Belfast High School - Memoirs Yearbook (Belfast, OH)

Page 27 text:

PROPHECY C lass of 1947-48 Here it is, 1968. Just twenty years since I, Katherine McClure, was graduated with my classmates at Belfast. It really doesn't seem that long and wou1dn't it be wonderful if I could see them all again? My vacation begins tomorrow and what would be a better way of spending it than visiting all my old classmates. I had heard that Lucille West and Jean Warnock had a famous beauty salon on Fifth Avenue, so this was my first stop. I recognized them at once. They really hadn't changed much. As I talked with them I found they had married into very prominent families and the shop was only a hobby. I asked if they knew where any of the others were and they told me Charles Goolsby had married and moved back to West Virginia. I boarded a plane, and within a few hours I was in Huntington, West Virginia. I wired ahead that I was coming, so Charles met me at the airport. Within a few minutes we stopped in front of a neat little farm house. Mary Alice met us at the door and that evening I was served the best chicken dinner l had eaten. As we sat on the porch talking that evening, Charles told me he had seen Hugh Hart just a few days before. I-Ie had learned that Hugh was the head of a fur company in Dayton, Ohio, and that he had built up quite a business. The next morning I left for Dayton, as I had gotten the name andaddressof the company. What surprised look Hugh had on his face as I walked into his office. It was the same old Hugh. He has his feet on his desk and was smoking one of those very expensive cigars. I ask if he had married yet and he said, No, but I haven't given up yet. It certainly was the same old Hugh! He also told me that Ellis West was in Dayton and was coach at one of the larger high schools there. I phoned Ellis that afternoon and found there was to be a basketball game that night so, thinking it would be fun to watch his team play, I went to the game. After the game he and his wife invited me to be guest at their home that night. The next morning they drove me to the bus station where I took a bus to Wilmington. Here I was to visit Clarence Shoemaker, Shug , as we used to call him. Clarence was a professor at Wilmington College. I always had a feeling those grades he made in high school would lead to something. Who do you suppose was with him when he met me? Yes sir, his wife! I knew Clarence would get around to proposing someday. I had a very enjoyable day at their home on the college campus. I asked about Catherine Barney and found she had a beauty shop of her own in Hillsboro. I left Wilmington and reached her shop about five o'clock. She was just r-losing for the day so she invited me to her home, and there I spent an f-njoyublr evening.

Page 29 text:

Prophecy, Class of 1947-48 - Continued. The following morning I left for the home of Mrs. Richard Quickle, better known to me as Alberta Storer. She has two children, a son in college and a daughter yet in high school. Bert has given up the idea of working out and has a nice home and fa.mily which keeps her busy. After leaving Alberta's home I went uptown to buy a Hillsboro paper. In the Belfast news I read that Anna Lou Myers had been back in Ohio visiting her fa.mily. It seems that after graduation she had married an ex-sailor from New Jersey, and had been living there since that time. I was sorry that I had not arrived in Hillsboro sooner because she had just left a few days before. As I was on my way to the train station in Hillsboro, I recognized another from my class. It was Ed Palmer, and as I talked with him, I found that he was running his own farm near Belfast. I was sorry that he did not have his family with him but as I was leaving on the train for Middletown in a few minutes I did not have tirne to visit his home. I inquired about Robert Ernst and was told that he was employed with the Hillsboro Transportation Company. He had obtained a very high position with the company and traveled extensively throughout the United States. Ed had seen him quite often when he was back in Hillsboro on business. After talking awhile I hurried on to the train station. My next stop was to be Middletown where'I had learned Jack Roberson had a large electrical shop of his own. After spending a few hours with Jack and his wife they offered to fly me to Cincinnati in their private helicopter. There I was going to catch a plane for Chicago, where I was going to visit Elma Lois and Gerald Newman: As we neared the edge of the city I noticed a large, outstanding building, which, I ack informed me, was owned by our old classmate, Charles Jackson. He also told me that it was one of the better known filling stations in Cincinnati. When I reached the Chicago airport, I phoned Susie and Gerald and asked them to meet me there. It wasn't long until we were comfortably settled in their modern apartment near the Great Lakes Naval Station. They now have three children, all of which are still in their teens. Since graduation from high school, Gerald has been in the Navy and just a few months ago, received his commission of Lieutenant. Leaving Chicago, I went back to my home and fa.mily in New York. I had lived there since I left Wilmington College, where I had received my training as an elementary teacher. I was now teaching at the Eaton Elementary School in New York City. The day I arrived home concluded the most treasured vacation since my school days at Belfast. Katherine McClure