Huntingburg High School - Optimist Yearbook (Huntingburg, IN)

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C xv if ii 1929 THEOPTIMIST ' CLASS PROPHECY I had just pounded out on my typewriter an account of how Lieut. John Hughes Clappe, a plucky young aviator, hero of a thousand thrilling escapades in the air, had just finished a non-stop airplane flight from New York City, around the globe and back to New York City. By some 'clever news reporting and with Lieut. Clappe's personal assistance, our paper had scored a scoop over the other newspapers of the city and we were rush- ing thru the press a twelve page extra , telling all about the sensational llight around the globe. As I handed my part of the amount to the city editor, he remarked that it was somewhat of a coincidence that Lieut. Clappe and the designer of his plane. E. J. Gress, should come from the same little Indiana town, and that I. also from the same town and close personal friend of both these heroes. should be the first to write an account of their achievement. I hastened to say that I did not regard the incident as unusual at all: that after being a member of the class of '29 in Huntingburg High School one could hardly help being great. To emphasize my point, I told him of some of the others, old friends of mine and members of the class, who were doing great things for the whole world. That must have been a wonderful group of students, he acknowl- edged. Suppose you get us a write-up about the class for a human interest story in next Sundays Herald. while they are still talking about this flight of Lieut. Clappe's. That's some assignment, I said to myself but I agreed to do my best to locate the members of the old class and to find out what they were doing. For assistance I called on my friend, Erwin Schafer, also a member of the class of '29, who has recently been installed head of Radio Corpora- tion of America. He and I took dinner together for the sake of old times. and I had no difficulty in getting the cooperation of his huge chain of broadcasting stations in finding my old friends. That very night we sent out a message every half hour to the mem- bers of the class of '29, asking them to telegraph the New York Herald at once and at our expense. telling us where they lived and what they were do- ing. By midnight, we had received messages from every member of the class or. in a few instances. from their friends or relatives. The next morning, I obtained the use of one of the fastest planes and one of the most skilled pilots in the employ of Gress Airlines, Incorporatedu and spent the remainder of the week in interviewing some of the most promi- nent members of the class. Our first trip was to Chicago, where I met Arlie Spurlock, producer of the hit of the musical comedy season, starring Claretta Beckman, Don Frick. and Cornelia Myers. I talked to these four for several minutes and found that the boys had stayed single, though both girls were happily married. However, they would not reveal the names of their husbands be- cause of business reasons. Before leaving Chicago, I ran across Willis Randolph and Herbert Strolin, headliners on the vaudeville stage. who were taking the town by storm with their singing, dancing, and clever im- personation of Mutt and Jeff famous comic strip artists. Finally I bade good-bye to these old friends and hired a taxi to take me out to the very exclusive Harris Sanitarium, owned and operated by Dr. C. J. Harris. Dr. Harris was in consultation over a very important case at the time of my visit and I did not get to see him. However, I was permitted to visit the bedside of tne now famous Hon. Russell Arm- strong, noted lawyer and reformer, who had been shot down in an attempt to clean up the Chicago underworld. His nurse, Edith Wade was slowly Page Ten

