Bolivar Central School - Gusher Yearbook (Bolivar, NY)

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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

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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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K S THE GUSHER KSfcs® The Class of 1917 had nine members who were: Louis Dunn, Violet Hoffman, Flora Amsden, Beatrice Seibert, Susie Shaner, Burton Bliss, Samuel Shaner, Baldwin Hitchcock and Douglas Repp. Burton Bliss lives in Albuquerque, N. Mex.; Flora Amsden Shaner, Douglas Repp, Louis Dunn, Baldwin Hitchcock all reside in Bolivar; Violet Hoffman, a former teacher of the third grade in the Bolivar High School, is now Mrs. R. C. Witter and resides in Little Valley; Susie Lewis Shaner lives in Bolivar and Beatrice Seibert lives in Buffalo. Samuel Shaner, one of the well-known men in Bolivar, passed away February 26, 1929. The Class of 1918 was composed of eight graduates: Ethel Hayward, Alta Allen, Marjorie McDivitt, Gladys Root, Cyril Shaner, Glen Dickerson, Orval Perry, and Fred Shaner. The Class of 18 chose as their colors, red, white and blue, since this was during the World War. The colors were very appropriate at that time. They presented the play At the End of the Rainbow. The proceeds were given to the Red Cross to aid them in taking care of the wounded in the war. This class also gave up their pleasure trip to Washington because of the war. They were so faithful to their country that we will look to see what has happened to them: Ethel Hayward entered Alfred University, where she later was graduated, and is now teaching school in Butler, N. J.; Alta Allen attended Normal School in Geneseo and taught a few years before being married and settling down in Bolivar; Marjorie McDivitt was graduated from Buffalo Normal and taught school in Bolivar and Portvillc where she became acquainted with and was married to Gerald Griffith of Olean. They now live at Springfield, Mass.; Gladys Root took a business course at Westbrook's Commercial Academy in Olean and after a brief business career was married to William Nichols and resides in Bolivar; Cyril Shaner was graduated from the Rochester Business Institute and accepted a position with the Firestone Trust and Savings Bank at Akron, Ohio, where he has been promoted to the Loan Department. Here he met and married Miss Bertha Ziefel; Orval Perry was graduated from Alfred University and then received an M.A. degree from Cornell. He is now located at Watkins Glen, where he is history instructor in the high school. This year he conducted the senior trip to Washington; Fred Shaner was graduated from Rochester Business Institute and returned to Bolivar to engage in the oil business. He is now married to Miss Susie Lewis; Glen Dickerson married Bernice Johnson of Shinglehouse, Pa., soon after graduating from Bolivar High School and is now living in Mt. Morris, N. Y., where he is the owner of a Chevrolet garage. The Class of 1919 had fourteen members. These were Harold Davie, Faye Allen, now Mrs. Caldwell of Olean, Doris Root and Theodore Crandall, deceased, Ella McDivitt, Genevieve Casey, now Mrs. Earl Jennings of Richburg, Helen Buckhout Gray, Margaret Holder Roberts and Eleanor Harry. Daisy McDivitt lives at her home in Richburg; Margaret Crowlev teaches in Gowanda, and Alva Wilber is in Bolivar; Leola Crooks Ferrington lives in West Clarksville; Margaret Dunn Towers is a former teacher of biology and history, and now lives in Bolivar; Harold Davie lives in Hornell, Eleanor Harry Hooker in Hamburg and Margaret Holder Roberts in Rochester. The Class of 1920 had nine seniors: Among them were Howard Withey, Marjorie Davie, Janice Davie, Bentley Fairbanks, Myrtle Severson, Mary Sackett, Blanche Kilmer, Gladys Hulett and Genevieve Swarthout. We were able to locate a few of these members; these are Marjorie Davie, teaching in Buffalo, and Janice Davie, now Mrs. Clarke Ralph, lives in 10