Banning High School - San Gorgonian Yearbook (Banning, CA)

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The class of ’07 was graduated in spite of the fact that the last few weeks of the term were spent by the pupils in church buildings instead of a real school house. Dur- ing the summer a new building, the one now used as the Central grammar school, was started. The classes of 08, ’09, 10 ,11, 12, 713 and ’14 were graduated from this school, adding a total number of thirty-five to the list of eraduates. It is, of course, impossible to give in a short space a complete history of the classes, or to speak of each and every one of the fine men and women who have made up the faculty during the years since ’99 in the high school. There have been sixty-eight graduates from Banning High School in the sixteen classes. It is a noteworthy fact that almost every one has pursued a course of higher education at some normal school, college or university. There are representatives of the B. H. 8. alumni in prac- tically every profession, and each one is ‘making good.’’ Since the erection and occupation of the splendid Union High School building this year, another era has com- menced for the B. H. S. On the cornerstone of the edifice appear the names of the trustees who were in office when it was planned and built. Among these are the names of Sue Bird Coombs, B. H. 8., 99, and Mr. C. A. Reid, who was a member of the school board even before the first class was graduated. Mr. Reid’s record of twenty-one years of continuous service to the community as a member of the board of trustees is not only an enviable one, but one which very few persons in the state can equal. JESSICA BIRD, 704. hh he

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tire community. He was drowned in the lake on the uni- versity campus. This is the first and only break in the rank of graduates from the Banning High School. In 1991 Laura Reid (Mrs. A. B. Handshy) and Frances King (Mrs. Tom Hannay) were given diplomas. Mrs. Hannay is a missionary in British East Africa and is the only one of the alumni now in a foreign country. She is at present superintendent of the mission school at Kijabe, and is translating two text books into the Kikuyu dialect for the use of her pupils. In 1902 there were three graduates, including Hattie Richards, Madge King (Mrs. Norman L. Prince) and Martha Morris (Mrs. Robert King). This was the last class to graduate from the old building. In the fall of that year a new school building was erected, on the site of the present Central grammar school. To the class of 1903 went the honor of being the first class to graduate from the new building. In 1904 a class of eight was graduated. Strangely enough, this class, which was the largest to leave the school up to that time, has only been equaled once in numbers. The 1910 class also had eight members. The old saying of ‘‘quality rather than quantity’’ seems to apply to the B. H. 8. The classes of 705 and ’06 were sent out into the world without undue excitement, although it is interesting to note that the first class was made up of one girl and five boys, while ’06 reversed the plan with one boy and four girls. Tn the spring of 1907 the school house was burned to the ground. Banningites will not soon forget that occurrence, nor the sound of the school bell as it rang its own knell in the flames. By the way, that was the last school bell Banning had. Prior to the burning of the building, chil- dren in this community had been called to their studies by a bell; but with the rebuilding came modern methods and the elimination of the school bell. —20—

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A Trip to the Mountains T was with joyful spirits and high anticipations that I we boys left the little town for our first experience in the snow-covered mountains. Little did we realize what was really before us, and how our tense interest was to become keen enjoyment. The morning was beautful and warm, the sun was shining bright. Everything gave promise of an ideal day. After having ridden for several miles, we strapped our packs on each other and started to walk up the can- yon, planning that our first stop would be at Camp Comfort. We hiked along in good time, and having reached the camp, sat down to rest. From that camp to the next was a more laborious journey than the preced- ing one, being in snow which covered the road. After this tramp of five or six miles, we were nearly exhausted when we reached the camp. The name Big Oaks gives one a good idea of the place, which is filled with large spreading oak trees and low creeping bushes, half buried in snow at this season of the year. In the center of the camp is a small tent house, which seemed rather out of place at the time we were there. After resting for a while beneath the big oak trees, we started up the steep and snow-laden trail of Burnt Canyon, which is very narrow and steep, and full of brush, thus making it a long, difficult, wearisome journey. Tediously we cut our way through the snow, and slowly advanced up the trail to the summit. The sun was getting low in the west and was casting its shadows in the valleys of Perris and Elsinore. Every- thing was dark and dull except the tip of the snow- capped San Jacinto, from which the light of the sun had not yet faded. In the west was one of the grandest sunsets that we had ever seen. The whole sky became a sea of color and fire; every dark part was turned into bright hues and on the silent clouds were reflected bril- liant tints of crimson and purple, while the deep blue of in