Sumner High School - Echo Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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CLASS HISTORY 1 We , the Seniors of ’48, have among our ' souvenirs some treasured remembrances that mean more to us than could pos¬ sibly be expressed in these few lines of history. But for the benefit of refreshing our memory, I will recall a few of the most outstanding ones. I can never forget the year 1936, on a much dreaded but beautiful morn, when the parents of the now Senior Class trudged the weary way to Sumner School. I recall particular¬ ly Mrs. W. A. Short and Mrs. M. R. Perdue leading two very sad looking little girls with corkscrew curls. Their mothers signed the names on the roll as Emma and Edna. From the way things stand today, maybe each of us would have been better off if we had worried a little more. What happened to these two cry babies 77 ? Two honor roll students and even more than that the two most-outstanding members of our class tonight, scholastically speaking. It wasn’t long before these students who entered the first grade in 1936 were in the Grammar Grades. Several of us who didn’t begin our school days by crying were added to the honor roll. During our grammar school days we had both happiness and disappointments. Our play periods helped in our entertainment program; such things as the loss of our gymnasium served as disappointments. These things will re¬ main with us forever. It was in September, 1944, when the long awaited day of our entrance into high school came. There were about fifty of us demure Grammar Grade Graduates who were making our in¬ itial step into high school. Now we were in the building where the students changed classes every forty-five minutes and where we had different teachers for different subjects. That was truly a change? This year the girls had an oppor¬ tunity to learn to cook and sew. You bet we really liked the cooking part; but when it came to ripping out seams, that’s quite a different story. The boys learned all about raising poultry. At least that’s what they say, I must not forget to mention the fact that we did have some difficulty getting our courses straightened out. Up to this point dur¬ ing our school days, we were taught certain subjects regard¬ less. But now some of the boys decided to study history in¬ stead of agriculture. To© we had to learn the rooms in which to go. Upperclassmen as well as members of the facul¬ ty were very helpful and sympathetic. During this year Irene Gray, the quiet T conservative type, found a way to keep from walking to the Home Economics Building. She was hit by a car and knocked over there. We had several ups and downs during this school year, and I must admit that we were +£ : i

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happy to see vacation time come. We Freshmen had undergone quite a change when we re¬ turned to Sumner as Sophomores. At least we couldn’t be called ’’Little Green Freshmen”. And as members of the fac¬ ulty would say, ”We had been toned down a bit”. As you might guess, some of our number did not return to the class¬ room this fall. This time we were all in one room. No long¬ er did we have to go around asking in whose home room it had fallen our lot to be. Mrs. Edgar Murrow took care of all of us. We will admit it was a tremendous task. This year we were fortunate to have a teacher whose husband knew all the answers in case she didn’t. All she had to do was to ask her Edgar. Something else comes to my mind about this year. Louise Atkins kept all the other girls heartbroken because she got all the dates. Dicky Mooney was right with Louise on that matter too. Dicky had excuses even then for his low scholastic grades. He never had time to get his homework. As time rolled on, it wasn’t very long until we became Juniors of Sumner High School. We began by electing Gladys Perdue as president of our class. She held a responsible po¬ sition, because this year brought the selection of our class rings. Too, as has been the custom, it was our job to give the Seniors a banquet. It was a difficult task for our small class, grown to be 18 in actual figures, to give such a large Senior Class, 36 , a banquet. Nevertheless, with Mrs. York’s able assistance, we did it. It took place at the Masonic Temple on April 11, with none other than Bill Lewis as our host for the occasion. He certainly did a swell job of it. April seemed to be an important month for us, because we re¬ ceived our rings at last in this month. Our grademothers, Mrs. W. A. Short and Mrs. C. W. Lewis gave us a picnic at the close of the year. This was really a pleasant send-off to our vacation. With vacation soon over, we reluctantly returned to the classroom for one more year, possibly our most decisive one. Class officers elected for this year were Marcus Short as president, Charles Austin as vice-president, and Emma Short as the money-handler. They have really had plenty to do. It seems Seniors have so many business matters to look after. Not only has Marcus been president of such an extraordinarily small Senior Class, but he has also served the school in the capacity of president of the Student Council. Serving hasn’t proved to be all responsibility, for by so doing, he too has received honors. Marcus was elected winner of the Civitan Award, given by the Civitan Club of Greensboro. Members of our class have gone out for sports throughout their high school career. Active participants this year have been Bill Lewis., Charles Austin, Wayne Hall, Leonard Farlow, Sidney Pope, Marcus Short, and Emma Short, while Delores Cain and Louise Atkins served as Cheerleaders, Since I am discussing