Greenfield High School - Evergreen / Exponent Yearbook (Greenfield, MA)

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10 THE EXPONENT William Ballard was assistant editor, Phil Stearns, business manager and Catherine Putnam and Rob¬ ert Pratt were assistant literary editors. Bob Pratt was inspired with some of the marvellous views on the trip and wrote some poetry about them. As the cold winds started to arrive and the kick¬ off in football came, Leonard Thompson, Edmund Jangro, Reg Pfersick, Francis Kauchinski, Ed Fiske, George Streeter, Paul Corless, Sam Payne and Jack Keefe ploughed the dirt at Green River flying grounds for squadron G. H, S. It was a fine representation for the crew ’24 and in exchange for the “rassberries” received, letters were award¬ ed. Winter had arrived and the mid-year storm hit the dirigible with a thundering crash. Marks of all sorts were imprinted on us all. Some of the weaker ones tottered and fell. Such is.ilife! We again started flying and tried to recover from the storm. Listen! There is the whistle for basket-ball at the Washington hangar. Both boys and girls were answering the call. Madolyn O’Hara, Dorothy Johnson, Isabelle Livingston, Catherine Putnam and Mary Ballard were ringing the bell. The boys of the class who were in the basket-ball lime-light were Reg Pfersick, Ed Fiske, Leonard Thompson and Rolland Reed. Reg Pfersick was one of the highest scorers in the valley. Now and then we received a talk on our con¬ duct on board with the rest of the crews of the squadron G. H. S. We were proud to say that only a few of the crew ’24 received pink meal tickets. Prizes were offered for the best essays on “Advantages of a Public Playground.” Mary Ballard and Sarah Portman strolled up and took the cash. A prize offered for the best essay on “Courtesy” offered by the Kiwanis Club was awarded also to Mary Ballard. As we had been in the air quite a while the English Department offered a prize to the boy and girl of the crew ’24 who could speak the best. All of the crew tried for this. Dorothy Johnson, Ma- belle Farr, Mary Ballard, Irene Daignault and Helen Hurlburt made the finals for the girls. Wil¬ liam Ballard, Francis Alberti, Lawrence Comins and Thurston Munson represented the boys. In the contest for the prize for the girl, Mabelle Farr was successful and William Ballard came out ahead for the boys. Someone hollered “Play Ball!” so we glided down to land and Corless, Kauchinski, Jangro, Pfersick and Thompson clouted the apple to all of the four winds. Sometimes they clouted the wind and not the apple. We then went into the air again. An argument arose between the crew ’24 and the crew ’23 re¬ garding the gasoline tax of our home state. The picked team of our crew consisting of Captain Phil Stearns, Isabelle Livingston, Don Roberts and Catherine Putnam as alternate had it out with the team of crew ’23. After a hot and stormy battle the crew ’23 won from crew ’24. We were all in¬ terested as a gasoline tax would affect our run¬ ning the dirigible ’24. The Spanish class of crew ’23 asked William O’Hara to board their dirigible and take part in a Spanish play. Bill played his part with all the necessary ability. Reports from the dirigible Commercial of the squadron ’24 showed that Ruth Blackall, Blanche Robinson and George Brown were the first of the crew to receive certificates on the Underwood. This report satisfied the curiosity of some of the crew on other dirigibles for they had not understood what the fast clicking had been that had bothered them in the past. Someone said something about “love ” so Reg Pfersick, William Galvin and Ralph Davis made a rush to do the courting with a racquet. In the reports of track Paul Corless, Reg Pfer¬ sick, Leonard Thompson, Fred Burke, and Mowry Hawks took medals to pin on their chests. Some¬ one asked if a cyclone had gone down the track, but they were told that it was Hawks just getting all “het” up for the race. It was getting near time for the crew ’23 to finish their trip, so plans were made to give them a send off into distant lands of the globe. A meet¬ ing was called and Madolyn O’Hara was put in charge of refreshments; Myrtle Atcherson, deco¬ rations; Bill Galvin, music; Thui’ston Munson, printing; Don Roberts, floor. On May 26 the an¬ nual Junior Prom was given by crew ’24 to crew ’23. After final farewells the crew ’23 went on to finish their final lap. In the distance black clouds loomed and all knew that the June storms were about to hit us. They arrived and for a week we struggled and fought them, but at last the kindly light appeared and we were granted a ten week furlough. We were all glad to complete the third jump as it had been a busy trip with many excit¬ ing events. SENIOR YEAR On September 5, 1923, we assembled for the last hop. The crew consisted of about one hun¬ dred and ten mates, sixty less than when we start¬ ed on our flight. Officers of the crew were chosen with Leonard Thompson first pilot, Madolyn O’Hara, second pilot; Marion Wells, lieutenant; Francis Alberti, mechanic and Phil Stearns, assist¬ ant mechanic. We were now on the final lap and much was expected of us. The Exponent always

