George C Marshall High School - Columbian Yearbook (Falls Church, VA)

Page 129 text:

STUDENT LIFE 125 Opposite: Brown paper wrapped around a caf¬ eteria pole, initialled hearts taped to it and green streamers create a tree for the park. Above: Students groove under the crepe streamer roof to “Here Comes the Sun”. Left: Dancers swing to “Jesus is Just All Right with Me” as the band plays it for the fourth time. GCM

Page 128 text:

GCM 124 STUDENT LIFE “Saturday in the Park” was the nostalgic theme of the sophomore- sponsored Sweetheart Dance. The first school dance of 1973, this Val¬ entine’s Day affair was held on Feb¬ ruary 10 in the charmingly de¬ corated cafeteria. Dancers jived to the music of “Boxcar”. Attendance at the past few school dances had been weak; the Sweet¬ heart gathering was no exception. This cannot be said to be the fault of the sophomore class, for they did try their best to spark interest and to recruit couples. Elaborate decorations con¬ structed by the Class of ’75 were worthy of a far more successful dance. To interest the eighty or so couples that turned out were large murals. One huge mural, in particu¬ lar, depicted a balloon man and small impish children in the “park”. At the entrance to the dance was a small wooden bridge; at the refreshment area picnic tables were set out to add to the park feeling. Near the band was a fountain, and in the far corner was a small garden scene graced with tiny animals and artificial grass. When the court was presented the underclassmen lined up on small hearts. The underclass girls were juniors Cathy Brock and Paige Heishman, sophomores Kath¬ leen McClosky and Suzanne Ren- froe, and freshmen Lisa Grey and Patty Verbano. Senior court members sat on wooden swings that were suspended from the ceiling. Senior Vicki Brock was queen; swinging on either side of Vicki were Karen Anderson and Wendy Veselick. The most memorable decoration was a roofing of pink and red streamers that were strung over the band. The streamers remained in place long after the dance, and ev¬ eryone was able to appreciate them during lunch.

Page 130 text:

Fantastic new heights of fervor, aided by an unprecedented number of new converts, were reached by the local denomination of the new national religion. A new set of idols, cast off in other areas of the country as too old, super¬ seded all their important rivals. Brought together by the Saint of Los Angeles, in his second year here in Washington, the idols swept Marshall along with the rest of the D.C. area. But early in 1973, Washington’s Olympi¬ ans fell to the all-conquering gods of Miami. The Redskins’ 11-3 regular season record was their best since World War II. In the playoffs, George Allen’s recycled veterans incredibly held the potent offenses of Green Bay and Dallas to a total of 6 points, while the Redskins’ offense, led by fill-in quarterback Billy Kilmer, ate up huge chunks of time in long sustained scoring drives. “Redskins” became a combination Good Housekeeping seal, surefire ad promo, iden¬ tification as socially knowledgeable, and sign of support on all kinds of goods. Redskins caps and jackets appeared on little boys, un¬ sure if the quarterback should be one-fourth of the back to the fullback; and on their fa¬ thers, reliving the touchdown they scored their senior year in high school. The Redskins became common denominator for public fig¬ ures ranging from Nixon to Art Buchwald. Bur¬ gundy and gold sprung up everywhere, becoming a definite status symbol. Posters of Redskins stars sold with every Larry Brown 100 yard touchdown reception.