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THEOPTIIVIIST 1929 sponsibilities were greater. A few members held positions on the Optimist Staff, and on the basketball teams. Several Juniors took part in the operetta, The Maid and the Middy, that was given in the fall. September again! This time we acquired the honorary title of Digniiied Seniors! It was the best year of our school life. There were forty-six members of the class of '29 who were graduated, namely, Pat Arensman, Russell Armstrong, John H. Clapp, Donald Frick, Edgar Gress, Everett Harris, Marvin Brown, Arthur Aufderhar, Carl Holst, Ray Horney, Raymond Katter, Edwin Katterhenry, Orlan Lett, Dwight Maxey, Albert Messmer, Edward Metzger, Hilbert Milton, Roy Mundy, Gordon Parks, Willis Randolph, Erwin Schaffer, Wilfred Sermersheim, Arlie Spur- lock, Herbert Strolin, Ervin Spurlock, Mary Alice Bartlow, Lelah Black, Cornelia Bretz, Cleo Brooner, Marjora Dufendach, Edna DeBruler, Alma Faris, Alma Hartke, Marguerite Heim, Grethel Kahle, Bernardine Kloster- man, Wilma Martin, Mildred Milton. Alma Mundy, Cornelia Myers, Georgia Mae Oskins, Amelia Reckelhoff, Syvilla Renner, Edith Wade, Lorna Whit- ten, and Claretta Beckman. This class has the honor of being the largest class that was ever graduated from old H. H. S. During this year Pat Arensnian rejoined our class, Mary Alice Bartlow came from Vincennes, and Russell Armstrong came from Evansville, to be a H. H. S. graduate. Louise Gercken withdrew. The officers of the class were: Donald Frick, Presidentg Russell Arm- strong, Vice-Presidentg and Claretta Beckman, Secretary-Treasurer5 Mr. McCoy, class advisor. Our class rings and pins were decided upon and ordered immediately after the opening of school. The sweater which designated the rank of Senior is scarlet with a gray monogram in form of a shield, containing a scarlet lion fthe school embleml. The Senior class was well represented in the many activities of the school. Six members of the girls' basketball squad were Seniors, namely, Amelia Reckelhoff, Bernardine Klosterman, Wilma Martin, Georgia Mae Oskins, Lelah Black and Marjora Dufendach. Six members of the boys' basketball squad belonged to the Senior class: Roy Mundy, Dwight Maxey, Hilbert Milton, Wilfred Sermersheim, Ervin Spurlock, and Marvin Brown. The Optimist Staff was composed mainly of Seniors, Gordon Parks being editor. Many of the members belonged to the musical organizations of the school, such as, the Glee Clubs, Orchestra and Band. Three members of the Drum Corps were Seniors: Claretta Beckman, Cleo Brooner, and Cornelia Myers. Lelah Black and Roy Mundy received the medals given by the Kiwanis Club for being the best sports during the basketball season. Mary Alice Bartlow won the County Oratorical Contest. Roy Mundy, John H. Clapp and Edgar Metzger were members of the track team. Several members participated in the typing contest that was held at French Lick. The class play entitled, Educating Estheri' was given May 2, 1929, under the direction of Miss Douglas. The most important social event of the year was the Junior-Senior Reception, May 16. Finis. Page Nine

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THEOPTIMIST 1929 nursing him back to health and it was rumored that they are to be married next June. By the time I got back into town, it was almost twelve o'clock and I took lunch in one of Ray Horney's chain of hotels. Of course, I was not able to see the proprietor since he was on a trip to Paris to get new ideas and information about the hotel business. I need not add that the lunch was just right . After lunch, I took to the air again and after an hour of flying, landed in the spacious lawn of a beautiful country estate near Kansas City, which belongs to Arthur Aufderhar. Arthur has been an outstanding success in the raising of purebred cattle but he gives all the credit to his wonderful little wife, the former Alma Faris. The Aufderhars were as glad to see me as I was to see them but I had no time to lose and I soon em- barked for Denver to visit Dwight Maxey, head of the Colorado Prohibi- tion Enforcement Department. I found Dwight to be the same jolly fellow that he always was and I also found that he was employing a very practical method of enforcing prohibition. However, his method must be kept an absolute secret and I shall say no more about that. My next stop was Hollywood where I found a large group of my friends. Among the stars, I encountered were Marguerite Heim. who had married her publicity manager, Carl Holst, and had retired from the screen, and Grethel Kahle, and Hilbert Milton. Hilbert, I learned had eloped, many years before, with one of the tight-rope walkers in a circus that came through Huntingburg but long since settled down to become Harold Lloyd's successor in the movies. I also found Edward Metzger and Amelia Reckelhoff in Hollywood do- ing a Happy Married Act and editing a number of magazines dealing with physical culture and kindred subjects. Leaving Hollywood, I visited Ervin Spurlock and Roy Mundy football coaches in Leland Stanford and the Southern California Universities, re- spectively. The rivalry between their teams had become intense but a prominent fact about their contests was that sportsmanship was always the keynote. Ervin took me out to his beautiful little home in the suburbs where I met his wife whom I recognized as Syvilla Renner. While visiting Roy at the University of Southern California. I learned that Lelia Black was the U. S. Ambassador to China and that Roy had steadily kept up his courtship on every opportunity but that, so far. she had refused him until she should finish her career , Arriving in the Southern part of California. I found Pat Arensman and Wilfred Sermersheim partners in the real estate business, developing the valley of death and selling millions of acres at live-hundred dollars an acre. Leaving the boys hard at work, I journeyed to the Mt. Wilson Observ- atory and found Professor Orlan Lett so deeply absorbed in a thesis he was writing on that composition of certain spectra that he did not recognize me and all that I got out of his conversation was information concerning light waves and his new theory on inter-planatary communication. Pro- fessor Lett had married Alma Mundy some years before but she was forced to get a divorce because he became so absorbed in his work that he forgot he had ever married her. Alma later removed to Indianapolis, where she established herself and made good as an interior decorator. In an out of the way place in New Mexico my pilot and I were forced down on account of a terrific sandstorm and as luck would have it, we landed only a few rods from the beautiful old Spanish ranch-house of Cornelia Bretz's Dude' ranch. Here too, another pleasant surprise awaited me for I found Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Katter spending their Page Eleven