Sherman High School band members still play two pieces of music shaped by a teacher who joined the district more than 50 years ago. That teacher, Larry Howeth, is one of two former Sherman ISD educators the Sherman Ex-Students Association named Distinguished Faculty this year.
The association handed out its 2026 honors at its yearly luncheon, held Sept. 26 at Sherman High School, and the district published the full list on Wednesday.
Two teachers
Howeth came to Sherman ISD in 1972 as the high school's assistant band director and stayed in that job until 1981, according to the district. He also helped lead bands at Piner Junior High and Dillingham Intermediate, then came back in 2000 to teach orchestra. His arrangements of the Sherman fight song and alma mater are still performed today, the district said.
Karla Snipes Graham was hired in 1979 and spent 35 years with the district before retiring from Sherman High in 2013. Over that span she sponsored the drill team and the cheer squad and taught health science. In 1995 she and Q. D. Williams started the high school's Peer Assistance Leadership Skills program, known as PALS, which trains high schoolers to mentor elementary students.
The program is still running at the high school.
Eight graduates
The association's Distinguished Students this year are all alumni, with diplomas ranging from 1969 to 2000:
- Thomas Cantrell, 1969: a record-setting track athlete who qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, coached track and cross-country at New Mexico Junior College, and later became superintendent of Anadarko Schools in Oklahoma.
- Jimmy Cantrell, 1972: paralyzed after breaking his neck in a pickup football game the year after he graduated, he regained the ability to walk with crutches and went on to a long career as a draftsman.
- Philip Poole, 1973: retired as executive director of university communications at Samford University and has led both the Religion Communicators Council and the Baptist Communicators Association.
- Rick Tocquigny, 1974: a former executive at Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, General Mills and Paramount Publishing who founded the program Success Made to Last.
- Alan Burton, 1975: a former Sherman Democrat sports editor who spent 11 years running community relations for Sherman ISD and retired in 2023 from Southeastern Oklahoma State University's communications office.
- Monica Thornhill Jackson, 1992: a 31-year educator who worked in Melissa ISD and now oversees principal leadership as a managing director in Frisco ISD.
- Drew Dornstadter, 2000: an Army lieutenant colonel and West Point graduate with four combat deployments and two Bronze Stars, now at the U.S. Army War College and set for promotion to colonel in early 2027.
- Mark Scheibmeir, 2000: co-founder of Wicked Myth Films, director of the film The Summoned, and head of the film program at St. Mark's School of Texas.
About the association
The group works to keep the history of both Sherman High School and Fred Douglass High School, runs a museum at 2701 N. Loy Lake Road and raises scholarship money for current Sherman students, the district said.
Nominations are due by June 30 each year for that September's honors, according to the district.
Sources
shermanisd.net
shermanisd.net
