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

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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.

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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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12 THE EXPONENT With but a month to go we all started plugging hard. About the middle of May the greatest schol¬ astic honor that can be obtained in one’s school career, that of valedictorian, was awarded to Lin¬ coln Durkee. Second highest honor, that of salu- tatorian, was awarded to Leslie Ross. Rockwell Smith and William Ballard were next highest in honors. The open competitions for class and ivy songs, were awarded to Judson Ewer and William Ballard respectively. On the evening of June 6, we were given the annual Junion Prom by the crew ’25 and here we met many friends of other crews. We bade all fare¬ well and then sped on to our final goal. Gradua¬ tion, State of Success. We encountered the storms that were final for us. We weathered them well, as for four years we had become quite accustomed to them. We had our banquet, class day and on June 25th we hovered over Graduation State. We glided down and received our honorable discharg¬ es. As we looked back at the dirigible that had carried us through all our storms and troubles there was a feeling of loneliness. We were leav¬ ing it now and would be separated from our old mates. Good-bye G. H. S. Good luck to all of the crew of ’24. IRENE E. DAIGNAULT, ' 24 DONALD J. ROBERTS, ’24 PROPHECY A One-act Drama by ELLEN O’HARA and THURSTON MUNSON The scene opens as Thurston Munson, arrayed in the bizarre fashion of an artist in 1930, unaware of the momentous significance of his act, approach¬ es the booth of MADOLYN O’HARA, Oriental Soothsayer Artist It is a rainy summer night, and as I walk along in the bright moonlight. I’m wondering how and where and why my friends are friends and when they’ll die and what they do and about their line, when all at once I spy a sign that says in letters strong and bold; “Come here to have your fortunes told.” I’ll go right in and sit me down and calmly wait and gaze around. (Madolyn enters with an air of mystery) (aside) She’s a funny girl with her muf¬ fled face; reminds me of the Hindoo race. Soothsayer You needn’t say a word to me; I know just what you came to see: just what your friends so dear and drear are doing; so just listen here. (She puts the magic scroll in operation.) There is one Alberti in your crowd of whom you can be justly proud, for he is a struggling artist now, who has for a model Ruth Blackall. And when his finances take a drop, he visits Ballard’s great pawn shop. He receives his ticket and his mon’ from the bookkeeper, Florence Atcherson. The money he must use to ward off starvation, so he rushes to Grace Baker’s delicatessen. On Sun¬ day we see Francis, free from suspicion, walk bravely into Clara Almstead’s mission. And there on the wall in letters so tall, is a welcome sign, which makes his eyes shine. “Absolutely no collec¬ tion,” it said, “By order of Mary Ballard, chief head.” You see Mary’s making her time well spent; she’s a social worker of the best intent. Artist Surely, you’re not trying to kid? However, tell me what the others did. Soothsayer Then you remember Freddie Burke—always at work, ' lever could shirk—Johnny-on-the-spot, ready to lielp a lot? Well, he has had n.any a tumble and toss. His detective, Barbara Borth- wick, and he are striving as hard as hard can be to find out ‘‘The intricacies, intractabilities, and idi- osyncracies of the primordial of the perturbable fiery cross ” Artist Well, that sounds like Freddie; such a stuclent,. you know, and always ready. Soothsayer For speakers tonight we have written down Harold Brocklesby and George Brown, appearing shortly after dark, accompanied by their secretary, Ethel Clark. The subject is bound to make a hit, being “The long and short of it.” Artist On my word, that’s surely news! I’ll look them up and get their views.