History of Fonville Middle School

Fonville Junior High opened in January, 1960. It was built to relieve overcrowding at Burbank Middle School. However, Fonville began as a small city of temporary buildings behind Burbank MS in the fall of 1959. I have heard from an alumni of that first class of students that "the birth of Fonville was epic and heroic. The in-crowd was always the Burbank kids and Fonville kids were uninvited guests, but we persevered and later excelled when we got our home. Both Burbank and Fonville students went to Sam Houston and Fonville's stay at Burbank was just about as traumatic to the Burbank students. It was an over-crowded, hostile environment-kind of like having cats in a sack. I don't know how the teachers ever managed to control us."

Another former student writes:
Dear Friends,
Fonville opened it's doors- in December 1959 . It was the week before Christmas break. Texas played Syracuse in the Cotton Bowl and lost. Mr. Froemain was the principal and Mr. Gant was the V.P. The original coaches were Richard Reed, Joe Clements, and Richard Simmons. Everything was so new, and everyone took a lot of pride . The swimming pool was state of the art. Woodshop was an adventure. We would climb a latter to a loft area to complete written and reading assignments. A Mr. West was the teacher. It snowed on Feb 14,1960 in Houston . It was a day I will never forget . I lived about 5 city blocks from the school and was able to walk to school almost everyday. As a Catholic, I could attend morning mass at Assumption Church and make it to school on time. Discipline was absolute, Mr. Gant paddled everybody, right or wrong--the board was the answer. I do not recall ever seeing a teacher evaluated by an administrator .The failure rate in Algebra 1 was very high, well over 50% .Burbank was our chief rival in sports. I watched the Fonville being built, walked the halls before it even opened and was in awe. My parents told me that Mayor Fonville was an honest man! I hope these comments will give you some idea of what it was like to attend a new junior high school . I went on the graduate from Sam Houston High School in 1964.I am a retired Special Ed. teacher, Viet-Nam Vet, married, a parent and living in Peoria, Arizona.

The school was named after a former mayor of the city of Houston, R. H. Fonville. Fonville was elected mayor of the city of Houston from 1937 to 1939.

Gerald Fonville, the nephew of R.H. Fonville writes,

"As you all may know, Uncle R.H. was a pharmacist, successfully operating  modest shop in downtown Houston for a number of years. The family itself is still curious as to what motivated him into politics. It is my understanding, however, that he was a bit of a rebel... in reverse, if you will. He was appalled at the disreputable state of affairs of Houston politics at the time and wanted to try to better the situation. After attempting to do so as mayor, he finally left office with pride, being know as "the only honest mayor" Houston had ever had (up to that time). His refusal to "play ball" with the "fat cats" and insiders resulted in the termination of his future participation in city politics.

"His singular intangible accomplishment was his adamant refusal to cooperate with and lend executive influence to the extant factors of greed, corruption and inside dealings then so rampant in the city.

"We do know from his own conversations with us, that his main objective was to influence through a fair and honest administration, the potential for all of Houston's population to receive an "even break.""

You can read about the city when he was mayor at Houston in the Thirties.

Originally, Fonville Middle School had grades 7-9. Years ago, Burbank Elementary School was located on the site where Fonville Middle School now stands. Anyone who has knowledge of Fonville in the sixties and seventies is encouraged to contact the webmaster.

It is now Fonville Middle School and has grades 6-8. Fonville Middle School is located at 725 E. Little York Road, halfway between I-45 North and the Hardy Toll Road. (Key Map 413S(NEH)). Fonville qualifies for Title I services school wide.

Our Alumni write:

Good evening,

I attended Fonville from 1962 to 64. I remember some of the teachers from that time, Mr. Watts, Coach Redd and Mr. Ambrose. I remember the Vice Principal was named mister Gant and he looked like the Frankenstein monster (no disrespect intended). I remember the school was relatively new at that time and it was a really nice facility.

Thanks.

Harold D. Pierce

April 22, 2005

Greetings to Fonville Middle School:

I am Doris Marie Newman Haines, of Carthage, and I attended Fonville Middle School in 1960 or 1961. Back then FMS was Fonville Junior High School and I believe it was a new school.

Mr. Perez was a Math teacher and Mr. Bonnie was an English teacher. I troubled Mr. Perez greatly because Math was always hard for me even in elementary school. Math gave me problems that I couldn’t easily solve.

As a troubled teenager, unable to get things together, and after having to repeat the eighth grade, I decided to just stop going to school. A decision that I have always regretted. Accomplishments that I missed I will never know. I can have understanding for those who are “slow” and do not make “friends” quite so easily as others, and that seems to always “stand out” in a crowd. The loneliness one feels at a young age will effect the way they excel in life.

On October 1, 2002, I enrolled in GED night classes at Logansport High School, located in Logansport, La. In May 2003, I took the GED test and passed all subjects except Math which came back to haunt me. I had to retake the Math test twice and failed again.

Then in September of 2004, I enrolled again in GED night classes at Panola College, located in Carthage, Texas, and tested again for the Math on Feb. 16, 2005 of which I passed.

After 41 years, I recently graduated and now have a GED diploma that I am very proud of! My husband is Roland Glantz Haines, and we have been married for 43 years. He was reared in Houston. and a lot of his family still reside there. He also attended (Fonville Junior High School) where he entered a contest to draw a Falcon bird for the mascot of Fonville JHS. Roland’s drawing won the contest. He is now 61 years old, and I am 58.

I wanted to share my good news with your school as it was the last school I attended. (I am also enclosing a photo that my daughter took of my graduation ceremony, along with the information). My daughter, Anita Aileen Haines Shahan, attended Scarborough Elementary School in Houston until 1974.

Thank you, Doris Haines

Our mascot is the Falcon and our colors are orange, blue and white.