Huntingburg High School - Optimist Yearbook (Huntingburg, IN)

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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

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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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1929 THEOPTIMIST vacation at the ranch. The Mrs was no other than my old friend, Lorna Whitten and I spent a delightful quarter of an hour with these three former classmates. Soon I was able to take the air again and we sped on to St. Louis where I talked with Marjora Dufendach. head of a large manufacturing concern. I found her happy and greatly interested in her career as a high-salaried business executive. From St. Louis I proceeded to Huntingburg where. as is usual in such cases. some of the members of the class had stayed. Edwin Katterhenry was a prosperous farmer: Cleo Brooner was home for a few days visiting relatives and friends. She was very happily married and was living in Florida: Edna DeBruler was also happily married to the president of a bank: Albert Messmer had a monoply on the farm produce business in Southern Indiana and was making money: Marvin Brown, after long absence. had come back to the old town with his wife, Alma Hartke and had accepted a position as superintendent of the public schools. Time was growing short and after spending only a few hours in Huntingburg. I made a flying trip to Washington, D. C.. to interview Mary Alice Bartlow. secretary of the United States Treasury. She gave me just three minutes of her precious time and sent me on my way to find the junior senator from Indiana, Bernadine Klosterman. Of course, Bernadine had changed her name since graduating from high school but, for political reasons. she was using her original cognomen at the time of my interview with her. Wilma Martin had been her faithful secretary and brilliant pub- licity manager since she had embarked on her policital career. Completing my errand in Washington, I made ready for the trip back to New York. Two of the girls. Mildred Milton and Georgia Mae Oskins. were in Europe and I was not able to see them. Mildred had married one of her professors in college and. as he was an archeologist, they were explor- ing ruins of prehistoric cities in Southern France. Georgia Mae had married an English duke and was having domestic troubles galore. The story that appeared in the Herald was a knockout and I took a month's vacation for I had travelled, interviewed and had written for a week almost day and night. A7 ,VI its xxj' lj' CLASS POEM ,29 A fewtmore days, until the glaring headlines proclaim, An unblemished narrative of ambition. industry and worthy aim. For the class of '29 goes out onto the highway of life, To View the world. unbiased, e'en its hardship, and its strife. Of this group, each and every one must be known, In order that his mettle, to this disconcerning world be shown. Commanding this list is our president, widely known as Don , Good-natured, energetic, kind, -lforever, and anon. Theres Russel Armstrong, that disciple of learning, Alone with Erwin Schaffer, for greater knowledge yearning. Also, there is Red , the only boy from Ferdinand, With t'Habus Strolin, who knows his slight-of-hand. You all know Mary Alice, daughter of the Superintendent, And Cleo Brooner. with beauty and attractiveness resplendent. Do not neglect Georgia Mae, without her the class could not exist, Then include Edith Wade and Syvilla Renner in this potent list. Page Twelve