Hoopeston High School - Picayune Yearbook (Hoopeston, IL)

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In Memoriam Suzanne Mills My youngest (and only) girl has gone away. It is a little different than we had planned. I had thought to send her to McMurray College next fall, she had thought to go to Normal where all the kids were go- ing. We hadn't decided. Now all our plans have been changed but I am trying to think of them in the same light. It is a numbing feeling of tragic terror which makes me feel cur- iously detached from actualities. This thing has happened to other peo- ple, but surely not to us. Suzy could not die. She was the very essence of life. Gay, carefree -- her life was a joyous experience. Al- though Hoopeston had been kind to my wife and I just the same as any other citizen, Suzy had been accepted with ringing cheers. A friend in every block, a constant jangling tele- phone with the chjt-chat of teenagers, a score of boyfriends bringing tri- bute to her charm. Hers was a generous character. Never did we see indication of sulk- iness or pouting. Instead, when I sat with a worried frown, she would land in my lap with a scurry of feet and flying skirts to say 'Hi yah! Pop.-- smile now- - smile now!' Everything in the world about us is a remembrance. Her new dress that Aunt Mary Jones and her mother just finished but was never worn. Her hair curlers, her trinkets. Every morning when I go to work I'll no longer have a passenger to take to school. I'll never see a pretty girl laughing again without tearing my heart. I'll never look at the watch Ibought Friday without remembering I got it the day she left us. I'll never think of Homecoming without remem- bering her. Every stray cat will remind me of all the kittens she brought home to feed and warm. Every flurry ol flying footsteps will seem to say 'here she comes.' Sheandher date were going down to the University for a dance and Homecoming festivities. He was a freshman there, a conservative boy whom Suzy had played with as a child. Both our families have been lifelong friends. She was to stay at his home over the weekend, where Lina and I had often stayed. We thought this was a date wherein we had guarded every eventuality for her welfare. It seems a parent must contin- ually balance and weigh the privi- leges of their children between re- strictions for their good and an op- portunity for learning how to live. We thought we had made good judg- ment. Her mother took her part way to see that she was off to a safe start. Our last acquaintance with her was a happy one , as she took off with a new dress, a bag full of weekend clothes and a happy shout of laughter. Itwas nice that it was that way--but of course it was impossible to have been different. She was never un- happy. I never remember her saying a critical word to anyone. She loved everyone and the world beside, and she loved to live. Her entry into that Place they tellus is a better one must have been a triumphant one indeed. It was, in my mind, as pretty as a gay host with banners flying and rejoicing on every side. How could it have been dif- ferent? Hers was a spirit undefeated and in the midst of our despair, we humbly thank her Creator for the seventeen happy years we were pri- vileged to know her, and for many many friends who laid aside their own cares to share our sorrows. Reprinted from the Chronicle-Herald October 31. 1955. Frank R. Mills. Editor