Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 8 text:

I 7a Um On Wednesday morning, February 21, the faculty and pupils of Central High School were shocked and grieved to learn of the death of Miss Laura Thomure. She had seemed to have so firm a hold on life and health that for the moment we were all stunned and incredulous. Until her last ill- ness Miss Thomure had not been absent one day in the sixteen years of her teaching at Central. In fact, the records may show that she had not been absent in twenty-eight years of service. ' Miss Thomure was born in Festus, Missouri. the youngest of a large family. She is sur- vived by two brothers, Joseph Thomure, of MISS LAURA R. THOMURE Deceased February 21, 1945 St. Louis, with whom she made her home, and Dennis Thomure, of Chicago. After graduation from the Central I-ligh School in St. Louis, she attended the Uni- versity of Chicago, receiving the Bachelor and the Master degrees. The research shown in her thesis, School Publications, earned hon- orable mention, and brought numerous re- quests for permission to publish parts of it. She began her teaching career in St. Louis at the Columbia School in the days when Mr. Howard was principal and when school men of the country beat a path to its door. Miss Thomure was a leader among those

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I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Printed by Wiese Printing Co. 1 Bound by Beck- told Co, 1 Engravings by Central Engraving Co., under the management of Mr. Harry J. Swain, Jr. 1 Group photographs by Mr. J. G. Princell 1 Cover design by TX5 Siegfried G. Reinhardt, Central, '44, I I I THE RED AND BLACK Senior Annual 1945 VOLUME XXVIII Enriched by the pastg Dedicated to the Future.

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I I I who revolutionized the teaching of English in St. Louis. When the Junior High School opened, Miss Thomure was one of the first asked to be a member of the faculty. Adaptable to change and alert to new ideas, she was one of the outstanding teachers of the Blewett. She was in charge of the Year Book during the ten years of 'her service at Blewett. The l922 issue was used as a model school publication at Columbia University that same summer. Later Miss Thomure was transferred to the Central High School, where her service was conspicuous for school spirit and loyalty. She was sponsor for the Athenaeum. At all open nights this club had something superior to show: but in no case was the sponsor in the foreground. Miss Thomure never missed a graduation exercise. Considering all Centralites real friends, she said she would not lose an opportunity of seeing the old grads. I have, she said, helped them as best I could: and when I see them and talk with them I feel that I have not labored in vain. At the time of her death she was busy preparing this year's edition of THE RED AND BLACK. In discussing Miss Thomure, one of the faculty of Blewett offered this comment: She made an impression of calm and mod- eration. Association and especially friendship with her deepened and broadened this impres- sion. This calm and moderation were not the marks of indifference or egoism but the fruit of experience and culture warmed by a native kindliness. One feels somewhat disloyal in discussing the successes of Laura Thomure who was herself so modest and so reticent about them. So great was her repugnance to self-praise that even a close friend venturing to tell something that savored of self-adulation would laughingly anticipate the shrug of shoulders that was sure to mark Miss Tho- mure's mild disapproval. This tribute has been prepared to the mem- ory of one who was a counselor, a good comrade, a friend, and a guide. In this world all things must end, and so the mortal life of our friend, Laura Thomure. The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God: in the sight of the unwise they seem lo die, but they are in peace.