Ralph Depee

Pampa, TX 

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After PHS I went to TCU and then to UT dental school in Houston where I got a DDS and a Mrs. …  Jeanne, my bride of 37 years.  Then we spent two years in the US Navy at the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in San Diego.  I really don't know how I missed Viet Nam … I was at the "jumping off place".  I practiced general dentistry in Fort Worth for eleven years, got the middle age crazies and sold everything and went back to graduate school to do a two year residency in orthodontics, something I had always wanted to do.  It went well with the moral support of a great wife and two kids. We then realized that it was time to get out of the "city". Pampa needed an orthodontist, and my parents still lived here at the time.  It was a very positive move for us.  We have been here ever since.  Pampa's economy is not doing great, but Pampa has been very good to us.

Our last class reunion was such a positive and fun time. It seemed that everyone was so anxious to see each other. The events on Friday and Saturday were so much fun I just hated to see it end.  We seem to be at that time in life when we have enough hind-sight to know how precious friendships really are.  

Having been born and raised in Pampa, I have gone through a full twelve years of public school with quite a number of them.  Several were in my first grade class (Mrs. Weston) at Sam Houston Elementary: Gene Green, Bobby Connely, Thera Warner, Dan Dial, Johnny Nutting, Jimmy Samples, Richard Pitts, and Eddie Duenkel.  We were in the last room on the south wing.  For lunch we lined up in the hall to go to the basement cafeteria.  Lunch cost 25 cents--the teacher always told us  "two dimes and a nickel".  My favorite meal there was chicken pot pie.  After lunch we took a nap on small throw rugs on the floor.  I think this was for the teacher's benefit!!   Dick and Jane and Baby Sally taught us how to read in "reading circles". Our principal was Mr. Meeks.  He was a really nice guy but there was a rumor that he had a paddling machine in his office!  When he came in the room you better believe we straightened up! 

Saturday afternoons were spent at the LaNora theatre downtown seeing the latest adventure of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, or Johnny Mack Brown, plus two cartoons and a "serial" attraction which kept us coming back the next week to see the next episode. The price of admission was nine cents, which could be procured by rounding up empty coke bottles in the neighborhood and selling them at the grocery store.  A ten minute bicycle ride and we were set for the afternoon.  By the time I left there, I was Gene Autry and I was sure that I would catch at least one bad guy before suppertime. 

Shared experiences such as these form bonds of friendship that last a lifetime to be treasured and not forgotten.  They are who we are, indelible and timeless.  I am grateful to have been raised in post-World War II America's economic boom.  There
was such optimism … we knew that we were "the best" and that good things were out there waiting for us.  We knew that we, our friends, our school, and our community were important and that what we did mattered. I am grateful for a modest middle-class upbringing that instilled in me a sense of fairness and values.

 Hopefully, I have been able to pass these on to some others.  Next to my family, one of my greatest joys has been having the opportunity to treat kids at no cost who have serious and disfiguring problems,  restoring their self esteem and confidence to go into the world with a beautiful smile.