Center High School - Yellow Jacket Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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SADNESS gripped the world a$ news of thAassasination of Anwar Sadat was felt DESTRUCTION wrought byt|i€l tragic skywalk collapse at the Hyatt Regency si., evident days later. transformed by renovation, tho now lobby of the Hyatt left no cfctos to the turmoil of two months before (.ALA celebratoons surrounding the Royal Wedding we. re felt around the world, as nounces V

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We are proud to dedicate the 1982 YELLOWJACKET to Mr. E.J. Wills, as he retires after 34 years of teaching at Center Senior High School. During the span of those years, Mr. Wills has had many and varied responsibilities. He saw the school, and in fact the entire south Kansas City area, grow, develop and blossom. When he first came to Center in 1948. 75th Street was the city limit. That was also the first year that the high school was at the 85th and Euclid building. Thirty two seniors graduated that year, out of approximately 190 students in grades seven through twelve. He took the position of assistant coach of all sports, started the Industrial Arts program, and began one of the first Driver Education programs in the city. He was the first sponsor of the Key Club and was senior class sponsor all 34 years, maintaining perfect attendance at 34 proms. In his second year at Center, he began announcing the football games and missed only four games in all of the years he was here. Mr. Wills was instrumental in helping our high school to multiply many times over in terms of enrollment, curriculum, and opportunities offered. From those initial 32 students in the class of '48. he saw the senior class grow to an all time high of 525 in 1973, and now begin to level off once again. He watched as the school outgrew its old quarters and moved to the present building, on what was previously a sheep ranch. And during that time he also managed to raise three sons, all of whom were Center graduates. His career at Center has included many “high points.” One event that particularly stood out was in 1965. when both the basketball team and the debate squad competed for the state championship on the same night against the same school. Mr Wills has observed many students passing through these halls in his years here and noted that there has always been a certain level of student apathy. As he stated. “A lot of kids waste time in high school and are sorry later. If they could only realize their opportunities and take advantage of them, they would be much more apprecia- tive.” When asked to give some advice to the kids in high school today, he simply said, “Respect yourselves and re- spect your parents; without either of those, you can do nothing.” E.J. has spent more years at Center than anyone else in the district He is what we have come from. The times of his life, his experiences and memories are what lie ahead for us. He is. in the final analysis, a living mirror of THE BEST OF TIMES.

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 ife, it seems, contains very feu absolves. 1« is a rare occasion indeed wher soni€|Jntaj»| can honestly be labelled as gocjd or'toad, or negative But rather, everything appears to quantities and degrees, in order that the rmain in balance. The Best of Times were no exception. They were turbulent times, times that tested us and made us question, times that brought both enlightenment and confusion. In mid-July, the city was shocked and saddened by the tragic deaths of 113 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Conflict stirred the nation as the Air Traffic Controller's and even the baseball players werit on strike for higher wages and other. benefits. And the world looked on in dis usj and disbelief at the brutal and savage murder of Anwar Sadat. At moments we felt as though these were the Worst of Times, but somewhere amid the turmoil, a little romance, a little pageantry survived. As we watched, moved, by the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the feeling surfaced that again, everr in the midst of crfeis, if we will only look, we can find THE BEST OF TIMES.