Bolivar Central School - Gusher Yearbook (Bolivar, NY)

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SHa THE GUSHER 35 who lives in Bolivar; Lina Booth Smith of Seneca Falls; Mabel Brown Bridgeman of Wautola, Wis.; Lura McDonell who lives with her mother in Bolivar and teaches in Rochester, and Laurence Bliss of Bolivar. The Class of 1910 consisted of eight members. Their colors were blue and gold; their flower, the conventional rose, and their motto, nihil sine labore, nothing without labor.’’ Perhaps it was this splendid motto that gave the graduates their high ideal of education, for each member of that class after leaving the dear old B. H. S.” continued his work and was graduated from institutes of higher learning, namely: Lowell Andrus, Cornell University; Evelyn Bond, Buffalo Normal School; Geraldine Bond, Buffalo Normal School; Raymond Burdick, Alfred University; Donna Cleveland, Svracuse University; Marie McDermott, Universities of Michigan and Cornell; Morton Mix, Alfred University, later studying in Germany. In 1910 the first Alumni Banquet was held, and since then these banquets have been a feature of the High School Commencement festivities. Of the eight members, six are living; Donna Cleveland and Lowell Andrus are dead. Lowell Andrus was enlisted in the World War and the B. H. S. flag received its first gold star. The Class of 1911, or the fifth graduating class, was composed of six seniors: Justin Bradley, Hornell; Glenn Williams, Rochester; Nelle Tubridge, Salamanca. The records say that Edda Scott and Genevieve Gray reside in Bolivar and Olive Thomas is an English teacher in the Senior High School in Niagara Falls, N. Y. As the years pass, the classes show an increase in members. The Class of 1912 was one of the largest that ever was graduated from B. H. S. They were called the unlucky class, for there were thirteen members. Franz Rosebush was their principal. The class motto was, what we do, let us do well. The members of the class were: Claire Kenyon Andrus, Alice Cranston, Adelaide Brewer, Russell White, Mercia Cowles, Loretta Seibert, Lena Wasson, Louise McDermott, Roscoc Repp, Charles Hoffman, Hortcnse Fairbanks, William Seibert and Clara Conklin. Three of these members have passed away: Roscoe Repp, Louise McDermott, and Kenyon Andrus who served in France during the war and added another gold star to the B. H. S. flag. The Class Poet of 1913 brings us an interesting account of their group of seniors. It is autumn, 1912. A gentleman of pleasing personality, six feet tall, red hair and a smile that lingers, sits on the rostrum of the B. H. S. He is Professor Franz H. Rosebush. The World War is still two years ahead, Woodrow Wilson is campaigning for the presidency, and Lindbergh is playing marbles with the rest of the kids. The roll is called, the curriculum made up, classes organized and some three hundred minor citizens of the U. S. are on the way upward and onward. In the Senior Class, with which this narrative is chiefly concerned, eight students respond: Isobel Bradley, Winifred Gavin, Rowena Jordan, Bessie Skerritt, Clarendon Streeter, Hubert Bliss, Hyle Idle and Frank Hunger-ford. By way of introduction, the writer makes but one modest” claim to distinction for the Class of '13, namely, that they were almost a perfect organization. I say almost,” because if they had been perfect they would have elected the writer president instead of class poet. The reader will pardon the digression, but for the information of the class who elected me I must 8

