1950, 1952, 1962, and of course me in 1960. My younger sister had two grandsons graduate from East in the last few years. I find it interesting that the population of graduating students has declined significantly as the city has increased the number of high schools.
I remember Dave from College Hill Elementary days. He was a talented writer who regularly regaled us by reading stories of his own creation. Fourth grade was a very productive year for his writing and I was sure he would grow up to be an author! Our teacher encouraged creative writing for all of us, but Dave had a special talent in writing.
My parents and uncles, and aunts attended East High. My younger brothers and I all graduated from East. It is part of my family heritage. East is still more important to me than any college I have graduated from or earned any graduate degree from. Wichita High School East housed the best years of my life and is the source of the closest friends I’ve ever made including my husband.
Both Dick’s and my families have a generational history at East. On my side, my mother and two of her siblings attended and she had two older siblings who graduated from Wichita High School, East’s predecessor. My uncle had East as one of his first architectural projects. Dick’s mother also attended East, as did his three siblings and two of their children. So, his is a three generation East family also.
Enjoyed this “East Grad” story! My mother graduated Wichita High School in 1923. She rode the trolley from 18th and N. Waco to WHS. But after North opened (around 1927+), we future Redskins had a closer walk to school. However, returning to Wichita after receiving degrees in Arkansas, I taught Physical Education at Wichita East. I, too, remember these last names of students written about in this neat reflection from the Aldritt family AND the last names in other comments. Francene Davis Sharp, North 1958
Both my parents were in the Class of 1925. My cousin J.J. Woodward graduated in 1943 and my cousin George Stables in 1956; there were other relatives as well who went to East. I have a picture of J.J. in his Navy uniform and me (a toddler) waving at the camera—those were tough years for graduates….