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

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The Sixth Form History-continued their money were soon parted. In the intervening eight month period a number of revolutionary events took place. The first of these radical goings onl' was the dis- tasteful ruling that all Sixth Formers had to attend study halls. Not to be outdone the Sixth Form re- taliated by taking over the study hall management, which was only the first in a long series of maneuvers to gain control of the school. The fall term saw a late afternoon, lightly clad swimming party in the lagoon led by Downes and Hawkins, a rally at Pete Keville's, and Mr. Hamil- ton,s think footballn pep talk in chapel-all three events acting as stimulants for the much deserved Governor Dummer win-a game in which the entire school 'fthought footballf' There was a winless soccer team and the bitter criticism heaped upon it by both students and faculty, the fall dance with ad- vertising posters by Fud', and Taxi,' making full use of Listerine ads, the short-lived integrated dining room seating experiment, Blank 0'Neil,s retire- ment to the Common Room for a winter of hiberna- tion after his triumphal success in introducing one Frankie Vigneau to the B. H. social circuit, and Claudeis futile attempts to get our desserts sent to Hungary-a plan which failed only because there was grave fear that the Hungarians might send the stuff back and decide that the Russians weren't so bad after all. On the faculty side of things Messrs. Cocchiola and Fisher signed up for a spell, Sok,' proved such a hit with his The Mansion VVe Builded that We had him back every Thursday morning, Joe Willey made his daily few preliminary announcementsvg Chunky', sold his calendars with renewed vigor, everybodyis friend Spike Downes made the year both miserable and interesting at the same time. As winter approached so did the completion of the Keller Rink, and after a slow start the student body pitched in and helped on this effort, dedication day came and there was Greg's speech-so short that it hardly reached from the microphone to the loud- speaker, Charlie Cornwall started to get his crew oars ready for late winter practice, Obie broke prece- dent and paid for a dance, Jon Fairbanks insisted that the class was being run by a bunch of 'fsmoothiesng Hodge broke all records for going steadyv, there was SKarp and the sometimes doubt- ful humor of 57,,, Zub', Solar's highly question- able handling of crackers and milk, Anson's adept- ness at colorful foreign expressions. There were higher compulsory insurance rates and higher auto sales due to Nuncs Pettit's fre- quent and distressing highways accidents, John Si- mon continued to do all his assigned reading by the synopsis method, 'iBirdogger,' Hawkins practiced his art with a straight face, Pete Crider found a base- ment room in Speare more convenient on long Week- ends-no climbing of stairs, just falling down, and hockey captain Downes toured Concord Academy in uniform and was much surprized to find that the Jeep,' had reserved a front row seat to his perform- ance. There was a hockey trip to Northwood high- lighted by Obie's single word of wisdom- Die , there were broken beds and everything was SkeetsH for the trip. It was during this fateful adventure to the cold northland that the cry of heigh-ho Stever- ino', was first heard, and no three words ever caught on faster. Spring came, and with a short-lived attempt to vote in a new class project, but tradition held and once more the wall received the dubious benefits of the Form's limited knowledge of masonry, Brooks wore ruts in Trapelo Road by his many visits there, and the Town of Lincoln was forced to convert this once lovely byway of the countryside into a modern, high-speed expressway, Tague wasn,t taking any chances, and his interests', remained solely in VVinchester where he spent many quiet, intellectual evenings by the Fireside, Fud commenced his spring series of Dance Committee meetings designed to determine the decorations for the Prom Qa story in itselfj, Esquire Dayv came, but Iggy was not amused by the wide range of costumes which in- cluded Farmer', Will and lVIonoH Aldrich, com- plete with saggy pajamas and toothbrush. Mr. Funk was not amused either when he found his latest olive-green-brown headpiece on Jon F airbanks' head-turned inside out. College Boards neared and there were many cram sessionsug History VI sailed merrily along on not more than one set of co-oper- ative notes, a thesis was due. SKarp, Wood,', and the nmilkshake twins Fair- banks and Downes took to the highways over spring vacation and went south to beloved TVA LAND where they interviewed the natives and gathered much material for future arguments with Spike, There was evidence that the moral fibre of our presi- dent was beginning to tear, Mr. T. felt sure that Lerm, Steverino, and Black Ansoni' were go-

