Durfee High School - Durfee Record Yearbook (Fall River, MA)

Page 4 text:

Members of the Graduating Class: Another graduating class from Durfee! it seems impossible. How quickly have gone the last four years during which you have been preparing for this proud day. To you, I am sure at times those years have been slow and lagging ones, but you will find, as you grow older, that while there may be tedious and boring periods, the divine gift of life bears a surprisingly close resemblance to the brief candle of which the poet spoke. In any event, my heartiest congratulations to you as you pause for a bit with some sense of triumph at the milestone of high school graduation. Now you face a new bit of road — one more difficult in some ways than the ones you have trod to date, and one if anything, more exciting. It will be more difficult because you will find on it fewer guides and will be farced more and more to depend on your own compass of self-reliance. You may think you will like this better, and perhaps you will, but you must bear in mind that from now on, you will be held more accountable personally for the progress you make. Every older person, giving advice to young people at a time like this, likes to talk of pit-falls. There will be those, but I am certain that from the education you have received at Durfee High School and from the training you have received in your homes, you will be able to avoid most of them. You will do it better, I think, if you bear in mind the experience of others and if you develop habits of action and thought patterned on those who think of others as well as themselves. I am sure every one of you knows older men and women in all walks of life who, through inner discipline, have shaped for themselves a manner of action frequently referred to as good form. I am sure you know too, men and women generous and kind, anxious to help without any desire for reward. Find such people and choose them for your ideals. Forget the noisy and vulgar. Forget those whose selfish and greedy ways hurt others and who are hurt themselves. You will find the models to which we refer in your everyday life. You will find them too, in the books and the written thoughts of authors past and present. Develop then, a sense of values and ideals to live by. Observe and read that you may be helped to do so. These and prayer to your God are what you need. Develop taste and fastidiousness. So much for the serious note in a sunny June. Again our con- gratulations to you and the congratulations of all the community to which you owe so much and which in turn, expects the best from you, and for you. Sincerely yours, Superintendent of Schools.

Page 6 text:

To the Class of 1955: The calendar of youth counts few days which rival in drama, in poignant sentiment, or in genuine signifi- cance the occasion of graduation from high school. You have now arrived at that point; and I hasten to welcome you to the ranks of Durfee alumni. You experience at this moment a certain satisfaction in having met successfully the test of senior high school education. You realize that in your effort you have had the loving guidance of your parents; and your gratitude to them is deep, if not easily expressed. You are eager now to set out upon the broad highway of adult life, to meet new challenges, and to test your ability to bear ever-greater responsibilities. You who have seen the launching of the first atomic powered submarine, who have thrilled to the promised conquest of infantile paralysis need not be reminded that there is yet great work to be done in this world. You are needed. Your training, your integrity, your determination to succeed — these, coupled with an abiding faith in God, will prove your true worth. I know that you will do honor to yourselves, to your parents, and to Durfee. I congratulate you upon your graduation and offer my best wishes for your continued success and happiness. PRINCIPAL.