Natick High School - Sassamon Yearbook (Natick, MA)

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I I I I 'wmv' X, K on his farm. Freemans attorney, Bob johnson, said he'd fight Paul to the bitter end. After a delicious supper we headed for the main door. We brushed by a couple of men with carpet bags, whom we discovered were Albanian immigrants. They were Ralph Vangel and Mitch Carroll. After exchanging greetings, we meandered down the street. We heard the tinkle of a back-room piano, and noticed that it came from beyond the swinging doors of an edifice to our left. We ventured through the afore-mentioned doors and beheld a strange, disorderly sight. Before us was a scene we had seen in many a movie. Looking over the crowd, we noticed that they were all paying close attention to a torrid, love song, being sung by the Tombstone Torch, Ruthie Barber. She was ac- companied by that noted ivory-tickler, jack Green. When the din of applause had died clown, we hailed one of the waiters, George Howard, who showed us to a table. Seated next to us were a group of card players, who were having a wild game of Canasta. They were Roy Carlson, Red Ed Doheny, Dinny Mathews, and Bub Trask. Soon Diamond Gin Morris, the proprietess of this remarkable establishment, wel- comed us and signaled one of the waitresses, Theresa Burbey, to take our orders. In no time she was back with a trayful of glasses. After drinking our sasparilla, we sat back and relaxed, and watched the card game. In a short while a young gypsy, Denise McGrath, came to our table and offered to tell our fortunes. We accepted her offer, and during her prophecy she said that we were in great danger. Giving little heed to this unlikely turn of events, we paid her and sat back to enjoy the oncoming floor show. A three- piece orchestra, led by Pete Nelson at the drums, played the overture, and soon a group of dancing girls appeared on the stage to the accompaniment of thundrous applause. They turned out to be Collette Powers, Joyce Howe, Cynthia Williams, Maddy Garvey, Marilyn Pacifici, and Helen Alcock. They were warmly received by an en- thusiastic audience. 20

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for us to look in at the choir rehearsal at the village church. There we noticed Shirley Kent seated at the organ. Among those in the choir were Barbara Larson, Nancy Abrahams, Lois Capen, and Barbara Cella. Singing a solo was the Wests best soprano, Joyce Jenkins. The Parson then took us into the parish house, where the Ladies, Wednesday After- noon Sewing Circle were having a meeting. Among the ladies present were Evelyn Fitzpatrick, Barbara Fortini, Norma Hewitt, Vonda Mae Havens, janet McKeon, and Franny Mailhoit., We bid adieu to the Parson and his wife and went back onto Main Street. The melancholy sounds of the traveling troubadour, Bob Cochran, greeted us. Suddenly we heard a burst of gunfire. Turning around we saw that it was just Annie Oakley Robinson, practicing her sharpshooting on her chum, Carol Sheehan, who stood fifty feet away with an apple on her head, and hummed the William Tell Overture. Off in the distance we heard someone crying, Hi-yo, Silver!, and shortly afterward Billy the Kid Efthim came riding likity-split through town heading for the Mexican border. Close on his heels rode a masked rider on a great white stallion. His ringing tones told us that it could be none other than our old pal, Deadeye Dick Montvittf' A little later a wagon carrying grey-clad young ladies came into town from the same direction. They turned out to be a group of nurses back from active duty in the nursing corps of the Confederate Army. They were Phyllis Dionne, jean McGowan, Nancy Main, Betty Tetreault, and Antoinette Arthur. They passed us and continued on toward the hotel. We followed them. Reaching Mary's Place, we entered, cleaned up, and went into the dining room for supper. Eating across from us was one of the richest men in town, a real Western aristocrat, the fabulous Paul Beswick. He was chatting with one of the local farmers, Freeman Good. Freeman was pleading with him not to foreclose I9

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just then a commotion at the bar attracted our attention. It seems that some one had had a little too much to drink and was being evicted by the bouncer, joe San Clementi. No sooner had he carried out his duties than Sheriff Will Linane and his deputy, Roland Taylor, came through the swinging doors and announced the capture of the bank robbers. He informed the crowd that they were the same gang which had performed the famous Brink robbery in 1950. Sheriff Will left for the jail and Diamond Gin promptly offered the drinks on the house. Before the drinks could be set up, however, the appearance of three women halted the rush toward the bar. The leader, Ruth Baker, scolded the men for their distasteful be- havior. Agreeing with her were her two associates, Beverly Ross and Sheila Spooner, who then proceeded to break up the bar with hatchets that they carried in their purses. Their performance stunned the crowd who all remained stationary while the three leading members of the Carrie Nation Society carried out their commendable deed. They then quickly filed outside, taking the swinging doors off their hinges as they went. Suddenly the crowd came to life and started to repair the damage. Shortly there- after a trim-clad figure entered the barroom and apprehended us at the point of a 58. It was the notorious Clamity Joan Grover. We decided that she held no particular fondness for us, since she filled the air with a volley of shots. Once again our senses left us. We were engulfed by a purple vapor. Slowly we seemed to sink deeper and deeper into the fog. After a while the mist dissolved and as we recovered consciousness, we realized that we were back in Natick in the year 1960. It had all been a horrible nightmare! i 2 1