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much as darkened by a single cloud. SECOND FORM We were big boys now, and Silent Stepsf' Whit- tier proved it by his frequent and generous distribu- tion of Saturday detentions. Water guns, paper clips, and I Like Iken buttons were the symbols of this year which heralded the entrance of Sam Bar- tol, Fud,' Booth, Taxi Cabot, Pete Crider, Greg Downes, Curt Gwilliam, Pete Henkels, Jim Hodges, Pete Keville, VV ill lNIack, and Dick Medverd. Bartol and Mack were the Mutt and Jeff of the class as they engaged themselves in endless games of tag, Greg Downes scored sixty points as Junior football captain, and everyone got into the get Ned act which became particularly amusing during the sixth period study hall, and which was highlighted by Ned's Warm-hearted reading of Nyoka, the Jungle Girlf, R. J. Smith of Taunton taught us little General Science II, but he told us plenty about his wartime heroics-which turned out to be mostly a lot of bull. Spike followed the time-honored theory of get them while they,re youngl' and wove his convenient facts and perfect examples into something called Geog- raphy Hg Whit,', who often sported a delightful beet-red, behind-the-ears blush, performed daily with the chalk-over-the shoulder routine, and Finch Keller did the most daring thing of the year when he changed his pants in class. Scholastically, the year consisted mostly of Let X equal . . .,,' and composi- tions entitled My First Day of School, 195Q. The old red bus was painted yellow, and Teddy Test dropped the key in the river. THIRD FORM We took on Charlie Cornwall, Jon Fairbanks, Laurie Hawkins, Steve Karp, Jack Woodbury, and Anson Young. The faculty was enriched by the ad- dition of Messrs. Tibbetts, Tuplin, and VVoodward. Moose', Mulliken left the Lower School, and We knew that we had lost a friend. Driver Training Chah, hahl was introduced, Sykes,' Tibbetts had his history students learning the Lord's Prayer in Gothic, while Mr. Loomis rambled on interminablyg John Simon and Jim Hodges earned the class, first varsity letters. FOURTH FORM Dave Aldrich, Ben Coflin, Ted Eyrick, Rolo Hoff- man, Bushy,' Maclaurin, Mike Magruder, and D'Arcy MacMahon joined '57, as did the O'Connor kid who loved '56, but to sum it up in his own words: Can't handle it.', Peeps', lVIason and Rug,' Wright were the prize catches of the year on the faculty, and the two of them provided many fine hours of entertainment. The former was the victim of every known persecution ever vented upon a teacher by students and this included erasing the blackboard with water guns as tests were being writ- ten on it, and the removal of Peeps's briefcase to mysterious locations. Peeps,' once told one of his classes that he could have them shot if they had been in the army under his command, but alas, no boy ever got further than a few privileged moments in the classroom corner. Rug, on the other hand, took longer to develop or perhaps We should say to be developed. Messrs. Aloian, Smith and Walworth also joined the faculty, and the big event of the year was J. H. Funkfs single-handed creation of that marvelous institution, the Middle School, com- plete with interior decorations by. John Henry him- self. Sykes was more popular than ever as he in- troduced the Form to outside reading. FIFTH FORM Steve Lerman, Brooks Pettit, Dick Solar, and Norrie Teel completed the class membership in this year of the three R's-Rock, Roll, and Rug. Elvis Presley invaded the Common Room and competed daily with Rug's history classes next door. The former inspired great contributions by the classes of 1956 and 1957 to the spirit of the modern dance, while the latter attracted numerous pennies. Of our newest members, Nuncs came to us from St. Mark's via the Watch City Motorcycle Club, Lerm spent the year drafting Science Club an- nouncements for his senior yearg Zub,' Solar took over the canteen, and for the Erst year, no profitg Noisy Norrie Teel never stopped talking. Changes in personnel included the addition of learned faculty members Humphreys, Jordan, Lanxner, and Nelson, as well as a new music teacher named Sokol. This latter gentleman, who introduced something called voice trials, was to provide many educational Thurs- day morning assemblies for his captive audiences. Young blood came to the front office in the form of one Miss Desautels. Spurred on by the high-living Class of 1956, the whole year was a ball, and Belmont Hill's reputa- tion was furthered farther in a few short months than it had gone in many years. SIXTH FORM The year opened with a class meeting in which everyone who was opposed voted yes and com- plained afterwards, and closed with a series of meet- ings at which thirty-seven about-to-be alumni and

