Belmont Hill School - Belmont Hill School Yearbook (Belmont, MA)

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The Sixth Form Histor With this, our Form history, we hope to keep vividly alive some of the reminiscences of our years at Belmont Hill. The history of our Form begins on an au- tumn day in 1942 when Leigh Quinn and Andy Casner entered the Lower School as members of Class C. This was a memorable year, with the introduction of the Low Bridge Club in Mr. Densmore's cellar and the current fads of yo-yo's and marbles. It was that year of 1942- 43 that the Lower School Commandos spent their afternoons charging over the obstacle course. The rainy day readings also became famous when Mr. Densmore read from the humorous The Real Diary of a Real Boy. The next year saw the addition of Dove Harvey, Winslow Coons, and Fritz Willmann to the senior class D of the Lower School. Our class got off to a fine start when we first had the privilege of classes in Eliot House. In- volved with the confusion of the Hrst day, Mr. Densmore sent Class D to room five for a Latin class. It wasn't until the period was half over that we realized that the square root of 2 had nothing to do with Latin and so adjoumed en masse to room six where we discovered our Latin teacher, Mr. Keller. This also was a memorable year with the class privilege to the Hy-de-ho. Mr. Harris conquered the class with his interesting science course. He made bird walks famous and intro- duced to his class many hair-raising creatures such as the Black Widow spider, poisonous snakes of all kinds, and giant turtles. Mr. Forbes, though, quickly gave Mr. Harris com- petition when he foisted on the class a music appreciationn course and became famous for his Friday moming concerts of such songs as Take My Bridgework Back to Mother, Ra- tion Blues, and Deacon jonesf, Mr. Togneri aroused the artistic talent in the form with his daily art classes. Although very popular with the boys, he was quite a vicious criminal to the parents, whose cleanly clothed children often arrived home with colored spots of paint on their clothes. The annual D Day was spent at the circus this year, much to the sorrow of Mr. Densmore who had Hfteen roaming clowns to look after. Spring brought the water pistols and baseball, with most of the class testing their arms with the blackboard erasers. In this memorable season the miniature Red Sox played a suc- cessful year of baseball, only to have their record marred by the powerful Second Form nme. After two years under the guiding arm of Mr. Densmore we were swept into the rush of the Upper School completely unaware of our new responsibilities. No longer were we forced to wear our raincoats on rainy days, for now we were men. Although we were men, we were no longer the big wheels of the Lower School, but just humble cogs of the Upper School. To accompany us through the grave struggle of the Second Form, Nick Norwood, Frank Dickinson, Bill Allison, Mel Higgins, john Pike, Bob Haig, and Dave Biddle were added to the class. Most Second F ormers are the cause of long discussions in faculty meetings, and we were no exception. In no time at all we had leamed the tricks of the trade and become regular supporters of the Saturday morning sessions. Our delinquency up to this time had been appropriate to our adolescence but now as- sumed amazing proportions when varsity cox Win Coons maneuvered the Belmont Hill crew clear through a Harvard single on the Charles River. It was in this year that the powerful six man football team of the Lower School graduated into the ranks of eleven man football without

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sparkling success. We did, however, show great power and potentiality as our thriving 30's squad crushed a seventh grade team from Rox- bury Latin, 63-0. Fritz Willmann was the undisputed star of the day with five touch- downs to his credit. With the previous year's hockey success inflating our ego, several members of the form, blinded with optimism, threatened to bench several varsity lettermen. The coach, however, not realizing our poten- tialities and past seasons' records, sent us down to the intramural league for further seasoning. That year we did receive athletic recognition with the awarding of letters to Coons and Allison for crew and baseball, respectively. The only political activity of the year was the election of Andy Casner as our distinguished president. Scholastically our form showed great prom- ise. Realizing our higher intelligence, Mr. Keller increased the number of problems in math. However, six members of the form thwarted Mr. Keller, in his attempts to out- smart the class, by daily collaboration in math homework. After several weeks of clever har- mony, Mr. Keller broke up the daily sessions when he made an unexpected visit to our meeting place. The next year found our form swelling with the addition of Dave Chick, Don Burger, john Burchard, and Dave Crozier. The last of the new members brought us the Breakfast Table Paper of New England. This year brought also a great new fascination through the salesman- ship and interest in biology of Iohn Burchard. During the course of the year there were amaz- ing sales of white mice at the low minimum of only five cents. Athletically, this year showed a slight im- provement over the previous year. Rumors have it, though, that due to the fact that our potential hockey players were cut the previous year, a new coach was appointed. Mr. Kos, a graduate of the Big Green, recognized our hockey abilities in Quinn, Harvey, and Will- mann. Although they made up the kid line, their efforts were not enough to win letters. On the baseball field we added one more mem- ber, Leigh Quinn, to the ranks of baseball lettermen. Politically, the form changed the presidency and elected Leigh Quinn. Appar- ently Andy Casner asked for too much money for the community drive the previous year, and the form thus needed a change from such heavy taxation. Scholastically, the form achieved a favorable record with several new members added to the honor list. Mr. jenney and Mr. Sawyer re- turned after their long service with the armed forces. Several new masters entered the School in this year and were received wholeheartedly by the form. Mr. von Mering was perhaps the most entertaining. His daily French classes began with the study of French, but before the period was over anything but French was dis- cussed. Some of our members were of amaz- ing physical proportions and strengthened their muscles by carrying Mr. von Mering's desk quite a distance from the classroom. This, of course, always delayed the period while our muscle-men carried the desk back. The pyro- maniacs of the form, likewise, had a chance to show their skill. Mr. Richards, a since de- parted member of the faculty, was always the Earget for their pranks, especially wastebasket res. It was in the year 1947 that the political machine entered the form: Boss Ed Winship, along with Bill Ellis and Bibo Porter. Ben Buzzell, realizing the possibilities of our class, decided to drop back from the class of '48. Boss Ed Winship immediately began his ma- chine moving and with his political influence swayed the class elections to Nick Norwood as president and Frank Dickinson as our repre- sentative on the Student Council. Mr. Downes and Mr. Willey came back after war service, and upon our passing that fearful ordeal, algebra, we graduated to Mr. Max's geometry class, which enabled us to show our artistic abilities with a compass and a straight edgef' After six months of completely de- moralizing us, by constantly insulting our mathematical abilities, Mr. Maxwell was forced to vacation in Florida for several weeks. During our professor's absence, that red- headed genius, Mr. Colbert, fascinated the class. After telling Mr. Colbert what a com- pass is, the class endeavored to describe joe Pythagorasi' with very humorous results. It