From left to right: David Taggert’s wife, Ruth; son, Joe; event organizer Rick Phelps; Tenneil Cobb and Ted Davis.

by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — As today’s students were recognized for achievement at the annual Class Night at Wellington High School, three more WHS alumni were recognized for achievement in life.  Ted Davis, Tenneil Cobb and David Taggert were added to the Crusader Wall of Recognition at Wellington High School Thursday night.

During a day of activities, Davis and Cobb and the family members of David Taggert were part of several activities, including attending the Chamber Coffee, having a school assembly, and an interview session with the media.

This year’s inductees were long time Wellington resident Davis graduated in 1941, Cobb graduated in 2002, and the late Taggart graduated in 1969. He was represented by his wife, Ruth, and son, John.

Davis, who is 93, and still drives his car, has lived in Wellington for 80 years. He said moving from Wichita to Wellington when he was 13 was the best thing that ever happened to him. He is well known in the community as a businessman and part of the development of the Aircraft industry in Wellington.

He is proud of the aircraft industry in town, and said a lot of parts are made there.

“There are not many planes flying that don’t have some part made in Wellington,” he said.

Davis said he probably would not have had the same opportunities that he had if he had not come to Wellington as a teenager. He went to work in local stores soon after arriving and through high school. He was a good athlete in the late 1930s, and graduated in 1941. He was an all-Ark Valley football for three years as a 135-pound offensive guard and linebacker. And he was a scout for the team after graduating, and worked the chain gang at home games for years.

One of his best football stories, however, involves an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific during World War 2. He was playing football and lost his balance while trying to catch a pass, and fell overboard. He said there were railings all around the ship except for one area, which is where he lost his balance.

He was spotted and picked up by another ship, and then relayed back to his own ship with rope and pulleys. Davis said after that he was called the high diver. His fall was about 50 feet.

Davis was involved in many kinds of businesses after getting out of the Navy after the war, when he returned to Wellington. He and a few partners, called the Wellington Five, were instrumental in getting the aircraft businesses going in Wellington.

Wellington is about the same size of town now that it was when he was growing up here in the late 30s and early 40s. He thinks the aircraft industries here are important for the city and could provide opportunities for the future.

Davis always encouraged employees to be involved in the community, and he has done so as well.

For years, he owned Rolls Royce in which he drove people to proms, weddings and other events for many years. He had that vehicle for 30 years and finally sold it back to the people he bought it from. He also had a classic BMW that he enjoyed, but sold it too very recently.

Davis has moved to a smaller place and is downsizing.

At 93, he is still in good health and enjoying life. Getting named to the Wall of Recognition was a great honor, he said. He added he was very appreciative of receiving it.

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Tenneil Cobb lives in Los Angeles now, and spends a lot of time in New York as well. She has been in the television producing business after having graduated from Wellington in 2002. Cobb is the daughter of James Cobb, who owns Cobb Liquor Store, and she enjoys returning to Wellington often and hanging around the family’s store.

When she graduated from high school, she thought she wanted to be a lawyer. She said she thought it would be like the old TV show, Night Court, but after an internship showed her it would not be like that, she decided to do something else.

Being a lawyer was too precise for her tastes. She liked comedy, being creative and being active, and while in college at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, she found TV becoming more interesting as a career choice.

Cobb said she loves New York, and likes it better than Los Angeles, but has never stopped loving Wellington.

“My love of Wellington rivals that of Shelley Hansel, or close to it,” she said.

She is currently working on a comedy series for MTV while in Los Angeles.

Even though she is sort of bi-coastal now, she still gets back to Wellington fairly often, even if is for just a couple of days. She was flying back out Friday after arriving Wednesday night for the ceremony.

During her speech at class night, Cobb told the graduates that there is a difference from moving away from Wellington because of job opportunities and life ambitions, and moving away to get away from their problems. She said the problems will follow them wherever they may go. But there are no bounties to what life can give them.

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David Taggart

David Taggert was the third one inducted Thursday. His wife, Ruth, and his son, John, attended the ceremonies Thursday.

Ruth Taggert said she thought her husband would have been excited and very pleased with being named to the Wall of Recognition.

She and her son never lived in Wellington, and they lived in Atlanta, Ga., for the last several years. Even so, she said David enjoyed telling stories about Wellington and about growing up here.

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