Elk Grove High School - Elk Yearbook (Elk Grove, CA)

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6, 'M Stanley R. Gage CC1erkj I-Icnry L. Ehrhardt fPresidcntD John Schulze P. B. Smith George W. Lee

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Xcf rg x ,W I' X -R, , , , YLHE 1uLlx fit On rainy days, and believe me, we used to have some rain in the years gone by,-my father, Mr. john Duffy, used to take his two-seated covered wagon with a double team and gather in all the boys and girls in his neighbor- hood to take to and from school. We piled in regardless of numbers, the more the merrier, and enjoyed the trips in the rain very much. By the end of the second year only eight were left to form the Pioneer class of 1896. Vifhile we were not particularly remarkable in many ways, still some of us had very marked characteristics worth mentioning. Lester Ever- son was our class wit, and his interpretations of Shakespeare were worthy of a better fate than usually befell them 3 he was also quite an artist, especially when it came to drawing skull heads that would make your blood run cold with their diabolical grins. But poor Lester had one failing-he couldn't al- ways understand the latest fad in feminine apparel, and unthinkingly accused Miss jane Herrick of appearing at school in an improper garment. Freddy Sehlmeyer was our Hsweeti' boy for he was always devouring quantities of candy and as he was very generous in sharing it with the girls, it is unnecessary to state that he was popular. Arthur jenkins had one fixed rule and that was : -always to come in late. He was also quite a politician in those days and a warm champion of women's rights. l-le shared the honors with Clinton Kerby in being very gallant to the young ladies. Clinton was also clever at writing sentimental notes and kept all our hearts in a flutter as to who would get the next one. Stanley Gage was noted for his brilliant recitations, especially in his English when called on to quote from the Bible. He and Lester were kindred spirits in mischief making, and between them managed to keep life from becoming dull and stale. And what shall I say of the three girls? Eva Kerr was supposed to be extremely studious, but was not averse in indulging in some wild pranks, or even enjoying a flirtation with the opposite sex. Lelia Hunt and May Duffy were just a pair of giddy, happy girls, sharing their joys and sorrows together: they furnished the incentive for most of the jokes and pranks perpetrated by the boys of their class, but as they seemed to enjoy the most of them, no har1n was done. So ends the history of the Pioneer Class of 1896, and we hope that our friends will forget our little failings and only remember some of the few virtues that we possessed. --Mary liully Rhoades, Class of '96. S ul

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I I , Lf-1 r 1 ' 1 - ,.,,,v5i'-H ' V fP,.wQi. ff -'fu id- TL J lid N lt Hx A Glimpse Into Our Past 1 wish that there might be hung in some conspicuous place in the Elk fwrove High School, a bronze tablet with these names inscribed upon it: Dr. J. A. McKee Julius Everson 10561111 KCFI' james T. Chinnick 10561511 1'l?1S1112l11 Alfred Coffman How many of you young people now attending this school, indeed how many who have been enrolled here during the past fifteen years, ever heard those names, or know what they mean to you? But those names should be familiar to, and held in honor by, every boy and girl who has ever attended the Elk Grove High School. It was through the untiring efforts of those men, nearly thirty years ago. that this high school, the first union high school in California, was established. Five of those men had received no higher education than that obtained in the common schools of their times, and some of them very little of that, two were foreign born. Still, they gave freely of their time and money, that this high school might be established, and the boys and girls of the country dis- tricts have the advantages of a higher education. Of the six, but one is now living, Dr. J. A. McKee, now of Sacramento, who was the first person to give serious thought and action to the establish- ment of a high school in Elk Grove. This was in the early nineties. Many parents in the community had ex- pressed a wish that such a school might be established here, and their boys and girls receive an education without being sent away from home. It was long before the high cost of living had struck this land, but times were not nearly so prosperous then, as they are now, and there were very few who could afford to send their children away to school. ln 1892, Dr. 1XlcKee had taken a few steps to arouse a general interest in a high school, but a disastrous fire occurred here that year, in which his papers were destroyed and which seriously affected several of the business men of the placeg and the matter was dropped until the following year, when Dr. NcKee's attention was called to a bill just passed by the legislature. lt was the Union High School act under which we are working today. He immediately went to work on the subject, and enlisted the aid of three other men,-Julius Everson, joseph Hasman, and james T. Chinnick, all business men of Elk Grove. These four men were able to see many people and discuss the project with them. A ln the spring of 1893, a meeting was held in Toronto Hall, and the subject discussed. They then secured the services of Mr. Alfred Coffman, a trustee of Old Elk Grove District, and a man who, though having had very little school- ing in his boyhood, took a deep interest in promoting education among the boys and girls. Mr. Coffman drove through eighteen districts, interviewing all the resi- dents and trying to convince them of the advantages that a union high school would be to their community. He asked the head of every family to sign his name to a paper, stating whether he was in favor of, or opposed to, the move- ment. Dr. McKee carefully arranged that, in Mr. Coffman's campaign. Elk Grove was kept the central point of the territory canvassed. The opposition which the recent campaign for a new high school met, viv- idly recalled -those days of 1893, when interest was waxing warm in the estab- lishment of the high school. Mr. Coffman met with many rebuffs, which sometimes really amounted to insults. Nine