Western Maryland College - Aloha Yearbook (Westminster, MD)

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Joseph Drugash President Gwendolyn Heemann VicefPrcsident Charles Trader Secretary , Marjorie Mclienney Treasurer 4 6 Rebecca Keith Historian Emil Edmond SergeantfalfArms It was a darkfrobed procession that filed into Alumni Hall-gay and yet serious, tense with excitement and yet dignified in bearing. The class of '39 was about to be graduated. Each face told a different storyg each personality had been altered by four years on College Hill. And yet the faces moved together- forward together. They had begun as a different procession in l935-a slowfmoving file of freshmen at the registrar's window. The faces there told stories too: some were happy, others sad g some were confident, others shy. All were tense with a genuine faith in things to come . . . but they were slow-moving. The procession moved on as lines of rats prayed for rain beneath dormitory windows and as freshman girls chainfdanced through the dining hall. The parade Eighlccn

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'A' TIIE LIBRARY

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N ineleen went into pep meetings and out, into classrooms and out again-a procession slowly moving toward the end of that first year. And then when the end came, the seniors taught what the lantern chain meant-what it meant to see a procession come over the hill at night with lanterns carefully shielded against a strong wind. And the procession stopped a while to see the darkfrobed seniors file into Alumni Hall to be graduated. It stopped for a moment to see and wonder. H ln the fall, the group was in formation again-smaller in size but gayer in spirits. The goosefstep became exceedingly popular. It found a place in fresh' man initiationg it found a place in the victory parade after the Maryland game and even became popular on the campus. ln and out of classes the goosefsteppers went until they reached the old gymnasium . . . and sophomore comprehensives. lnto the junior year the procession marched, carrying with it little sisters and little brothers. There were laughter in the ranks and some cavorting, but the goosefstep had been laid aside for a more natural pace. Into the football stadium the procession went: into the teams, into the bandg into campus life it went-always marching. And then having settled to a steady pace, it faced its last year. lts members began to turn and look back wistfully at the things they passed, saying, That's the last time. They marched from pep meetings for the last timeg they played their last games. ln the early morning they marched together carolling, feeling the beauty of candles in a window, knowing the comradeship of singing and marching together. Into the last semester they went, first looking behind and then ahead. The caps and gowns brought a new bond of fellowshipg the seniors marched shoulder to shoulder . . . steadily . . . earnestly. Through May Day and into the lantern chain they went, watching freshmen carry lanterns carefully guarded against the wind. Some went out, but the others went on, waiting to be shown what it all meant. The seniors tried to show them . . . from the steps of Blanche Ward they sang their farewell . . . and then came graduation. A darkfrobed procession filed into Alumni Hall. Its pace was steady and yet the faces were tense with excitement. Up the steps and down the aisle it went. The procession was marching toward the end. Each hand reached for a diploma Hin each hand were four years, and in each face were the results. The class of '39 had marched together for the last time, but the echo of those marching feet went on.