China Grove High School - Parrot Yearbook (China Grove, NC)

Page 19 text:

Bill Glover was happily engaged in cleaning up a dog kennel of which he was proprietor. Another fulfillment of a lifetime ambition was that to be Betty Sue Bost’s future. She was busily engaged in the manicure department of a big Chicago beauty salon. The next image revealed Randolph Field, at which Frank Eller was an Army Flying Instructor. Berniece Beaver was starring in the great Broadway stage hit, Girls, Guys, and Giggles”. Clouding and clearing again, the crystal foretold that Bohunt Mishak was house detective at the Hotel Yadkin, Salisbury, N. C. Martha Sue Simpson was contented on a chicken farm west of China Grove, while Sarah London, her next door neighbor, was happily married. A large Shakespearean stage in the middle of which stood Bobby Wilhelm indicated that he had become a great Shakespearean actor. Next a beautiful summer scene unfolded. It appeared to be a sum¬ mer resort. Yes, that is what it was. Louise Sanders was hostess in the White Room at a summer resort in Western North Carolina. Lucille Casper was proprietor of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop”. A scene from war torn Europe revealed that James Rector was foreman of a reconstruction crew in London. Nellie Allman and Pauline Basinger formed a partnership and be¬ came co-owners of the Rowan General Merchandise Store. The next vision revealed the white clad figure of Ada Ruth Koon who was head nurse of the Rowan Memorial Hospital. A softball diamond filled the crystal. On third base was Joan Bame, captain of the National Girls’ Champion Softball team. Odessia Thompson was operating her own little Bar-B-Q stand on North Main Street in Salisbury. A car with an S sticker, four good tires, and a tank filled with gas revealed that Roy Charles Kimball was a traveling salesman for a big merchandise company. Lucille Miller was a respected performer of Barnum and Bailey Circus. She holds the position of a tight rope walker, and gets top billing. Returning to China Grove, Polly Gillespie has taken the position as fourth grade teacher. Then there appeared in the crystal a large auditorium filled with people from all walks of life. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves to the fullest extent. Then the reason appeared. For there, on the plat¬ form, was none other than Devon Waddell, chosen as x mbassador of Goodwill by the Federal Government. As Devon’s face disappeared, another vision was being formed. A large lake appeared, and there, competing for the National Woman’s Swimming title, were two former C. G. H. students, Louise Bernhardt and Frances Casper. Members of the W. A. A. C.’s were Catherine Wallace, Christine Follette, and Margaret Farmer.

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CLASS PROPHECY How to begin? That is the question. How to begin? When the members of the Senior Class of ’43 elected me to prophecy their future, I was truly bewildered. How could a common, down to earth guy like me look into the future and see what’s going on? I have no supernatural powers. I cannot talk with the gods. How, then, was I to foretell the future? Ah! Wanda, the fortune teller, of course! She and her crystal ball! So off I went to see Wanda. I asked her if she’d read the future of my classmates to me, but, alas, she would not. That, my young friend, is impossible for me. That is your job. So saying, she left me alone with the crystal ball. A vision was being formed. Why, it was Judith Ann and Willie Sue following up a lifetime ambition. They were dancing in the chorus of an Earl Carroll Revue at the Brown Derby in Hollywood. The crystal clouded, then cleared, producing the images of Bobby Davis, Gray Freeze, and Leonard Patterson, all clear cut figures in their choral robes, singing in Westminster Choir. The next image to appear was that of Rachel Mabry; she was singing over CBS with Willard Overcash’s orchestra. They soon faded away, and other images appeared. Bernice Mc¬ Combs and Reid Grimes, now Mr. and Mrs., must be satisfied with a basketball team, due to the six girls of which he was the proud papa. Grady Sloop. My, how successful he was. He was professor of science at Columbia University. As Grady disappeared, Lucille Jones and Willia Weaver appeared. In order to retain their friendship, they are respectable old maids. Oveda Poag and Evon Shimpock were editor-in-chief and society editor respectively of a newspaper owned by Laura Jo Wilkie. J. L. Peeler! He, too, had become a great success. He was am¬ bassador to Chile. By the smile on the next face to appear, I immediately knew that Leona Shuping was happily married. The crystal again formed an image. Robert Kirk and Frank Miller were joint owners of Kirk and Miller Trucking Lines. Changing again, the crystal revealed a large campus, in the middle of which stood Jack Melchor, professor of Mathematics at Duke Uni¬ versity. Then, a well known magazine appeared. The pages began to turn. They stopped at an advice-to-the-lovelorn column written by Dora Abernathy for Cosmopolitan”. Norma Sink, as dashing as ever, was posing as a professional model. Her boss is none other than Robert Whitaker. Lola Park had the job of head dietitian of Johns Hopkin Hospital. The Salisbury Bus Terminal next came into view, and there, calling out bus schedules were Bardee and Marie Seymour. A large ball room revealed that Kathryn Callicutt was dance in¬ structress at the Arthur Murray Studios in New York City.

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With the clouding of the crystal, the army camps disappeared, and a new face appeared. I leaned a little closer as it was hard to tell whose it was. It was Dorothy Gentle, sitting in the middle of a Dressmaker’s Shoppe of which she was owner. The little dressmaker’s shop soon faded, and the crystal formed the profile of Delmer Cauble, who held the office of Representative from this district in Raleigh, the seat of our state government. Edith Williams was seen in a haze as the wife of a Methodist minister. Another profile appeared, this time that of a lady. Who could it be? Why, it was Kathryn Jordan, first Lady Representative from the state of North Carolina. A motion picture camera was being formed, and in all the glory that was hers, Louise Rary was being photographed for the final scenes of a movie, Love Sick”. Harry Lee Morrison—of all things—was president of a newly con¬ structed Y. M. C. A.! Ruth Pierce was a typist in an L. B. I. office in Washington. Then through a smoky haze, I saw a huge corral. Over the gate was a large wooden sign— Otha Sloop, Horse Trader”. As this large sign disappeared, I saw a brilliant Red Cross flag waving behind the image of Edith Honbarger. This signified that Edith had become an Angel of Mercy”. Resuming his athletic career, Clifford Albright was a professional basketball player; he was a four letter man: Y. M. C. A. Rachel Propst—a lady orator! Who’d ever have thought it. Oh, well! Life’s just like that. Then, though very dim, I saw the State Prison at Raleigh, and there, in the warden’s office, behind a desk sat James Harrison. Suddenly there came from the crystal a glittering light which was almost blinding. As my eyes became accustomed to the brightness of the light, I saw a familiar face, and heard a great voice. I then recognized the person as Hoyt Safrit, great International Opera Star as Ligaro”. As the lights faded away, a huge gray stone publishing house ap¬ peared, and in the center was a large desk, before which stood Adeline Turrentine, trying desperately to sell her latest novel, The Desperate Pauper”. Mary Rose Gillis! The wife of a Hawaiian pineapple plantation owner and living in a mansion by a blue lagoon. As it grew more faded, I leaned still closer to the crystal ball in hopes of being able to see at least two more images. At last the image of Martha Mae Propst appeared. It seemed as though she were seated at the organ in some large church. She was. Martha Mae was organist at Grace Lutheran Church. Over eager to read my own future, I leaned too close to the crystal ball, and with a dingling thud it crashed to the floor. There at my feet lay the mysterious wonder that had been such a great friend to me, smashed into a million pieces. Oh, well! ’Tis best that I not know my future anyway. Who wants to live a life that is an open book before him? Oscar B. Abernathy, Prophet.