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sm THE GUSHER FSSfcgfcff The History of Bolivar High School 1906 marked the opening of the new Bolivar High School. Do you remember the rich artistry of the dark red brick outlined with white and the severe simplicity of the white doorway that led to the spacious interior? Waxed floors, wainscoted, cream-colored walls, gaslights, and corridors and rooms larger than any in town greeted your entrance. The library with its walls lined with shelves on the right, the modern office with its roll top desk on the left and the gigantic auditorium ahead, disclosing through its great windows the projecting stage, and its three hundred seventy-five seats stretching back into the shadows—truly a fitting place for the strains of Auld Lang Syne to rise year after year. Then you remember the second grade room on the left, the third across the hall, the first on the right and the fourth facing it. The two sweeping stairways each lighted by an oval window led to the higher classrooms. Seventh, sixth, eighth and fifth grade rooms were on one side of the great corridor while the high school study hall and classrooms occupied the other. The English room, the Latin room, and beyond study hall, the magnificent laboratory with its two long, stone-topped lab tables gleamed brightly new. The study hall with ninety seats, five great windows and a rostrum—the best and the latest were used in the new Bolivar High School. And now, twenty-five years later, it has become Old Bolivar High School, soon to be discarded and forgotten. So that faint memories of it and of its many graduates may linger a little longer, an account of each class from 1906 to the present time has been created. May it bring back to you your Alma Mater in the glory of its youth and yours. Although the building was open in September, 1906, there was no Senior Class until 1907-Its seven members were: Don Andrus, Georgia Gorton, Fred C. Hill, Charles McKelvey, Evah Sage, Florence Williams and Mabel Zimmerman. Don Andrus lives in Bradford; Fred C. Hill is now in Angelica; Mabel Zimmerman is now Mrs. Niver and resides in Daytona Beach, Florida; Charles McKelvey lives in West Clarksville; Evah Sage-Vors in Friendship; Georgia Gorton-Corbin in Batavia, and Florence Williams is now Mrs. Wallace Smith and resides in Bolivar. This Senior Class will never forget how proud they were of the fact that they were the first class to graduate from the new school of 1906. Let us hope that the Class of 1931 will experience the same pleasure in the new B. H. S. In 1908 there were only three graduates, and due to the fact that they are residents of other towns we did not get any information concerning them. This class consisted of Marv Baxter, Bartlesville, Ind., Anna L. Crandall, who is now Mrs. Hall of Little Genesee, and John E. Deal, East Bloomfield, N. J. By 1909 the number of seniors had increased from three to seven, who were all proud of being the largest class to date. Of this class of seven, five are living; Glen Garthwait, probably the most talented and gifted student that B. H. S. ever graduated, lived only a few years after graduating. Gladys Cowles, who later married and became Gladys Harlow, died a few years ago at her home in Washington. The surviving members are, Donna Reynolds Chipman 7

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SH3 THE GUSHER add that every last vestige of the poet’s muse left me about the time Volstead became popular. It has been truly said, poets are born, not made ; not even by Senior Class elections. Professor Rosebush called the Class of '13 into conference and in a wise and tactful little address told us what was required if we were to be numbered among those present on the platform of the auditorium in June. He concluded with that sage advice, take an extra hitch about the post for safety’s sake. This was based on one of his stories about the old sea captain who always took an extra hitch with his cables for safety’s sake. Among other pleasant recollections the writer will always remember the professor as the original safety first apostle. For the benefit of our children and the children of others be it said that the Class of '13 did take an extra hitch about the post and after a valiant and successful struggle triumphantly ascended the platform on that June evening in 1913 and were forthwith graduated. For historical purposes be it simply said that the class was graduated. Supplementing our scholastic endeavors, the Class of T3 had other ambitions. We planned a trip to Washington, the funds to be raised collectively by the class. To this end we put on a series of candy sales, bake sales and other lesser phases of banditry, the success of which can be attributed only to parental pride and the almost superhuman patience of the citizens. Someone put a motion to hold a class play, but this was killed in committee on the grounds that we were better salesmen than actors. When the smoke finally cleared away and the spoils were counted we lacked some $50.00 of going to Washington. As stated previously this class was almost a perfect organization. Here again this almost complex intruded itself. We almost got to Washington but finally compromised and went on a picnic to little Rock City. By the terms of the class will, the fund was inherited by the Class of 14 to be used for their Washington trip. The writer still maintains that if the Class of '13 had reached Washington, the World War could have been averted. The Class of 1914 had five members and we regret to say we do not have one of its members in town, but we did locate some of them: Dorothy Young is now Mrs. Feek and lives in Lake Placid, N. Y.; Naomi Bradley Reid is living in New York; Victor Williams resides in Allentown, Pa.; Katherine Williams MacDonell is now in Bolivar and Zerita Davie Edwards residence is unknown to us. The Class of 1915 consisted of five boys and four girls. They are all living except Jessie Pratt who died several years ago. Neil Crandall, Harry Sackinger, Chester Bliss, Milford Root and Harley Crandall reside in Bolivar; Viola Newton Osburn lives in Donora, Pa.; Helen Dunn teaches in New Jersey, but we cannot learn where Clara Lewis is living at the present time. As the years passed, the size of the graduating classes increased. In 1916 there were ten members: William Nichols, president; Theodore Hoffman, vice-president; Beatrice Streeter, secretary and treasurer; W. Augustine Dunn, Dewey K. McDivitt, Jessie Sackinger, Dorothy I. Lamphere, George Osborne, Teresa R. Seibert and O. Lucille Wirt. The principal was Harold J. Coon. This class took a trip to Washington in June from the proceeds of a fair and a play they had had the previous December and from candy and bake sales. They all enjoyed their work, although it was hard, and each one thought the trip repaid every effort he had put forth. 9