Edwardsport High School - Power Blazes Yearbook (Edwardsport, IN)

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THE GREAT FIRE F. E. Ward At night, November 10, 1951, in the early moming hours just before dawn, the Ed- wardsport School burned to the ground. What had been a wonderful place as school closed for the week on Friday evening was nothing but rubble and ruin on Saturday was ushered in on a beautiful day. lt all happened within an hour as far as the people were concernedg and the building, which for years was the pride of the town, now stood in smouldering ruins. Fire in a few short moments can change a lot of things, and the Edwardsport School felt the brunt of its fury quickly. Nothing was left but wall, brick, rubbish, twisted cables and pipe, and they began to fall as the flames died out spending their last licks on the life inside. The once proud school now looked as if it had been bombed by a murdering air raid, and as far as remains go, it now could easily pass for the ruins of the Colosseum of an- cient Rome or all that was left of a prehistoric city after'the wear and tear of the erosion of centuries. People were stunned by the suddenness and the completeness of their loss. Their school plant, massive and imposing, had been the whole city square. Parents of the stu- dents who were now in school had graduated from there, and even grandparents had re- ceived their education on the same SDOI. Everyone knew how the place looked inside and out as it had grown throughout the years. Now, in the flicker of a few moments, it was gone,--everything, and all that was left were memories and tears. The only thank- fulness was that the building had not been full of youngsters when the conflagration broke out. The boys and girls were trained in fire drills but some child might have darted back in unnoticed to save a choice possession or have slipped unseen into a cor- ner as the wave of excited youth surged out. All the children are left, even if the home is not, and soon on the ruins we expect a better and more modern building which will be the best that money can buy. Everything in the line of school equipment was lost in the holocaust, except the athletic uniforms and materials stored in the far comer of the gymnasium. Everyone in school had school books, now they have none, Some books were at home, but for the great majority, their equipment would be only a pen or pencil and very little paper. Typewriters, office machines, sewing machines, stoves, refrigerator, deep freezer, dishes, science apparatus, musical instruments, homs, pianos, moving picture machine and books are all gone. The new scoreboardwhich had been used in but one game went down and up in the flames. The food lockers were full of food, the deep freezer was packed with meat, and the desks of teachers and students were loaded with many highly prized possessions. All those things are no more.We must build from the bottom up. But we do have the students, and they are the most important things in any school. The past has gone. There were records in the safe that dated back into another century. The fire was so hot that it melted steel and consumed the pages that had been written by many people, and which recorded the progress of hundreds of others. But that is all history. The records of the presentstudents are duplicated in Mr. Allen's office in Vincennes. They are preserved, and no student will lose a single credit or be denied the work he had done. Everyone lost something in the fire. It may have been little or much. Some suf- fered more heavily than others. They lost musical instruments on top of all their books, but they had more to lose. Fire is no respecter of persons or things. But even if it is, it did not get what we all should cherish the most.--Life and Spirit--. Yes, we have our lives left, and we are thankful. We have our school spirit left. No fire can bum that out. We have our separate identity preserved as a school. Nothing shall ever happen to the Edwardsport School, We shall go on and be Edwardsport. Some dlay vilae twill be back in a new building which can and should be build bigger and better t an e ore. 3

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Q Edwardsport building The burning building Nov. 10, 1951 K, ,i-huM.nm.N-mwxil.-bmp-i .Mmm-wwWWu.,,aM,,,Wv,.,. .,i.i i.,.m,m-few-M-f Edwardsport School after the fire 2

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Some good can come out of every tragedy, and it will this one. People will be bound closer together. Reallzations of the importance of things we have will be pic- tured more clearly to all of us. New friends will be made. We shall see how much people really can and will do for others.We shall see how much we can get along without and still make us realize more fully the blessings and oDPOrtunities we have had, and those which are temporarily taken away. We do not miss a lot of things until they are gone. We sometimes fail to appreciate how much we have when we have it and miss it much when it is taken away. Then, we wake up and are ready to fight, to struggle, and to work to get it back. We should prayerfully givea vote of thanks to Sandbom, Westphalia, the Brick, the school officials, advisory board members, teachers, and all the people who have taken us, the homeless, in. We appreciate their wholehearted cooperation, and their sacrifices that we know they have made and are making. We cherish and love them for their in- terest in all of us. No one could treat us any better and we could expect no more. If a like tragedy ever befalls you, I hope we could do as well as you have done unto us. We shall do our best to show them the best that there is in us and prove ourselves worthy of their efforts. We shall carry on and come out on top greater and better than before. To everyone who has helped us in any way we give our grateful thanks. We can never repay everyone in money but goodness had its own reward. The Bible says, 'For no greater love hath man than this that he give up his life for his friends. All in some measure have done and are doing that in your greatest possible way. To all our friends we salute you. And if ever in our life time we can help you, feel free to call on us and we shall do our best. Where do we go from here? Forward--as we always have done. We have spirit, we have health,we have life, and now we have a temporary place to go to school. We are still the Edwardsport School.With all our fine boys and girls, our many friendly parents and loyal alumni, our excellent group of teachers and school officials, and our many friends, we have the world before us, and we shall succeed! 4