Girard College - Corinthian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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aymond. {J. zHcls. e.[[ June 11, 1959 Dear Class of 1959: Per aspera ad astra. (Through difficultes to the stars.) That’s the way you feel about graduation from Girard College on this last day of your many years here. Happiness is a by-product achieved from work well done. At last you have come to the turn in the road. You now see the rising of the brightest of all morning suns, and with it comes the glory, the beauty, and the promise of a new day — a new career. How lucky you are! You have survived the difficult weaning from your home and mother when she turned her back to leave you here for the first time eight or ten years ago. Despite the rough hours of ' ' taking it, as all boys have to in group living, and the blows and burdens that God’s character-making plan brings in early adolescence, you have kept your shoulder to the wheel well enough in studies and behavior to survive every test here and accomplish graduation from one of the most famous boys’ schools in the world. Congratulations! Today you have a strong sense of newly found freedom. Tomorrow you will begin a new life in which you can go and come and perhaps do (for a while) just as you please. We earnestly hope you will assume the responsibility of continuing and extending the precious traditions of Girard College, which have been built and fostered by Girard boys and alumni for more than a century. You are the heirs today of this magnificent tradition which represents character, conduct, and capability. How will yon represent it in the years to come? We hope that in a large measure you will live by the ideals and habits we have tried to inculcate among you. Exercise them and they’ll serve you well in furthering your education and in living right in our democratic society. You are the possessors of a rare kind of self-discipline which most young people these days do not have. We believe that you possess exceptional qualities of heart and mind. We believe that you will exercise benevolence towards all mankind and uphold the sacred rights of con¬ science and duty embodied in our country’s constitution. That’s what the Founder desired very much. Affiliate soon with your chosen religious group and join our Alumni Association, which is one of the most loyal, most generous, most genuinely American groups of trained and successful men you will ever meet. Stand by your family, your school, your country, come ivhat may. Be optimistic! That is my message to you, one of the best classes ever to be graduated here, upon its parting day. Carry on, and God bless you all. Very sincerely, Raymond D. cdfaiMC A 22 b

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Social Li IV rged on by the firm guidance of our Social Directress, Miss Miriam McGhee, our social education was thrust upon us during the Sophomore year in the form of ten dancing les¬ sons and the well-remembered Coke Party. We were strictly who with the moral support of our sponsors somehow asked the girls to dance with us. Not until our second party in the Junior year did we discover the pleasures of dancing. With the confidence and grace of experience we entered a new ' social world. The two Battalion Dances and the Bordeaux House Party w ' ere high points of the year. The Senior year was, of course, filled with numerous opportunities formal and informal to enjoy Miss McGhee’s training: the Swing Band Dance, the private parties, the Lansdowne Y, the two house parties in Allen Hall, the Victory Dance for the soccer team, dinners for various groups of which w-e were members, the Battalion Dances, and finally the Commencement Dance. At the outset of our Junior year our hosts and hostesses were Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hartman, Miss Juliet E. Stacks, and Mr. Robert Bush. To our disappointment Mr. and Mrs. Hartman and Mr. Bush left Girard at the end of our Junior year. We w ' ere pleased when Mr. and Mrs. Caswell E. MacGregor and Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm J. Nicholson agreed to replace them. Our final year at Girard w-as pleasantly colored with these memorable affairs and relationships. They w ' ere a welcome solvent for the ceaseless routine of studies and examinations. They were the sauce to the work of our Senior year. Before we realized it Commencement Day had arrived; we had been feted with a dinner and a dance and no longer would Miss McGhee be arranging our social schedule and making life enjoyable. We owe her a great deal for the burdens she accepted to make it all possible, and thank her sincerely. 21 b

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Seniors Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” — Francis Bacon