Hancock Central High School - Echoes Yearbook (Hancock, MI)

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S flr'ru1cli111' ,f'lSl1l'V Friends and Schoolnrates: Our dream, which four years ago seemed distant indeed, is being fulfilled tonigln. YVe are graduating! It is with sincere pleasure that I welcome you to these, our commencement exercises. During our school lile we haye lormulated the pattern of the coming years. though in the beginning we little realized the significance of the diploma we now receiy e. The world. which we in our tllltll are entering. has eyer challenged youth. But today' there are new standards constantly' changing and becoming more precise. The law ol the uniyerse is progress. lNlacaulay' says: A point which yesterday was inxisible is a goal today and will be a starting post tomorrow. Our world is progressing at a rapid pace. It is becoming apparent that it takes a generation or two longer to persuade eyery' person ol its demands on those who seek to start their liyes in profitable and uselul occupations. Many parents, judging by the standards ol' their youth. come to the conclusion that anyone can earn a liying by steady. diligent work. Of course. that is true. Neyer- theless, our ciyilization would neyer hare adyanced had there not been those who yearned lor greater knowledge. As men yearned, they learned: they spe- cialiled and became proficient, with the result that higher standards were auto- matically set. The drilters were left behind to eke out a bare existence. The time has come when man places greater emphasis on exploration by brain rather than by brawn. Our world grasps at truth, now being reyealed by those who dared to plunge ahead. This is the world that faces us, a world in which according to Lowell. New occasions teach new duties: Time makes ancient good uncouth: They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast ol' Truth. lt is in this spirit that we liare l'orward to meet the challenges and oppor- tunities ol' this dillicult, but braye new world. X'Ve recognize the fact that Op- portunity' is no longer haphazard, but particular and demanding. 'l'o her first question. Hate you a high school diploma? we answer in the alfirmatiye as we say larewell to our sheltered school years and leaye behind what is dear and larniliar to us. Nye express our gratitude lo our parents. our teachers. and our t school. XXI' hail the luture uu.rl'r:rid. May we prore ourselyes worthy in the sight ol' our corurtry and our God. -ek C- 5 Ve?i:'s Page thirteen

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HONOR STUDENTS VALQEDICTORIAN SALUTATORIAN K.X'l'llliRINlf CQlfR,Xl,DlNli liU'l'll..X .XSI llfll Literary Commercial 'QS 'R . ,. I W E :SERV E PHILIP MARION MORRIS ESTHER DOROTHY JOHNSON WYILLIAIVIS VEDDER MAKI SMITII IL'uginr'z'riuy Ififvrury I'JIlgl'lll'6'Vfllg CNHI llli'I'UilLl 1fff fl ll CLAIRE LLOYD BURTON NORMA RUTH FELDSCHER RAUTIOLA STERN MICKELSEN JUNTILA I,ifz'rury EllgfIIfK'1'l'I'7lg IL'ngi110f'ring Lilvrrlry 1,ifc':'fn'y ya' Iuv'If'r'

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Wale' lay lx'rlIl11'1'i111' Iioliln Parents, teachers, and friends: For thousands of years men have been seeking and fighting and dying for gold. because gold meant riches. One hundred years ago people of every race, creed, and nationality went to California to search for gold. Some went on horseback, others, by boat, but most of them went over the dangerous mountain passes and deserts by prairie schooners, bravely flaunting their motto California or Bust. The boom was on! Finding gold as thick as dust, they staked their claims and became rich beyond their wildest dreams. However, some found the gold was slipping away. They were the failures who sadly returned to their homes and former occupa- tions to pick up the loose ends of their lives. After a few years came the depression which according to the economic cycle always follows a boom. Now, on the one hundredth anniversary of that famous Gold Rush, we seniors, who are being graduated from high schools throughout our country, are really De- pression's children. However, we are not children of the depression following the Gold Rush, for just twenty years ago these United States were on the skids starting down the slide into the depths of thc desperate depression of the early thirties, and fifteen years ago we had started the long climb back. Between the top and the bottom of that cycle we were born, therefore, we had none of the gold dust which must have been sprinkled on the children born one hundred years ago. We received very few of the luxuries, but we did get the necessities of life to make us strong and healthy at this stepping stone in our lives. When we think ot' the strong character, the fortitude that our parents passed on to us, the faith that they had in themselves, in this country of ours, and in God, to want to make a home and raise a family at a time like that, we want to say to them, Thank you for getting us off to such a healthy, strong, and interesting start in life. Our own Quincy Mine was opened one hundred one years ago. Because mining was our chief industry, we know that very few of the citizens of the Copper Country went to California to seek gold: they stayed in their own yard and mined their own type of gold, copper. That same characteristic came out again in Iron Mountain, when, during the depression of the early thirties, they began to develop the Pine Mountain Ski Hill. THAT was the gold in THEIR back yard. This ski hill, dedicated in 1939, has been the scene of numerous ski jump events, at which many skiers have competed, and some have established local, national, and world records. Our lives are similar to those skiers who compete on the ski hill. The hill itself is like our schools, the E. L. Wright, the Edward Ryan, St. Joseph's, and the High School, all good, substantial structures provided by the citizens of this community through the Board of Education, which give us protective surroundings. To the Board of Education and to the citizens of Hancock we say, Thank you for this second home which we have enjoyed for the past twelve years. Continuing with our picture of the ski slide, wc need skis in which to take part in all events. The skis, which are chosen after very critical inspection, and are smoothed, treated, and waxed with almost loving care by the skiers before being put into actual use in ski jump competition, are like the education which we have received in these twelve years. For, from the kindergarten on through the grades and in high school, we have been watched over, we have been smoothed, we have been soothed. and, yes, we have even been waxed with loving care by our teachers. We know that they have given us a straight and strong grained education on which we can rely as we compete in the life ahead of us. To our teachers we want to say, Thank you for the many lessons you have taught us. ln these school years we have easily and readily taken the slide down the hill to the jump, our high school graduation, which we have now reached. According to our motto, Here endeth the first lesson. Now, as we enter the next lesson and take off into the life ahead of us, some will establish local, some national, and some world records. May God grant that we shall maintain our balance throughout our leap into the future, and that as we land, and complete the circuit of our lives, we shall earn the satisfaction that comes of having helped our fellow men. When our life's record is ended, may the Creator write after our names You have lived the good lifeg you have fought the good fight. I age f0lll l'l'll.