Beaufort High School - Mainsail Yearbook (Beaufort, NC)

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Prophecy Since this was my first return to Beaufort after departing for Europe several days after graduation, I was eager to hear some news about my dear classmates of B.H.S. I remembered the local hangout” in 53 was Guthrie-Jones’ Drugstore. Hoping to meet someone I knew, I went there. I found out that Guthrie and Jones had sold out to Carol Jones and Ann Noe. I found Carol not too busy and she passed on to me the news of my former classmates. Corrine Scurlock was teaching dramatics at the new high school at Bogue Sound. Thelma Darling was married to James Taylor and was settled down in the new housing project, designed by Gordon Davis. Gordon, a well known contractor, also had a well known assistant, Bobby Smith. Carol told me that Phyllis Piner and Jean Taylor were heads of a fleet of crabbing boats on Neu e River. Lola Pratt had gone west to seek her fortune, had met up with Jackie Simpson, and together they were running a cucumber farm in Arizona. Billy Eudy was manager of the baseball team at Crab Point. It surprised me to learn that Jimmy Modlin was an evangelist preaching to thousands as he traveled up and down the country, accompanied by Beulah Eubanks, who is his piahist. Frank Gillikin was running the Carolina Hayride over WMBL. He also read the funnies on Sunday. Wallace Connor was head football coach at Notre Dame. He took the position after Roy Clemmens resigned to help Andy Mason hunt for gold in the Sahara Desert. Kay Lewis and Vickie Taylor went along to hold the camels while they looked. Ann Owens, Carol informed me, was starring in pictures out in Hollywood, billed as the new Marilyn Monroe. Bitsy Brooks and Ronnie Quidley had become well known as the star trapeze performers in Ringling Brothers Circus. Nellie Ward was also employed with Ringling Brothers as the sword swallower. Margaret Bryant and Christine Dunn were in Paris designing and modeling the latest fashions. Ted Spivey had just accepted the position as warden of Sing-Sing. The prison doctor was John- ny Betts. It was easy to imagine him scampering about here and there, all over Sing-Sing. Barbara Mc- Kay had moved to New York City, taking along her set of twins and triplets. Virginia Hill and Joan Gar- ner were missionaries in the dark continent of Africa. Joan Chipman, a noted scientist, went along with them to search for some rare gnats. Lewis Woodard and B. G. O’Neal were playing professional football in their spare time. They kept the children and house while their wives worked. Minnie Pake was a star of the Women Globe Trotters, a professional basketball team. Carol told me that the latest news was that William Longest was collector for the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Raleigh. It was rumored that he was after Clyde Bell for tax evasion. Fay Merrill was secretary to MoreheadCity’s mayor, Johnny Olund. Edwin Becton was busy touring the country with his famed trumpet and singer, Julia Kelly. Molly Hopkins was the new drivers license examiner in Beaufort. Her first act had been to move the parallel parking posts in front of the court house farther apart. Patsy Becton and Verna Carraway were co-owners of the Beaufort Cannery. Patsy Sadler and Jackie Dickinson had married army boys and were busy rushing from camp to camp with their brood of children. Gus Farlow was the chief justice of the Supreme Court in Washington. He had recently handed down several important decisions, Carol informed me. Joyce Mer- rill was taking pictures everywhere as she had bought out Eubanks and Shumacker. Elizabeth Woodard was head nurse at Morehead City Hospital. She came home with Peggy Dixon on weekends. Peggy worked with the welfare agency there. I really felt wonderful when I left the drugstore and started home. In ten short years, the class of '53 had really come a long way. I felt proud of their accomplishments. Some of the news, however, came as a complete surprise. Wilma Jean Woodard Prophet