Higgins Junior High School - Tatler Yearbook (Thompsonville, CT)

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A. D. HIGGINS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 7 class behold Edmund Rossi, Leon Kupeck, and Donald Comrie, whose work in the Social Studies and Gen- eral Science has been of a very supe- rior quality. It was in these classes that Joseph O’Brien often surprised us by giving information obtained from outside reading. In the field of athletics, Frank Borys, Fremont Oliver, Stanley Ku- peck, and Andrew Jedziniak have brought honor to the Class of ’31. Our teams have been generally successful and the boys have displayed good sportsmanship. We have continued our school clubs with great success. One new club, the Aircraft, was added this year. Corne- lius Laino has been a most valuable assistant in this work for he is not only skilled in the art of making air- planes but also in winning the respect of the club members. The art of letter writing is largely a matter of the person himself. The necessary grammar and words can be secured from books, but the technique and thought must come from the brain and mind. Therefore, we feel justly proud of Edmund Rossi, whose letter to Admiral Byrd was judged the best in the Junior High School Contest. After being forwarded to Washington, it was added to other “best letters” from all over the United States and presented to the Admiral at Detroit. In the School Library this year, Mary Wojnar has performed the du- ties of a Librarian in a most efficient manner. Her aid has been greatly appreciated. We were glad to have been able to use the new books numbering over fifty, which were added since the opening of school in September. We are grateful to the Class of 1930 for their generosity in making this pos- sible. In the Magazine Contest, our class showed great ability in the art of salesmanship. Arthur White led the eighth grade in the number of sub- scriptions sold. We enjoyed the party which was given by the losing team. With the money secured from this “drive” three new sets of encyclope- dias have been purchased for the school. Two teas were served by the eighth grade girls of the Domestic Science Department. This is an innovation this year and it was most instructive and interesting. But the outstanding social event was the picnic at Hartford coming after graduation. We confined our- selves entirely to pleasure and spent the day amid the historic atmosphere of the Capitol and the natural beauty of Capitol Park. While this is a class history we are reluctant to bring our story to an end without a few words about the fac- ulty. It is with pleasure and grati- tude that our class recalls the many helpful talks given from time to time at assemblies by Miss Clancy, our principal. We are grateful to all our teachers for their help and for their interest in each of us. As we leave the Higgins School we will strive to live up to the high standards estab- lished for us as a means of attaining success and happiness. CLASS PROPHECY Seven staunch and loyal members of the mighty class of 1931 decided to return to the scenes of their former triumphs and victories after ten long years of absence. Ten years after graduation from Higgins, they had gone on a picture-making excursion to Tibet. It was June, 1951, when they found themselves sailing far above the earth in the “Apparition ’31,” one of the blimps turned out by the Cornelius Laino Airostat Com- pany. In this party were chief pilot, William Tippett; assistant pilot, Francis Cygan; and mechanic, Horace Harris. Also, Franksly Kazmierski and his assistant, Fred Gizara, who were taking pictures for the Pathe News, Hudson Reed, who was secur- ing data for his book, “The Chinese in Tibet”, and Henry Norian, who had made quite a bit of money selling

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6 THE TATLER thousand nine hundred thirty when our class of one hundred fifty-nine .members entered the eighth grade of the Alvin D. Higgins Junior High School. Now we are graduates, having be- come sufficiently armed with knowl- edge to venture forth upon another stage of our lives. Our memory is still vivid and our recollections for the most part are happy ones as the scenes of this eventful year unfold before our eyes. Upon entering the school, we found a change in the faculty for two new members, Miss Rebecca Gager of the Domestic Science Department and Mr. Robert Walker, our physical instruc- tor, had been added to the staff of teachers. On the second week of October the Student Council was organized. As was the usual custom, officers were elected. They were Leon Kupeck, President; Walter Borys, Vice-Presi- dent; and Helen Wojnar, Secretary. Traffic, Basement, Safety, and Play- ground committees were chosen by the officers with Miss Clancy’s ap- proval. The members showed great interest in their work and strove to obtain the best results for the school. It passed rules providing for the safety of the pupils in winter and the laws were satisfactorily enforced. As the first Student Councils term ended in February, a new Student Council was installed. The officers elected were Leon Kupeck, President; Stanley Kupeck, Vice-President; and Helen Wojnar, Secretary. New com- mittees were again chosen and they cooperated heartily with Miss Clancy to make our school a better organiza- tion. At our first class meeting, we elected Leon Kupeck, president; Mil- dred Taylor, vice-president; Edward Jarose, treasurer; and Helen Wojnar, secretary. In subsequent meetings, we chose for our motto “No End to Learning” and for our class flower, the Talisman rose. We shall mention in this history the names of our classmates who have shown exceptional ability in the var- ious subjects of the curriculum. In dramatics, Edmund Rossi, Henry Norian, Mary Wojnar, and filliam Devine have portrayed unusual acting ability. In our different assemblies, which we all have enjoyed, the above have taken a prominent part. In the Minstrel Show, Leon Kupeck made a splendid interlocutor. In music, we present the names of Donald Comrie, a talented pianist and Charles Calcasola, a gifted vio- linist. They have cooperated most willingly in many of the assemblies and we feel that they have added dis- tinction to the class. In English, Hudson Reed and Donald Comrie have been the leaders. The prize of two dollars and a half in gold for the best Easter story which was later printed in the “Tat- ler” was won by Hudson Reed. Hon- orable mention was given to Donald Comrie, Edmund Rossi, William De- vine and Leon Kupeck. In mathematics, those who were rated the highest are Karol Dubiel, Charles Falzone, Stella Bonk, Benja- min Alaimo, Donald Comrie, Fred Gigara, Alexander Gracewski, Frank- sly Kazmierski, Stephen Gracewski, Kenneth Lebeshevsky, Clarence Moody, Mildred LaGrange, Marion Morrill, Victoria Muzyka, Sophie Petrakis, and Genevieve Ziemian. In art, much talent has been shown by Frances Attardi, Josephine Ankie- wicz, James Apostle, Amelia Chmura, Alexander Gracewski, Rose Kolodriez, Chester Przeracki, Kathleen Quinn, Hudson Reed, Anthony Reveruzzi, Elizabeth Tower, Madeline Sherman, and Genevieve Ziemian. In the Foods class, Margaret Char- ette, Constance Emanuel, Helen Pie- pul, Frieda Legienza, Mary Santa- nelli, Madeline Sherman, Josephine Somceski and Helen Wojnar received the highest marks. In the clothing class, we have a rather long list of names, namely: Rita Fay, Rita Manning, Clementine Baj, Victoria Stavinska, Mary Ze- brow’ski, Mildred Taylor, Frances Attardi, Mildred LaGrange, Frieda Legienza, Alice Pellaio, Serafina Rug- giero, Helen Miodowski, Frances Marino, Madeline Sherman, Steffie Typrowicz, Lena DiSciacca, Stella Zaleski, Barbara Mallard, Elizabeth Tower, Amelia Wasowicz and Hazel Ghabour. As for the real students of the

