Kent School - Kent Yearbook (Kent, CT)

Page 24 text:

Preview of better things. Call Wally Moody. Joe Bright, and Chriss Clapp made the honor roll consistently, and when a second form record was tied with twelve honor roll students for the year, they were exempted from Study Techniques the next year. Christmas vacation came as a relief, but regretfully it flew by and soon we found ourselves trudging back to face a cold, bleak winter and even bleaker exams in terms of results for most of us. But. as innocents will, we made it through our winter term with just one fall. Spring Term came and students of ancient history turned to mapmaking, while others discovered the significance of an inexhaustible water supply. Luke Ferster discovered and utilized an ultra modern weapon, the boomwad. and stinging reprisals of Oh. fudge! were often heard from his roommate’s bed. Some of the afternoons in the can room were so glorious when a plastic wastebasket full of soggy toilet paper could turn an unsuspecting outsider into a stumbling mass of papier mache. Everyone will certainly remember the highlight of the entire season, the infamous riot of 1956. Confounded by the persistent cries of We want a holiday!” after Sunday night’s meal, we joined in. The riot included two marches on the Rectory which that night had no Rector, an almost-successful attempt to cross Freedom Bridge, the placing of the tennis bleachers on the road leading to the campus thus blocking it off. and one long procession along Route 541 as far as the dike rinks shouting at the top of our lungs current songs of rebellion and revolution, where we were temporarily stopped by the entreaties (or more correctly, orders) of Willy Howard himself. Needless to say. we did not get a holiday, but we did have the privilege of a lecture from the Headmaster on the uselessness of such diversions the following morning. Other incidents to be remembered are the fabulous case of Sweitzer vs. Alford with a full courtroom trial in a history classroom which was settled by Sweitzer breaking down and withdrawing from the courtroom. Officers Skinner. Bright, and Thayer arranged with Messrs. Conover and Tiger at the gates. Smith, our form advisors for our years at Kent, to close the year well. The fact of final exams was softened with the relaxation of a wonderful form picnic in Macedonia Valley, after which we all took off for a well-deserved summer vacation.

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Grasping the fundamentals of study. We learned the ropes on our own. often the hard way. but perhaps the best way. Fake form rank was first recognized in the case of hardened phonies, tagged Kepner and Ferster. who shut up the first south's first bull-sessions, posing as third formers, threatening to sting frightened Dave Fuller and Jim Knapp. Another surprise came in later years when we saw Pookie Delevett for what he really was. rather than boy wonder J. Allen F.' the lad who had glanced once around the room. and. seeing no base plug or wall socket exclaimed. Oh well, now I guess I’ll have to build a dynamo! Since then. A1 has followed the less demanding pursuit of repairing all his furniture in the workshop to sell. Ahlborn gobbling at 50th yr. A star i born. By the time big Mike Harper had instilled in his roommate. Joe Bright, the idea that he was big and strong and handsome and fuzzy and couldn't see how the girls could resist him. George Porter and Porky Alexander had already partitioned their room with chalk lines. Hardly seeing eye to eye then, except when toe to toe. they roomed together five years later. The mighty redhead Chan Kirwin disappeared to the third form to replace Toffler who had disappeared altogether. Larry Hughes and Pete May were weeded from the rest of the class, as were Branny Sweitzer with small size 10's then. Summit's own Smith, and Luke Fouke. elected form officers. It wasn't enough to learn all the team captains. Leigh Faldi shrieked out instructions for cheering and singing. Soon, however. Pete Alford, brother of two old Kenties. began teaching everything he knew about these things and rapidly assumed the position of number-one spirit director. Tatro. Boeing. Licorice.

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THIRD FORM TEAR The fall of 1956 came quite soon, and suddenly we were back at school again, joining in the first undergraduate reunion of the class of 1960. But this time we were a step ahead of the game. We could expect to start putting on weight, for now we were to sit higher at the table, nearer the benevolent table-head, source of all nourishment. We were greeted by a motley group of new faces, about twenty of which were to become tied to us by the everlasting bonds of form unity. As we came to know them, wc showed them the community way of life at Kent. Although Tom Brew and Dave Baiter had run with the foot- Cartographcr Morris ball boys. Pete May was the only one of us to see action. Tim Griggs and Tyler Smith shone for the senior Algos, sporting a speedy backfield. The former, however, got most of his exercise after lights doing many push-ups. and running up and down stairs for the mighty Jeremiah Sullivan, whose wrath he had fired so often. Be- Lime Pits ing in such well-kept shape. Tim saw a moment of glory, dressing for one game, and getting some good rest. Even without our help, though. Buzz and Drax spirited very good undefeated seasons. Camel Dunn was the object of much pity when he broke his pointed beak, and he has been a sad case ever since. Spike Baldwin rivaled Socks White in climbing ability, being able to handle all the school building's vines and gutters. If a strangely squat and hulking figure flung itself from the window sill into the middle of the moonlight in the center of your room, you were at least sure that it was one of the two. Spike was the kind, and the only kind, that would get up at 4:00 on the morning of his most important final exam and go up to the meadow to go fishing. Re-elected officers Sweitzer. Smith, and Skinner called themselves the “S trio arranged a steak banquet to keep our class going through the term.