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ing to break tradition, Lester Lanin became the craze, a certain group who knew proclaimed I Hate J .... V .... Week which provided much lively, if not delicate, discussion. Time flew, and Ted Eyrick opened the International Geophysical Year with his all-new, air conditioned wind tunnelg the Howe Building openedg lXIr. Hamilton announced Mr. Kellerfs retirementg the thesis deadline was fast approaching. Fud', announced that the Dance Committee, after thirty-six meetings, had decided upon a spring timev theme for the Prom. Howdy,' Aldrich proved the chapel hit of the year with his talks entitled How to Cheat on Examsf' and Three Types of Graduation Speakers, and Claude's ef- forts to ram through the Student Council Constitu- tion were almost as funny. There were exciting mem- orable seasons in baseball and crew, especially in the former where we lost only our last game with Gover- nor Dummerg nevertheless, going down to defeat as good losers. At Prize Day the Joseph C. Willey Awards for the Choicest Impromptu Remarks of the Year Not Made by Joseph C. VVilley, went to Will Mack for his Squeeze da bulb at the class picture taking cere- mony, and to Steve Lerman for his near classic: It's rather brisk out. I advise warm clothingf, The Peeps Mason Memorial Trophy for Co-operative Spirit, awarded annually in memory of the late Pro- fessor Mason, was awarded to the entire Belmont Hill student body for its outstanding demonstration of co-operative spirit in the Prize Day rehearsal of the school hymn. The last week finally came, but the learnin, part wasn't over by a long shot as Medverd, Bushy,', and Anson experimented with that old saying that says something about People who live in houses with glass shouldn't sit near picture windowsf' and there were near encounters with the law too. A host of young anti-conservationists played havoc with the forests of eastern Massachusetts because the Dance Committee had decided that a wooded,' gymnasium was not going to be sacrificed for the well-being of Spike's', stomach ulcer. Graduation morning arrived. The 4 A.M. Prom Decorations Committee appeared alive and breath- ing, and after an hour or so we had our diplomas. That evening Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton gave their annual supper dance for the Sixth Form and their dates. Mr. Keller was presented with an album con- taining messages from each of the graduates. The last oflicial event of the year-the Prom-followed, and by sometime Saturday morning most everyone had adjourned to Sammy Bartol's in Milton. Break- fast at Fud's,' and a day at Rolo Hoffmanfs in Rockport concluded the Hrst eight years of the his- tory of the Class of 1957. '57-AFTERTHOUGHTS The history of '57 however, will never really be over. It will live in recollection, and future service to and interest in the school. The Prize Day announce- ment by Jack Woodbury that the class had contrib- uted IOOZ, to the Belmont Hill Fund marked us as the first class to do so in the first year out of school- and what's more, we did it before school was out. This event in many ways was typical of the year. Every class comes to the point where it is sure that it is the best class ever. Usually such pronounce- ments are not wholly true, and are based more upon vanity than fact. Yet certain things may be said about the school's thirtieth graduating class Cthat's us, you knowj. Testimony by those who knew the class-the faculty, the headmaster, and even a few non-'57 students indicate that ours was a pretty fair group. The leadership of the class was evidenced in a truly active Student Council, the Sixth Form Panel editors contributed something to the school through their constructive editorial criticism of eligibility and driver training, and through such positive proj- ects as the CARE drive in which the student body collected nearly S1500 for Hungarian Emergency Re- lief. There was the student-faculty Library Com- mittee which collected hundreds of books and hun- dreds of dollars for the library-a project conceived by the Panel editors originally. The Science Club and the Lyceum were astoundingly active under Sixth Form leaders. The Sixth Form proctoring of study halls was an acknowledged success for the first time in the schoolfs history, and the Student Council wrote itself a constitution for the first time. These were all major achievements-all certainly at least partly the result of having a strong class, and there were other lesser accomplishments. The excellent management of the Dance Committee, the all-time record-breaking advertising and subscription drives for the Yearbook, the Form's charity drive record in which we attained 100'Z, before any other class for the second consecutive year, and the genuine interest shown in the several evening Hfireside chats -all these were indicators of the Form's strength. It would appear that the Class of 1957 has set a standard of sorts to be aimed at perhaps, by future classes. Let's hope we're surpassed soon. Belmont Hill deserves it!