Berne French Township High School - Our Yesterdays Yearbook (Berne, IN)

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The White Sox were leading with a score of 2-0. With Neuenschwander at the plate, the Cards were up to bat. The bases were loaded, but already two men had struck out. The game depended on Neuenschwander—would he strike out or—? On the third pitch he hit a fast ball which kept going, going, and right over the top of the left field wall!!! This brought in the men on base, making the score 4-2 in favor of the Cards. I was jumping around excitedly, and with my hands waving violently, I shouted all sorts of encouragement to the team. Suddenly I heard someone exclaim something to me. When I looked at the lady in front of me, she was recovering her hat from the lap of the man beside her, where apparently my hand had sent it in mv excitement. Apologizing to her. I discovered she was none other than Emma Jane Liechty. The gentleman who was the hat rack victim was Harold Lehman! After a short conversation, I learned that Emma Jane was a child specialist, working in the same clinic as Dr. Lehman, surgeon, in a city about twenty miles from St. Louis. Between the exciting moments of the game we began talking about our classmates. They told me Ruth Soldner was Superintendent of Nurses in a Chicago hospital. Our class seemed interested in the medical field, for they said that Clara Lehman, too, was a nurse, working in her home town in Missouri. They called my attention to a distinguished looking gentleman with a high silk hat who was sitting in the first row of box seats with his wife, a former Berne girl. This gentleman could be none other than Senator Howard M. Luginbill. After several exciting plays, the ball game ended with the Cards winning with a score of 6-3. Burry, as pitcher, had won a great victory for the Cards! Passing by the lunch stand on the way to my car, I saw a lady buying candy for her dog. The affection she displayed for her dog reminded me of Mary Alyce Winteregg, who I discovered that it really was. Continuing my way through the crowd, I suddenly heard a masculine voice ask me if I cared for a ride uptown. I paid no attention, although I knew it was the well-dressed man to my left. As he headed for his Cadillac, he laughingly asked me if I remembered him or not. “I'm your old classmate, Waldo Stuckey,” he said. He told me that he was a business executive in California and had come east on his vacation. Just then a black curly head appeared at the car window. The little fellow stuck his tongue out at me, then shouted, “Hurry up, Pop.” It was late when I got home that night. The day had certainly been full of interesting events! Meeting so many of my former classmates had made me lonesome for my home town so I decided to take a trip to Berne. The next evening I caught the train bound for Berne. The conductor of the train happened to be Loris LeFever. What a coincidence that Carolyn “Muselman and her husband should be riding in the same car! They were returning from a series of evangelistic meetings to Detroit, where her husband was the minister in a prominent church. Page Twenty

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SENIOR CLASS PROPHECY The opening game of the World Series of 1954 was to be in St. Louis, Missouri. The series this year held a special interest for me since two of my high school classmates had made themselves famous as star players among the St. Louis Cardinals. Today was my first opportunity to see them play since the year of 1940. As I was nearing St. Louis, I drove up to “Slug’s Super Service Station.” When I paid the attendant, he inquired if I was going to the game at St. Louis. I answered that I was going because two of my former high school classmates were playing for the Cards. “They couldn’t be Burry and Neuenschwander by any chance?” he asked. “Why, how did you guess it?” I exclaimed. “Because they were my classmates, too—and I recognized you. Don’t you remember ‘Slug’ Schindler?” Was I surprised! The ambitious attendant who owned this prosperous station was Clarence Schindler, whom I hadn’t seen for years. By the time I got to St. Louis I just had time to get a bite of lunch at a restaurant before hurrying off to the game. Suddenly, as I was eating, beautiful strains of music filled the room. I turned, and there on a small platform stood Walter Zuercher, playing the requests of the guests on his faithful old accordion. Having finished my lunch, I started on my way toward “Sportsman’s Field.” I stopped to admire some jewelry in a window when two fine looking ladies came out of the store. Immediately I recognized them as two of my former classmates, Maxine Moser and Henrietta Bixler. They informed me they were both interior decorators, and although it was high time to get to the game, I went with them to their offices, which were in a magnificent building across the street. Arriving at the ball park, I handed the usher my ticket. As I did so another usher shouted. “Hurry up, Schug, game’s starting.” At the sound of that familiar name I looked up. and to my surprise I saw that my usher was Frederick Schug. When the band began to play the “Star Spangled Banner.” I knew I had arrived just in time. Watching the band. I turned my attention to the director, whose face looked familiar. Bv the time they had finished the national anthem, I recognized him to be Kenyon Nussbaum. who, I knew, had made a success in the field of music. The game was beginning! On the pitcher’s mound was Junior Burry winding up for the first pitch against the opposing batter of the Chicago White Sox. Immediately I was heart and soul in the game. The game was now in full swing. As the third pitch crossed the plate, there was a sudden crash and a hot grounder to short, neatly fielded with one hand, flipped wildly to first, with a sensational catch made by Neuenschwander for the first out of the game. The game progressed with little action until the latter part of the sixth inning, the Cards for the first time in the game being able to find the pitching of the White Sox. Page Nineteen

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At Evansville my train stopped for half an hour. I got out to rest myself and began walking toward the residential district. I saw two well dressed little girls being chaperoned on a walk by their nurse. As I came near. I lecognized the nurse to be Vera Neuen-schwander. She told me she was governess for the children of a wealthy family in the city. Mv train was leaving in ten minutes; there was just time enough to hurry in to the “Ratcliff Drug Store” to buy a paper. When I bought the paper from the proprietor, Mr. Ratcliff, his wife came walking toward us. At once I saw that she was the former Marjorie Gottschalk, who, I knew, had married a man from Evansville. I spoke to her for a few seconds and then ran for my tiain. When I was comfortably seated in the train again, I began to read my paper. As I turned to the third page, I found myself looking at a picture of Maxine Neuenschwander standing before a microphone. Seated at a piano near by was Julia Schmid. Quickly I began reading the article under the picture. It stated that Miss Neuenschwander and Miss Schmid, who had been traveling together on concert tours in the United States and Europe, were to broadcast a special program over a nation wide hook-up that evening. On another page, I read that Phyllis Zehr had accepted a position as air stewardess for TWA. When I arrived at Berne, the first person I met on the street was Evelyn Stucky. She was also home on a vacation from her work in Detroit, where she was stenographer in a large manufacturing concern. When I was going to call a friend of mine on the telephone. I immediately recognized the voice of the operator as belonging to Dorothy Liechtv. who was, by this time, the head operator in Berne. The next morning, Sunday, I went to church. The Rev. and Mrs. Arvian Habegger, missionaries among the American Indians, were the speakers of the morning. Mrs. Habegger was, of course, the former Helen Habegger. That afteinoon. when I turned on the radio, I heard the voice of Elizabeth Sprunger, who had become famous in radio by broadcasting, daily, the program, “World News as Seen Through the Eyes of the Women.” I was told that Florieda Sprunger had gained the distinction of being the best saleslady in Berne. She was now manager of her father's store. I decided to take the airplane from the Fort Wayne airport for home since I had to get back sooner than I had expected. I was not at all surprised to find Ted Schindler there, the chief mechanical engineer of the airport. We talked about the classmates I had met in the past week. Each one already climbed so high on the ladder to success that we could be justly proud of them. Phyllis Zehr Elizabeth Sprunger Page Twenty-one