Great Neck North High School - Arista Yearbook (Great Neck, NY)

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FERN HILL By Dylan Thomas Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green, The night above the dingle starry. Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes. And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves Trail with daisies and barley Down the rivers of the windfall light. And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home. In the sun that is young once only, Time let me play and be Golden in the mercy of his means, And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold. And the sabbath rang slowly In the pebbles of the holy streams. All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air And playing, lovely and watery And fire green as grass. And nightly under the simple stars As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away. All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars Flying with the ricks, and the horses Flashing into the dark.

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Dedication In 1946 the Arista staff dedicated the yearbook to Miss Marion O'Connor in recognition of her work as a first- rate teacher of English and enthusiastic director of Junior Players. This year we again dedicate Arista to her in ap- preciation of her thirty-two years of devoted service to Great Neck North. A New Yorker by birth. Miss O’Connor has also lived in the state most of her life. She attended an experimen- tal high school in Albany, where she was taught by students of the New York State College for Teachers. Their influence on her was apparent, for it left little doubt that she, too, would enjoy teaching. As a student at the I 3km nntt v V r itvd.ol ' 71 same college, she specialized in En- glish, library science, drama, and social studies. She continued her edu- cation at Middlebury College where she earned her Masters Degree in En- glish. While there, she met a number of noted American writers including Rob- ert Frost. In 1935, after nine years of teaching experience, she moved to Great Neck. Miss O’Connor has always had a wide range of interests. She enjoys reading all forms of literature—from essays to novels, or from a Shakespeare play to a mystery story. Her second great interest is music. She has combined her love of singing with drama to act in a number of operettas. Currently, she is secretary of the Great Neck Community Concert Association and is an energetic member of her church choir. In the past. Miss O'Connor has been an active mountain climber and horseback rider, as well as an avid world traveler. She has toured extensively. in Europe and has also visited Asia and Hawaii. While in Hawaii, she took time to learn the hula and now enjoys dancing at Class of '67 functions. After retirement, she plans to visit Australia and New Zea- land to enjoy the sheer beauty of the lands. Her only other definite goal for the future is to sleep as late as possi- ble every day. In her forty-one years in the teach- ing profession. Miss O'Connor has never regretted her decision to teach. She believes the role of the teacher is only to guide the student-the student must do the rest. “My greatest thrill is watching a student discover the answer by himself.” She considers herself exacting, but is satisfied when a student works to the best of his abil- ity and takes pride in what he has ac- complished. She feels that the problem with students today is that they are under too much pressure from their parents and the community to do well scholastically. This often creates a situation in which the student is interested in grades rather in knowledge. Our school bids a fond farewell to Miss O'Connor, whose cheery sense of humor and deep concern for students have brightened North Senior for so many years. Teachers and students alike will miss her “Good morning, this morning!”

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And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all Shining, it was Adam and maiden. The sky gathered again And the sun grew round that very day. jgk So it must have been after the birth of the simple light In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm Out of the whinnying green stable On to the fields of praise. And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long In the sun born over and over, I ran my heedless ways. My wishes raced through the house high hay And nothing 1 cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs Before the children green and golden Follow him out of grace. Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand. In the moon that is alw'ays rising. Nor that riding to sleep I should hear him fly wfith the high fields And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land. Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means. Time held me green and dying Though 1 sang in my chains like the sea. Copyright, I960. New Directions. Reprinted With Special Permission New Directions. Inc.