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8 THE TATLER Austins to the natives. Howard Plank had gone with the party also, but did not return as he had become a famous engineer in Tibet and had stayed to finish a big job. Henry had promised to send him an account of his visit and this is the account which he sent. In an incredible short time, we found ourselves approaching the boundaries of Thompsonville, a flour- ishing city. By the unusual activity of the natives we realized that some festivity was taking place. When we landed at Bednarski Field, we re- ceived a rousing welcome from Stanley Kupeck and Edward Pepek, managers of the airport, and Frank Steward and Clifford Richardson, instructors at the port. We learned from them that it was Old Home Day in Thomp- sonville and all former residents had been invited back. You may be sure we looked forward with great pleas- ure to our first day in our former home. We exchanged our plane for a Holt automobile named after our former classmates, Donald and Carl Holt, and proceeded to the main boulevard. Such signs as Kenneth Lebeshevsky — Law Office, Leon Jedziniak — First Class Shoes, Helen Miodowski’s Beauty Parlor, Celia Bigos — Public Stenog- rapher, brought to my mind our former classmates whom you will no doubt remember too. We arrived just in time to see the parade, the first event of the day’s program, and who should be heading this parade but Mayor James Mirabile, accompanied by Representative Donald Comrie and Senator Edmund Rossi, of Connecti- cut. The chauffeur looked rather familiar to me and certainly he should have for he was none other than Frank Portenski. Next in line came Harry Greaves, Chief of Police, Robert Crane, Chief of the Fire De- partment, Karol Dubiel, Superintend- ent of Schools, and Charles Falzone, Principal of the High School, in a large car driven by Clare Tkacz. The strains of a spirited march reached our ears and attracted our attention to a large truck bearing the name Cardone Trucking Co. In this truck, bedecked in all the glory of their new green and white uniforms, sat an orchestra whose leader was an old classmate, Charles Calcasola. On closer scrutiny I recognized Italy Ruggiero, Joseph Vella, Irvin John- son, Chester Przeracki, Edward Pie- trusza, Peter Pobat, and Matthew Alaimo. We learned that the orches- tra had been playing Rose Schianca’s latest m.arch “Hail to Enfield”. Prac- tically every business in the city was in some way represented in this parade. The floats which interested our group most were: The Oriental Garden from Bigelow-Sanford White Carpet Co., The Modern Home by Szczygiel Construction Co., The Rock Garden by the Elizabeth Brainard Nursery, A Market Garden from Rita Manning’s farm. Pure Milk from Adam Polek’s farm. Safe Transporta- tion by the Oliver Bus Co., Necessities of Life from the Delao’s Grocery Store, Health for all from the Devine Memorial Hospital. This hospital, we later learned, was named after William Devine, a prosperous busi- ness man who had donated money for it. The parade moved through the streets in a very orderly manner due to the efficient work of Lieutenant Alexander Gracewski, and his assist- ants, Frank Anzolotti, Walter Borys, Leonard Ruggiero, and Charles Renna, state officers from the Stafford Springs Barracks. After the parade had passed, we decided to ride around and see what changes had taken place. On the steps of the public library we saw chief librarian, Mary Wojnar, who greeted us with a broad smile and her assistant, Constance Emanuele. We stopped to talk to them as we knew they could tell us about many of our classmates. Here is the information which they gave us. Leon Kupeck is now commander of the U. S. S. Lex- ington, and has on board, Joseph Fiore, Stanley Piorek, Angelo Misur- aca, and Adam Pierz. Rose Kolodriez and Frances Attardi are designers of dresses in New York. Gerlevieve Ziemian and Victoria Muzyka are owners of a dress-making shop in Boston. Mildred Taylor is instructor of physical education in Chicago and several are secretaries for New York business men. Among them are Frieda Legienza, Clementine Baj, Helen Colton, and Stella Czech. Stella Par- velac, Viola Roscoe, Lena Rossi, Viola Santanelli, and Frances Marino, are