Bedford High School - Echo Yearbook (Bedford, PA)

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Last Will aml Testament things lavishly thrown away because we can no longer keep them, but as valuable assets to those who may receive them, and a continual reminder of the generosity of heart displayed in our free and full bestowal: lst. I, Mary Babb Venable, bequeath to Linda Boyer my musical talent. Zd. I, Jack Johnson, bequeath my vast knowledge of trigonometry to Glen Padgett. 3rd. I, Clyde Burford, bequeath to Curtis Merritt my ability to get along with the girls. 4th. I, Betty Reid, bequeath to Betty Ray Lazenby my title as the biggest flirt which was willed to me by the Class of '55. 5th. I, jack Teass, bequeath my title as the biggest nut to Eugene Rider. 6th. I, Nancy Lee Fizer, bequeath my seat in Miss Boan's fourth year Latin Class to Page Burnette. 7th. I, Ronald Beck, bequeath to Frank Dooley all my why's. Sth. I, Barbara Over- street, bequeath my quiet ways to Anne Denton. 9th, I, Lynwood DeWitt, bequeath my ability to strum the guitar to Ray Overstreet. Last comes the one thing hard for us to part with. To our successors we must leave our places in the hearts and thoughts of our Principal and teachers. They will love them, unworthy as we feel they are, even as they have loved usg they will show them all the same tender kindness and attention that they have bestowed upon usg they will feel the same interest in their attempts and successes, the same sorrow when they fail. We trust that the Class of 1955 will appreciate all this as deeply as we have done, that it may be their most precious possession, as it has been ours, and the one we are most loath to hand over to them. And we do hereby constitute and appoint the said Principal, Mr. J. L. Borden, sole executor of this our last will and testament. In witness whereof, We, The Class of 1954, the testators, have to this, our will, written on one sheet of parchment, set our hand and seal this fourth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-four. ' Testator TOMMY HOLDREN Class Song I. II. School days, school days, School days, school days, We are thru now. We'll go our own way, There were twelve years awaiting The friends we left that parting day, Till our graduation day. Were friends we'll never forget. Bedford Hi we're leaving, Bedford Hi we're leaving, Mem'ries will linger on Mem'ries will linger on, When we think of the fun we had, Happy and fun loving We'll think of B. H. S. Is the Class of '54 I rr Memoriam WILLIAM A. BANDY September 12, 1935-December 29, 1949 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. if 18 Es-

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Last Will and Testament LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TEACHERS AND FRIENDS Upon behalf of my client, the Class of 1954, of Bedford High School, of the City of Bedford, State of Virginia, United States of America, I have called you together upon this solemn and serious occasion, to listen to her last will and testament, and to receive from her dying hand the few gifts she has to bestow in her last moments. Cutting so rapidly loose from life, and owing to the flighty condition of her brain, and the unusual disturbance in its gray matter, she begs me to state for her that she may quite possibly have been mistaken in her inventory of giftsg but such things as she thinks she has, she hereby gives into your possession, praying that you will accept them as a sacred trust from one who has gone before. Listen, then, one and all, while I read the docu- ment, as duly drawn up and sworn to: we, the cfass of 1954, in rhiffyaine individual and distinct parts, being about to pass out of this sphere of education in full possession of a crammed mind, well-trained memory, and almost superhuman understanding, do make and publish this, our last will and testament, hereby revoking and making void all former wills or promises by us at any time hereto- fore made, or carelessly spoken, one to the other as the thoughtless wish of an idle hour. And First, we do direct that our funeral services shall be conducted by our friends and well-wishers, our principal and his all-wise and ever-competent faculty, who have been our guardians for so long, only asking, as the last injunction of the dying, that the funeral be carried on with all the dignity and pomp that our worth, our merit, our attainments, and our positions as Seniors of grave and reverend mien must certainly have deserved. And First, we do direct that our funeral services our own strong hands and brains to win for us, we do dispose of the same as follows: ITEM : We give and bequeath to the dear faculty, who have our instructors in all the wisdom of the ages, a sweet and unbroken succession of restful nights and peaceful dreams. We, also, give to our beloved faculty all the amazing knowledge and startling infor- mation that we have furnished them from time to time in our various examination papers. We know tht much which we have imparted to them in this way must have been entirely new to them, as well as to all teachers and students everywhere, and would throw much new light on many a familiar line of thought, throughout the whole world of science and learning, even outside the halls and walls of Bedford High School. If the faculty see fit, they are hereby authorized to give out such of this information to the world as they may feel the world is ready to receive. It has been a hard strain on them, for seniors are said to be at all times and under all conditions difficult to manage. But they have all done their duty, and now shall they have their well earned reward. ITEM : We give and bequeath to our beloved Principal, Mr. J. L. Borden, our sincere affection, our deepest reverence, our heartiest gratitude, and the whole un- limited wealth of our eternal memory. In an attempt at partial payment for all that he has done for us during our long years at Bedford High School, we make over to him, here and now, a heavy mortgage on our future in the Great Unknown beyond. ITEM : We give and bequeath to the school a student body, which will appreciate, uphold, and promote the high standards of sportsmanship, scholarship, and citizenship which have been maintained by the school in the past years. ITEM: We give and bequeath to the juniors our seats in the classroom and in Assembly. We likewise leave them the balance of our senior treasury to buy rain- coats and overshoes for their senior trip. Moreover, any stubs of pencils, erasers or scraps of paper that we may leave behind us in the excitement and haste of gathering up our cherished treasures for the last time. May they feel free to make use of them, and in some mystic way, impart some of our great knowledge to them. ITEM : To our home room teachers, Mrs. Thaxton and Miss Bibb, we give and bequeath the profound admiration and ever-enduring friendship of the Class of 1954, in individual as well as collective mani- festation. ITEM: The following may seem but trifling bequests, but we hope they may be accepted, not as worthless -tl 1713+

