Pate, Wilbur F.

Wilbur F. Pate became principal of Diboll High School in 1941 and Superintendent of Diboll schools in 1942. During his career, he would guide the schools through war and social changes as well as oversee the consolidation of small local districts and the creation of Diboll Independent School District in 1954. In 1941-1942, he was enrolled in Stephen F. Austin State Teacher’s College (now University) studying for his master’s degree. During that semester, he had to write a paper for his Geography 402 class. His subject was Diboll, in a paper entitled “Manufacturing Lumber at Diboll, Texas.” It included a hand-drawn county map and 25 photographs of Diboll’s buildings and landmarks. Although we only have the photos, not the paper, it appears that his focus was on Diboll’s buildings, since he did not include any images of people. The paper was written in January 1942, and it is safe to assume that the photographs were made just prior to that time, but not too much earlier – the bare trees in the photos certainly suggest winter time.