Plainfield High School - Plainsman Yearbook (Plainfield, IL)

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Behind the Scenes Stage Hands Left to Right: Lewis Fisher, Walter Russell, Robert Needham, chief engineer; George Fisher, Roy Pennington Howard Russell. Not Pictured: Stanley Carlton. Chauffeurs Left to Right: George Fisher, Floyd Hensel, William Zimmerman, Roy Sebhy, Eugene Rossmiller, Ted Gans, Loui Booth, Charles Bonifas. 21

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Class History-1963 By Ruth Ann Burke and Stephen Kent “All the world’s a stage” including the Plainfield schools, where on September 4, 1951, seventy-one six-year-olds made their debut. Twenty-five of these first graders will be on stage for the last curtain call. The grade school days were the first act in the drama of our education. The second act, still fresh in our memories, was junior high. Along with “Readin’, Ritin’, and Rithmetic,” two years of basketball, band, home economics, and shop were climaxed with the presentation of our certificates of promotion. We were then ready for the third act of “Our Plainfield Education.” Quiet and uncertain during those first high school days, we soon adjusted to the new setting and plunged wholeheartedly into high school life. We selected as our directors for that first scene: President. Steven Bronk; Vice-President, David Harsh- barger; Secretary, Patricia Flagg; and Treasurer, Gail Eaton. Soon it was Home- coming time. All through grade school we had memories of Homecoming, but the one our freshman year was special. This year the float would really be our own work and we could take part in the other festivities. A separate frosh-soph cheerleading squad was inaugurated that year. In those days before the completion of the high school gym, games were played at Central School. The boys can remember playing basketball among the pipes in the basement, while the girls played games such as Poor Pussy and “If You Love Me Honey Smile” in P.E. classes. The scene was shorter than we had anticipated and suddenly we were sophomores. We returned with the confidence of a year’s experience and the knowledge that we were no longer the “newcomers.” Already the cry for making money was heard. Often after games and other social functions the hard-working sophomore was seen counting and sorting coat-check tags. Directors for scene two were Steven Bronk, David Harshbarger, George Jones, and Gail Eaton. e opened scene three as upper classmen. Our leading lady was President, Mary Peterson, with Richard Jewett, Ruth Ann Burke, and Ronnie Evans in supporting roles. The “Movers” were on the move. Hawking pennants, washing cars, vending coke and candy, and selling lavatory passes and elevator keys to the so-called gullible freshmen were among our many money-raising schemes. Despite a sudsing stream and a sinking ceiling, our prom, “Neptune’s Palace,” was a big success—the highlight of our junior year. On November 10, we presented Jesse Stuart’s biographical sketch, “The Thread That Runs So True,” and later that year the “Movers” played a large part in the success of the musical comedy “Oklahoma.” Daniel Bosse, Larry Kinley, Sue Sauvageau, and Ronnie Evans starred our senior year. Homecoming came quickly. Mary Ann Mutz reigned as queen and Patricia Flagg served as attendant. We won the distinction of being the class never to win first prize for a float. Though the senior boys produced “Carmen,” the tragic farce, the last test of our dramatic ability came in the senior production “The Mouse That Roared.” On June 3, 1963, the curtain fell, but a new curtain opened, revealing a new stage of life lying before us.