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THE EXPONENT SOPHOMORE YEAR Early September of 1921 found us ready and v aiting to start on the second lap with forty members unfortunately dropped from the roll call. We organized again and Leonard Thompson was once more the crew’s choice of pilot; “Pinky” Fiske became the second pilot; Helen Schneck, lientenant; Philip Stearns, steward with Pauline Franklin, his assistant. We strutted about grandly in our hangar, for we had had one year of valu¬ able experience now. We did not see very much of the new recruits, for the take-off grounds being filled during the morning, they were obliged to wait until later in the day to start their trip. Not seeing them much was all the more reason why we should give them a reception in order to get acquainted. It was a grand success and, I am proud to say, the biggest reception ever given by any crew. A drive w ' as next made for new members of an association, called S. A. S., to promote activi¬ ties and athletics. The crew of ’24 answered with an enrollment of 90 per cent and chose Francis Alberti and Leonard Thompson for directors. The Exponent was again published with Philip Stearns and Roland Reed assistant business man agers. Donald Roberts was chosen to write about the crew of ’24. Thurston Munson now became cover artist. William Ballard and Robert Pratt entered the authors’ ranks as essayists and many amusing essays were contributed to the Exponent’s Literary Department. Our aviators now wished to participate in ac¬ tivities on the ground. A track team was accord¬ ingly made up, which competed with foreign crews. Ed Jangro, Fred Burke, George Streeter, and Ralph Davis, representing the class, received let¬ ters as a reward for their fine work. We also took part in tennis matches with Ralph Davis, William Galvin, and Reg Pfersick showing their excellent ability in the game of tennis. That fall war was declared against our enemies, the Valley League, and Thompson and Jangro vol¬ unteered, fighting valiantly with the oval pigskin. Jangro’s manoeuvers won him the title of “All- Valley-End.” It was a custom of Commander Smith and his assistants to take several days in which to espe¬ cially impress upon the minds of his crews the necessity of using good English. To this end, we gave a play in which “Good English” and her as¬ sistants captured and overcame “Slang” and all his associates. Winter came around and the cold air currents drove our activities indoors. Many were the thrilling tactics we saw in the Washington Hall 9 hangar with Reg Pfersick, Thompson and Fiske representing the crew of ’24. In December we were allowed a short leave of absence to obtain rest and strength for the great storm of January. Hence we were all ready to weather the dangerous wind and the air currents which so often are disastrous to some of our mates. We righted ourselves at the end of the week and found our mates well represented on the surviving Honor List. We celebrated our glory with plays. One of which a group of boys gave; a very fantastic and fearful play called “A Night in an Inn.” It does not sound fearful but we found it was very deceiving, for there were murderers, thieves, gunmen and a horrible creature with one green eye in the Inn. Oh! it made us shiver! Br-r-r! Not to be outdone by the boys, a number of girls gave a humorous play called “Joint Own¬ ers in Spain.” It concerned two old women who shared a room in a poor-farm, who were always finding fault with each other when they were to¬ gether, but were lonesome when they were sepa¬ rated. The play was very interesting and furnished a fine contrast to the boys’ play. Then those interested in the study of Latin brought us back to the days of old Rome by stag¬ ing a Latin Circus, which was both instructive and amusing. All this entertainment was very fine, but we had still to defend old G. H. S. with the ball and bat. So Corless, Jangro, Bartlett, Thompson, Brown, and Kauchinski joined in helping to uphold the honor of the flying squadron. June came and with it the fiercest storm that ever shook the dirigibles of the G. H. S. But in the end, the winds 9, 8, 7, 6, blew gently against us and we prepared to land in order to take a two months’ vacation to recuperate. JUNIOR YEAR In the early days of September, 1922, the crew ’24 came together for the roll call for the third hop. A few failed to appear as they suffered from the severe storm in June. Forces were or¬ ganized again with Leonard Thompson as first pilot, Helen Toomey, second pilot, Ellen Madolyn O’Hara, lieutenant; Francis Alberti, mechanic, and his assistant, Francis Kauchinski. Officers of the crew for S. A. S. were Irene Daignault, vice- president; Mary Ballard, secretary; Francis Alber¬ ti, director of crew ’24. There was a call from the English department for literary supplies and Catherine Putnam, Mary Ballard, Don Roberts, Philip Stearns and William Ballard contributed. In order to have our crew represented on the re¬ ports of the Exponent, Mary Ballard reported.

