East High School - Redjacket Yearbook (Pawtucket, RI)

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TEXTILES IN AMERICA

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'paiecvaict WE. the staff of the REDJACKET. stimulated by the “Textile Panorama at the R. I. School of Design, and by the fact that Pawtucket is the birthplace of American cotton industry, have chosen textiles as our theme. Textiles differ tremendously, but whether they be coarse or fine, brilliant or drab, intricate or simple, the finished product depends upon the weaver who uses his materials most effectively. Similarly, the members of ’47 have tried to make the most of their opportunities at East, so that this phase of their life pattern, recorded by the RED-•JACKET. will always be one of which they may be proud. Varying degrees of success have crowned these efforts. Some designs in the pattern are more valuable than others: some are brilliant: others, mediocre: still others are unsatisfactory. In any case, the strands are woven into the REDJACKET. which represents a fragment of the complete pattern of our lives.

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A Teacher TO have devoted four decades to an activity of the mind and spirit is in itself an experience the richness of which can be measured only by those who have shared in it. This was the experience of Miss Nellie V. Donovan, a teacher distinguished by a brilliant record of accomplishment and honored by the esteem of thousands. For she had taught in Pawtucket high schools for virtually the four decades—actually for 39 years, and in that period had made a profound impression on hundreds of minds. Miss Donovan began her teaching career well prepared by a liberal education at the Women's College in Brown University, now Pembroke College. She brought to her work not only a desire to assist her students but to broaden her own fine mind. She was one of those wise persons who understand the true value of formal education and appraise it as a preparation for the experience of living. One of the greatest of autobiographies written in recent decades is The Education of Henry Adams.'' It records the pursuit of culture through a long lifetime and leaves the reader with a deep appreciation of the values to be gained from daily experience. Miss Donovan was one who. we believe, enriched her education through contact with her students in her daily work. She taught because she was devoted to the profession, but in particular she loved to teach a student who was interested in the task at hand. She responded to eagerness to learn by her own eagerness to teach. So it was that through the years she made the English department at Pawtucket High School—later Senior High and now East High —an institution in itself. Any student who really desired to acquire the habit of good English had the opportunity there. Such a student was received as a gift and a challenge by this able woman, who not only knew her subject but also knew young people, the boys and girls of a high school. When the 1934 year book of the school was in preparation, in charge of a student committee, its dedication read: To Miss Nellie V. Donovan, whose scholarship we admire, whose humor we enjoy, whose friendship we value, the class of 1934 respectfully dedicates this year book. It was a mature tribute from young minds who a dozen years ago were paying a deserved honor to one who had won the respect of other students more than a quarter of a century earlier, who has had the respect, esteem and affection of students in the decade that has followed the publication of that 1934 year book. Courtesy of The Pawtucket Times