Christopher Columbus High School - Anchor Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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THE BEGINNINGS dear Matty. May you be with us for a long, long time ! In early Columbus days, the area was so rural that it did not seem out of place to see a vegetable garden on the school lawn. Matty would pick up a few vegetables and greens from April to late October. Matty remembers rabbits being raised in our basement, and she recalled to Mr. Nathans an incident of these first years. As Matty bent down to pick up some rubber bands, the rubber bands moved away. She screamed and called for Mr. N. who had to retrieve the tiny snakes that had wandered from the biology lab. ALAN NATHANS It was a snowy Sunday in February, 1939 that most of us Old Guard teachers had our first glimpse of Christopher Columbus High School. The snow was really coming down hard, and we had to plow through knee deep drifts to get to our destination. In those days this was really open territory. There were no houses at all to the west or north of us. The project didn't exist and a farm with horses and chickens was right across the street. Qln season many of us bought fresh fruit and vegetables direct from the farmer himselfj Each of us had received a postcard requesting that we report at ten am to help prepare the program cards of the students due the next morning. RFP and Registration Cards were new words in our vocabularies, but under the kindly direction of Mr Andre Fontaine, then Administrative Assistant, we soon learned how to program our pros pective students. MARGARET PARSONS Times have changed. It is not with regret for the changes but with nostalgia that so many of the early students and teachers of Columbus recall the days of super productions and music festivals. There was that full-length musical, Swordr Around flye Queen, the Stasheff-Phillips opus. There was Captain Applejark directed by Miss D'Amato, Mr. Stasheff and Mr. Phillips. There were One-Act Play Tournaments. There was even a concert that Mr. Phillips wanted all the faculty to attend in evening dress. Ah, well. Something of the old days came back to us on April 17th and 18th of this year, when a large cast of students and teachers, under the direction of Miss Imperato and Mr. Flaxman, presented our Twentieth Anniversary Show. The Columbus Show goes on, still buoyant, still playing to a packed house. In fact, the latest prediction is that the graduating class of June, 1960 will easily reach the staggering figure of one thousand. We carry on. The picture of Miss Madeline M. Hurton, known to everyone in Columbus as Matty , is a must for our Anniversary Issue. Matty was here long before any of us long before the school was ready to open its doors. The painters were still working all over the building. Matty remembers Mr. Wallace helping to clean up some of the worst of the debris. Columbus was in a lovely country setting in 1939. It wasn t merely the absence of sidewalks, says Matty, but the gardens and the trees. Along the south east corner of the building were apple trees and a good-sized vegetable patch Matty is a difficult lady to interview because she is too modest to tell us what we all should know: that without Matty this school would not be quite the wonderful place it has always been. No one in this building has ever been more devoted more attached to our school and its progress these past twenty years. Our hats off to you

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THE ORIGINAL CGLUTWBUS FACULTY Here are the members of the first Columbus faculty who are still with us. Unable to be present for their pictures, but also included in the original group are: Miss Menna, Mrs. Rowan, Mrs. Malloy, Mr. Fried, Mrs. Governale, Miss Halstead, Mrs. Hewitt, Mrs. Helfer, Mrs. Leaycraft, Dr. Isaacs, Mr. Nathans, Mr. Speed, Mrs. Weinsteiii and Miss Yama. COLUMBUS FIRSTS 1939 Columbus opens its doors. Dedication Exercises were held on October 11, 1939. On this memorable occasion the dedication was made by Mr. Alberto Bonaschi, member of the Board of Education. The Honorable Fiorello H. La Guardia, Mayor of New York, and Dr. Frederic Ernst, Superintendent of the High School Division, gave the main addresses. Many dis- tinguished guests were present. An original play called Land Ho was directed by Mr. Stasheff with original music by Mr. Phillips. First Prom, Blue Letter Day, Admiral , Mr. Nathans led the first Senior Class to graduation. 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1949- 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954- 1956- 1959- -G.O. Elections, intramural team Qsoftball with Mr. George Zimmermanj. -Horizon, Annual Music Festival and Dance. -junior Arista, basketball team. -Basketball team at Madison Square Garden, Columbus leads the Columbus Day Parade. -Baseball team, uniform examinations. Alumni reunion. Dr. Loughran, Father of Columbus, retires. Track team, football team. Skating party. Bronx Park Community Center. -Columbus adopts a French town, Annual G.O. Elections. -Columbus-Soccer Champs of New York City. Faculty Basketball game, first boat ride. Swimming party. Mr. Kolevzon becomes Principal, New dress code inaugurated. G.O. Carnival, Twentieth Anniversary Show.