Alexander Park High School - The National Yearbook (Portsmouth, VA)

Page 74 text:

THE 1945 A SENIOR REMINISCES On January 4, 1943, my mother received a handbill saying, “Send your child to school.” The next day I went down to 620 Cavalier Boulevard to register. This was the beginning of our great school in Alexander I’ark. At the end of the first week, the registration showed 342 pupils and 14 teachers. Our school was not in the present building you now see, it was. as some of you will remember, in a group of houses in the 600 block of Cavalier Boulevard. First there was no separation of grades. However, after a few weeks there was such an increase of lower grade students that they had to move the high school across the street. They say that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention,” and it surely is! You see, there was no way of installing an electric bell system, so we did the next best thing. At the end of every period. Watt Seawell walked up and down the street ringing a “Cow Bell” to let the teachers and students know that it was time to leave. Ah, yes, that was a joyful year! We were a hardy lot running through the snow, sleet, rain and mud to change classes. And woe was the pupil that came too early, for he was the unlucky one who went out in the rain and snow to get coal to warm the room for the rest of us. One morning, it was raining, and when it rains in Virginia — well, here we were, the merry three, on our grumbling way to school, when all of a sudden we saw a pitiful sight. There was a sch(X)lmate of ours stuck in the mud — and I mean STUCK!!! One foot was in up to the knee. Pull! Heave! Ho! Ah, it finally came out, but minus the shoe. Since shoes are rationed, down we went in the mud looking for it. Onward to school ! We arrived bright and early — 9 :30. Oh, yes, we got excused. For you see, dear students, those were the kind of excuses that were legitimate in those days. (Lucky us!) How well that first winter sticks in my mind ! To learn how to regulate those stoves took almost until Spring. At first, the house was always buried in soot. It got to such a condition, that we started calling it “Little Pittsburgh.” Then we passed through the time which my family called “The ice age.” The stove just refused to heat. How about the night when your father was on night shift? You lay curled up in bed and wondered what was going to happen next. You looked at the inky black mess outside I there were no street lights then). Then you turned and tried to penetrate the pitch blackness of your romn. All of a sudden, a sound ! You lie in bed and shiver a while, until you hear your mother’s shaky voice, “Go see who is in the kitchen !” You feel for the flashlight on the dresser and then creep into the living room and then the kitchen to find the cause of the noise. But it is nothing. In a daze, you fall on your pillow and go to sleep. Ah, yes, those were the days when Mounted Police roamed the wilds of the “Park.” Some of them guarded the entrance to the Park and also the entrance to the school block. Boy, they impressed me ! I wasn’t the only one impressed, though, they had a regular following. Small boys were tagging along everywhere. They were pretty smart also. A group of us found that out after a few futile attempts to play “hooky.” That winter, a group of students from the Senior and Juni or Homerooms organized the Victory Co-eds. This group sponsored many dances and parties to which the high school pupils were invited. (Continued on page 70)

Page 73 text:

1. What again? 2. Athletes? 3. Coach Byrd. 4. Just loafing around. 5. Ditto! 6. Basketball player.s — sometimes! 7. What tooth paste are you advertising? 8. Majorette. 9. Our Dieticians. 10. Faculty. 11. What are you doing here, Heloise? 12. Tapeworm Joe. 13. Trailer Camp.

Page 75 text:

1. School is out! 2. Is that so, W’hitie? 3. W’oikiiig goils? 4. Cioiiig our way? 5. ()r ille Wright II. (). 1 )ottie. 7. Please come down. S. Frcshies. 9. Our pride and joy, U). The Editor himself. 11. Just playing around. 12. Glamour Gals. 13. Sophomore pals. 14. Midget. 16. London Bridge. 17. Sisters. 18. Pals.