The first Thomas W. Hughen School for “Crippled” Children, established in 1936.

Journey of Hope

For over 70 years, the Hughen Center in Port Arthur, TX, has been enriching the lives of disabled persons.

“To travel hopefully is better than to arrive.”
– Sir James Jeans

Hughen Center, site of the Bob Hope School in Port Arthur, Texas, is celebrating over 70 years of service to children and adults with physical disabilities. This is thanks to caring folks who helped improve the quality of life for “crippled” children, who have been a part of making that dream come true. The idea for the Center started in 1922, when a committee was formed in the interest of “crippled” youngsters. In 1933, the Port Arthur Society for Crippled” Children was organized. A crucial need was for these children to get an education. Schoolhouses were not built then to accommodate children in wheelchairs, on crutches, and wearing heavy metal braces. On March 1, 1936, the concept of what is today called Hughen Center began in one room of a local charity hospital. It was called the “Spastic School,” as the five children in this first class had cerebral palsy, a condition that causes involuntary spasms of the limbs. With an annual budget of $1,875, the staff consisted of one teacher, a therapist, and a helper. It was their job to provide these youngsters with individualized care, education and therapies designed to enrich the quality of their lives – at a time when little was known about the causes of “crippling” conditions, and even less bout the most successful methods of special education. A local benefactor, Thomas W. Hughen, donated property for the building of the first school house. By Christmas, 1936, The Thomas W. Hughen School for “Crippled” children was constructed.

Miracles Begin

Over the next 30 years, additional services wereintroduced, including physical, occupational and speech therapy rograms. Real life “miracles” were seen and heard as new technology allowed nonverbal children to communicate via computers for the first time in their lives. Several campus, allowing special needs children from outside the area to live at Hughen. The only criteria for entry is that the child have an orthopedic disability, be able to function in a specialized classroom setting, and be between the ages of 5-21. In 1968, a gift from the Eagles Jimmy Durante Children’s Fund paid for a heated therapy pool lovingly named the “Inka Dinka Doo Pool.” Over the next 10 years legendary entertainer Bob Hope became personally involved with the Hughen Center. He often referred to the students as “his kids.” He and Mrs. Hope traveled to Port Arthur often to appear in fundraisers on the Center’s behalf.

Enter The F.O.E.

Bob Hope’s first fundraiser for Hughen Center, held in Houston, raised the $1 million to erect a high school on campus. In 1978, Bob Hope High School became the newest addition to the Hughen Center. The Fraternal Order of Eagles Memorial Foundation honored the commitment of the Hopes by establishing the “Bob and Dolores Hope Scholarship.” This provides all graduates of Hope High with a full four-year scholarship to the college or vocational training institute of their choice.

By the mid-1980s, funds were donated by a local couple, Mr. and Mrs. Wilton Hebert, for another addition to the campus. It is referred to as “The Hebert Adult Program,” a day vocational training center for adults ages 20-65-plus whose physical disabilities have minimized their career opportunities. Some have had lifelong disabilities; others need individualized vocational training to learn new skills after having an accident, stroke or other medical condition that has limited their physical mobility. Since Hughen Center is licensed by the State of Texas as a 24-hour residential child care facility, many of the special children part of the Hughen family were foster children. Most were removed from their birth homes due to abuse and/or neglect. Many arrived at an early age with more emotional scars than physical ones.

One of the most dramatic examples is that of Jermell Pennie. Born into a family with a history of domestic violence, Jermell had no physical or mental disabilities. But thanks to his dangerous home situation, the first five years of his life were traumatic.