Clinton Central High School - Clintonian Yearbook (Clinton, NY)

Page 8 text:

IN MEMORY Miss Bessie A. Griffin Miss Griffin will live on forever in our hearts, for we will remember her as a wonderful teacher, a marvelous person, and a friend in our time of need. As a teacher, she gave us excellent ground material in English grammar, read us many thrilling stories, and taught us familiar poems which we will always remember. As a friend, she was concerned with our well-being and ready to help us at any time At the Hamilton College Commencement in 1957, Miss Griffin was awarded an Honorary Degree, Master of Humane Letters. A Hamilton Alumnus and former pupil of Miss Griffin's, Louis N. Brockway, presented her for the degree with the following citation: It is a challenge indeed to cite a daughter of the fomed 'Farmer Orator' of New York's turbulent Barge Canol ero, and to cite one who hos herself spent a lifetime ably teaching effective writing. Much must be said in little space. We foil if we do not re-creote the image of you as a young lady, surely little older than your pupils, first, teaching in the one-room school on the edge of this campus; later, trudging five miles doily to and from elementary classes in the village. We must recall the many days when you were the first to reach the schoolhouse and the last to leave; the many evenings spent directing ploys and counselling your pupils. We must tell of the personal drive behind your preparation to teach in high school, and of your subsequent achievement in giving many generations of young people — among them many who are Hamilton men, including the one who stands beside you now — superb foundation in the English language. But more, we must catch that spark within your personality that mokes it unthinkable that a pupil would ever come before you more than once without having done the best work of which he was capable. It has been said thot os a Clinton teacher with a road named after you, you are unique. Even more certain, indeed, is the uniqueness of your distinguished and unstinting service to this community over half a century. Hamilton College Alumni Review July i 957

Page 10 text:

BOARD OF EDUCATION Seated: Mr. Raymond Miller, Mrs. Frederick Goodwin, Mrs. London Rockwell. Standing: Mr. Jomes Benson, Clerk, Mr. Stanley Germond, Mr. Harry Wadsworth, Dr. James Compson, President. Absent: Mr. Bernard Welch, Mr. R. I. Williams, Clerk.