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Class Prophecy All aboard, all aboard, called Captain Maxwell. As I entered the space ship for the trip, there it was, the Class of 54, my classmates. Gee, time flies, it seems only yesterday that we attended parties and took our final exams, and there before me sat former Bedford High School Seniors who were now famous in their chosen vocations. Oh, you want to know where we were going? We were going To The Stars Through Difficulty. We knew that it was to be a long trip, with the moon as our first stop. Four weeks and ten days we were on the ship together, and I learned many facts about these people. The Hrst person I got to talk to was none other than the world's second Sister Kenney, Betty jo, now an expert in administering therapeutic treatments to polio victims. Sylvia Albert, also a nurse and a prominent farmer's wife, was an assistant to Dr. Cauthorn Walker, noted Osteopath. Our hostess, Betty Lee Howard Maxwell, a gradu- ate of Virginia Baptist Hospital, worked constantly to make each passenger comfortable. Fate is peculiar, for who else would be in the next seat but Muscular Casey! He was not Gagne's manager, as everyone had expected, but the wrestling champion himself and Gagne was his manager. For days we traveled through space, and it wasn't long before everyone felt at home with each other, just as we did twenty years ago. jack Johnson and Arlene Overstreet, commercial artists at Piedmont Label, were continually inquiring of everyone if their work had been recognized. Our Harvard professor, Harriet Hylton, now con- sidered English an obsolete language and spoke nothing but Latin. No one understood her, but she looked intelligent. . just as everyone began to relax and sleep for the first time in days, what would happen but for Mary Babb Venable Markham, now a well-known Metro- politan Opera star, to burst into song, reminding all of our senior trip to New York. Finally, Shirley Michaels was married to a state trooper, which one, no one knows. She was constantly reminding the captain that he was exceeding all speed laws, that is, to her way of thinking. Pat Patterson contributed very little to the conver- sation of the group because his architectural mind ,ff busy designing a tent in case of an emergency. H5 young man had gone, for he, above all others had been chosen to build a house for Miss Hylton's skunk, Caesar. Verna Wells Chryssikos, a graduate from Catawba, was taking a well-deserved vacation from her husband, Lewis, and their six little Lewises. Charles Goodman was still using his physics and engineering to design a device that would catch a certain little nurse. Gibo Luck, still with the romantic urge and un- hitched, was the most thrilled of all over the trip be- cause of his search for some ideas for his next movie. Ronald Beck, still confused about the real value of his B. S. degree from V. P. I., was hopeful that the moon or Sirus would provide the opportunity for him to be recognized as the only educated bum on the surface of some earth. Lois Holdren, a returned missionary from India, administered to the spiritual needs of all passengers. To everyone's astonishment, Lois was carrying Mrs. Thaxton's acid-eaten purse. Smith Fariss, a prosperous farmer, brought along some carrots enriched with vitamin Q, the newest discovery in the vitamin world, made by June Dooley while doing research work for Drs. Tom and Eileen Jennings. Laura Holland Farris, a competent secretary to the president, was keeping a full account of the trip by method of her shorter short hand. Bennie Herman Coleman, now coach at Bedford High, and Bill Daniels, Bridgewatet's head coach, were busy exchanging ideas for some new football plays. The internationally famous car racing promoter, Bill Bower, had squeezed in time for this trip in order to get some tips about car racing from the in- habitants of Sims, if there are any! -1lil19f2+