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THE EXPONENT 11 relied on our crew to give it the best support. We lived up to this old custom by having a large list of editors on the Exponent board. William Bal¬ lard was editor-in-chief, Philip Stearns, literary editor; Catherine Putnam, squadron and crew re¬ porter; Thurston Munson, illustrator; Lincoln Durkee, athletics; Isabelle Livingston, music; Leonard Thompson, alumni; William O’Hara, grinds; Donald Roberts, exchanges; Marion Cum¬ mings, commercial reporter. Thurston Munson made a name for himself as a literary writer by running a serial story entitled, “The Coming of Don Fylipe.” This story was com¬ mented on by many squadrons in the exchanges as being a fine piece of literature. Munson also contributed short stories and poetry. Mary Bal¬ lard’s story of “Dido” interested many. We were part way through our last trip and the last call for football came, so Edmund Jangro, Leonard Thompson, Reginald Pfersick, Edwin Fiske, Paul Corless, Sam Payne, Jack Keefe, Phil Stearns and George Streeter took their last boot at the pigskin. Edmund Jangro captained the team and Nathaniel Clapp managed affairs. As v»e still needed funds to run the squadron, the ofiicers we elected were Francis Alberti, presi¬ dent of S. A. S., Phil Stearns, treasurer, and crew ’24 directors, Madolyn O’Hara and Roily Reed. In order to pass away the time we gave a few dances but from a financial standpoint we all said “that’s a lot of bunk.” We are willing to leave it to the coming crews the great mystery of why school dances aren’t a success. The dust of the track floated up to us and Mowry Hawks, Paul Corless, Reg Pfersick, Fred Burke and Leonard Thompson couldn’t resist the temptation to kick up their heels and cut up; so they went and helped to capture the banner in order to have it fly over squadron G. H. S. One morning Commander Smith announced that in the first three laps and up to the time of his announcement in the fourth hop that the crew ’24 had the honor of having Clara Almstead, Sarah Portman, Mary Ballard, Catherine Putnam, Helen Schneck, Harriett Russsell, Irene Daignault, Sarah Plantinga, Mabelle Farr, Blanche Robinson, Sam Payne, Robert Pratt, Rockwell Smith, Leslie Ross, Lincoln Durkee, Elmer Taylor, Elmer Osgood, William Ballard, Harold Field, George Richardson, Judson Ewer, and Philip Stearns as Pro-Merito members. This was a list of twenty-two members which is about one fifth of the crew. The crew ’24 felt proud of such a scholastic standing as that in its midst. Fierce winter storms drove us down to Washing¬ ton hangar and thus gave the basket-ball squad a chance to appear. The familiar faces of Roily Reed, Ed Fiske, Paul Corless, Reg Pfersick and Len Thompson were again in the lime light. Len Thompson captained the team and Bill O’Hara was manager. The storms over we again ascended into the air. There was an under current of commotion in the crew and everyone felt that something was going to happen. Shortly afterwards dispatches were sent out to the crew that parts for the annual play of the crew were to be open for trials. The trials over found Madolyn O’Hara had received leading part as Olivia Dangerfield, alias Jane Ellen; Ralph Davis as Burton Crane; Isabelle Livingston as Mrs. Falkner; Marion Wells as Cora; Louise Donley as Amanda; Thurston Munson as Thomas Lifferts; Harold Field as Solon Tucker; William Ballard as Paul Dangerfield, alias Smithersfield; Mary Bal¬ lard as Elizabeth, alias Araminta; Robert Pratt as Charles, alias Brindlebury and Bill O’Hara as Ran¬ dolph Weeks. The play was entitled “Come Out of the Kitchen,” and was played three times. All the cast showed ability as future footlight flashes. We were all satisfied that we had had plenty of entertainment for a while so we settled down to work once again. Soon fine reports came once again from the dirigible “Commercial.” Ethel Clarke, Leona Clapp, Louise Donley, Antoinette Koziski, Felica Prusick and Milton Hescock had received certificates on the Royal. Ruth Martin and Blanche Robinson had received pins for writ¬ ing fifty words a minute. Dora Lillie, Beatrice Lamb and Louise Donley had received certificates on the Remington. Mildred Jackman won a prize- for sealing the most number of letters. The warmth of summer winds began to float, into the staterooms of the dirigible so Kauchinski, Pfersick, Corless, Thompson and Durkee dropped their dime novels and Police Gazettes to take up. the war club for the last time. Captain Kauchinski led his mates to victory in the different battles while Sam Payne managed the crew of fence bust¬ ers. One day in spring as we picked up messages by wire, the message came through that Leslie Ross had won an appointment to West Point and had the highest mark in exams of all the candidates in Springfield. Ross bestowed not only an honor on himself but also honor to the squadron G. H. S. The Modern Language Plays put on by Miss Pease were given in the latter part of April. The players in the Spanish play entitled “Los Pantol- ones,” were Harriet Russell, Bessie Kingsley, Mar¬ garet Fitzgerald, Idell Plumley, Robert Clifford, Elmer Osgood and Donald Roberts. In the Ger¬ man play entitled “Eigensinn,” Harry Shulman, Dorothy Johnson, William Ballard and Elmer Tay¬ lor took part.