Riverside High School - Mercury Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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PERRY S PRAY lull IIIIINII IMIIEBIIMIIGDIRIIAIMI It is not an easy task to pay a fitting tribute to the memory of a departed friend. I respond to this duty today with feelings of prof found regret and sadness. Cn my first day at Riverside, I found a fellow teacher who went out of his way to help me with the many prob.lems of a new teacher. I shall never forget the helping hand extended to me then. In the days that were to follow- I found him a real comrade and there grew a lasting friendship. , Mr. Pray was born on a farm in Fond du Lac County, this state, 49 years ago. He graduated from Fond du Lac High School and then entered Ripon College. At the time of his graduation from this institution, he was awarded special honors for excellence in scholar' ship. After graduation he entered his chosen profession, that of teaching, by serving three years in the schools of Minnesota, He was then called to be head of the department of chemistry in a large vocational school in Memphis, Ten- nessee. Here he likewise remained three years. Then, in 1917, he received the appointment to come to Riverside where he has served so well and so faith' fully these past twenty years. Twentyfsix years a teacher. In such a long'period a teacher comes in contact with many thousand young people in his classes and countless others as friend and councilor. What an opportunity for service and in this case what a splendid influence. I shall not dwell long upon the many fine qualities of the man. You know all as well as I do. As an instructor he was one of the finest, kindly, sympathetic, helpful, with inexhaustible patience. If at times he seemed to be willing to accept only the best that was in a pupil, it was because he felt that course was best for student's future. He was diligent to a fault. One instance comes to my mind. Two years ago the State Conservation Commission instituted a tree planting campaign. It was to be held at the Soldiers' Home. All of the high schools in the city were urged to organize working groups. Mr. Pray, always an ardent advocate of conservaf tion, organized a band of workers, and took them early one Saturday morning to their field of operations. When I chanced to visit them in the late afternoon, I found him in the midst of 40 or '50 workers, shovel in hand. The incident is significant. Here was a teacher engaged and paid to teach biology in the class' room, found many miles away, in the heat of the day, at manual labor. Al- though his health was impaired at that time, he was found where he thought his duty called him. I am satisfied that he paid for his fidelity to duty first with broken health and then with life itself. As a man his habits were most exemplary, his character irreproachable. He was loyal, kind, and altogether lovable. What a pity that such a man should be taken away when only part way across the ocean of life. Perhaps there is some consolation in the thought that a man need not live long in years to live an exceedingly rich life. Though the span may be short it may be full in service. It is not growing like a tree In bulk doth make a man better be, Or standing long an oak, three hundred year To fall a log at last, dry bald sere, In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures, life may perfect be. This trihulf fwas fwriltfn by Mr. Roy M. Lf'-wis, shortly aftfr the fall term had hvgun. I Mas fd?

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