Imbler High School - Golden Reveries Yearbook (Imbler, OR)

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Salutatorian Address c ?0 TO KEEP US FREE By Donna Heisner We have come to our graduation from high school in a period of great conflict on many battlefronts of the world. There is no nation, no group of people, not affected by the ravages of war which has threatened the very foundation upon which civilization rests. In fact, in the early period of the war. many of the bravest. and most enduring, feared that the rock upon which the temple of civilization had been built, through the centuries, was about to lx washed down into the swirling waters of the sea of oblivion. In the darkest days of the conflict, when the sun of hope almost ceased to shine for millions of men and women, who had long enjoyed the blessings of liberty and the fruits of prosperity, under government of the people, even in the United States there were those who began to doubt the future. And then out of the ruins of London and Coventry, and out of the hearts anti determination of men and women who refused to bow to the dictators and place upon the gift table of the war gods all the freedoms they had gained through the centuries, arose a spirit—a mighty spirit—to keep us free. Upon the frozen plains of Russia—from the troubled land of China—from th -continent familiarly called the “Land Down Under —across the burning sands of the African desert, from submerged positions far beneath the surface of the mighty oceans, from tin- unseen courses of the sky. came the spirit—a mighty spirit—to keep us free. It was tin spirit of men who had always loved freedom and right and justice. It was the spirit of all of those who had died at all the Gettysburgs and Valley Forges the world has ever known since the beginning of time. It was the collective voice of the heroes of the past speaking to the men and women of today. It was a voice telling us of the present to keep the faith they had fought for on the battlefields of the past—the voice spreading the hope that we might continue to lx- free. The ages have rolled along their course since the beginning of time. Then-have always been those despotic rulers who would cast a cloud across the sky of hope for freedom of the masses. There have always been those who have sought to trample under the heel of the tyrant the poor masses who only seek a fair share for their dividend in abundant living. But the despots have passed with the passing of time. The tyrants have lived but their short day. The rights of the people have prevailed that each passing generation might enjoy the benefits of freedom. There is but one excuse for war. There is but one high purpose men can have in waging conflict. Guided by the lofty purpose that men and women have a right to live under governments of their own choosing, and pursue a way of life fitted to their state of advancement—nations have a right to go to war. And thus we are at war today—to preserve our rights—to keep us free. We have come to the day of our graduation from high school at a period which historians will record as one of great crisis for the rights of mankind. We have come to the day of our graduation when we. t x , as those who survived Coventry. and the other places of attack, hear the voices of the millions who gave their lives in the past that we might enjoy the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Tonight the message has come to us. We realize that America lights to keep us free. We realize that we must serve to keep us free. We realize that our first task ahead is to help bring the present conflict to an end that peace may prevail. We realize the debt we have to pay.

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Our Class UDr By Lloyd German. Senior Class 1943 Twelve years ago the members of tonight’s graduating class launched out upon their career of public education. In many respects we have failed to reach the high standards set by out parents and our teachers. Yet we are glad that they set no lower standards for us than they did. By setting those standards far above our reach we have made more progress than would have otherwise been possible. We have outgrown our own efforts in our endeavor to reach the goals set for us. We have pursued the duties of our school days much as most students do. We can look back now and see where hours have been lost and efforts were wasted. Experience is a dear teacher. There is perhaps not a member of this class hut if the choice were given him would make a wiser use of the educational facilities at his command than he has done up to this time. Time puts wiser heads on tffe shoulders of youth. We come to the hour of our commencement with no apology. We have done the best we could do as we saw it with our inexperienced minds. We have made the most of the opportunities that were given us as we saw our talents to use. We have faithfully pursued the course of study that we might be awarded our diplomas. Yet our diplomas, and the receipt of them has not been our only aim. We have striven to bring honors to our class and to our school. We have striven to uphold the traditions of the school that so many have come to look upon as their high school. We have kept the trust placed in us. We have excelled in the classroom and on the athletic court and field. We have engaged in extra-curricular activities and in int r-sehool contests. We will not dwell upon the accomplishments of the members of this class to parade before you in our egotism that which we think we have accomplished alone. We give them to you that we might honor you. our friends, who have made our laurels possible. Without the splendid school and its courses of instruction offered, without the faculty you have given to guide and direct us, these honors would not now l e ours. So tonight we lay all the honors we have at your feet in tribute to you who have made possible our high school education. The biggest prize, the finest trophy, we cannot place before you for that lies within the recess of our brain, a developed mind that has come through the training we have received, a mind developed to meet the needs of the hour, a mind sympathetic with humanity, a mind hoping for a chance to render through our physical bodies our share of the service the world must have. The class of 1943 thanks you for all that you have done to make our commencement possible.

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Co-Valedictorian Address THAT AMERICA MAY LIVE By Jack Burton We graduate from this high school tonight. We are the products of a free public educational system in America. We have received our training in a public school, which had its beginning many many years ago. When our democracy was set up by our forefathers, it was a recognized fact that a government by the people, of the people, and for the people could not survive unless the people were able to govern themselves. Therefore it was found advisable to establish some governmental system which would help citizens to qualify themselves for self-government. Thus the public school system was established that the American system of government might have a chance to live. At no time in history have young people more strongly realized the greatness of this form of government than in the present age. We realize how deeply indebted we are to those who planned wisely for our education. We also realize how thankful we should lx? that we live in a nation where youth is taught to think and feel for itself. If there ever comes a time when the people of this nation have taken from them the right to be educated in public schools, then the signal of doom will have sounded for the American way of life. Because we speak the same language, because we sing the same songs, lx?cause we wear the same clothes, because we read the same lx oks and newspapers, because we listen to the same radio programs, because we labor for a common cause, we in America understand each other and get along with each other. We learn to work together, to play together, to live together. We learn to love the same institutions. We learn to respect and honor the flag which gives us protection, and guarantees to us the right of life. lilx?rty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today we are engaged in a terriflic struggle which is taxing the loyalty of every citizen of this nation. Forgetting self, we are all working together in one great sweeping movement that America may live, and that there may lx saved for the world a place where men and women and children may live with individual freedom. To bring life to this nation, others made enormous sacrifices of home ties broken, the lonesomeness of a foreign land, the hardships of settling the frontier. I hese were not too great for others to pay to bring life to this nation. The long hard struggle of moulding people of various religions, races, and color into a harmonious way of life was made by those who gave this nation its great strength. Our effort to keep America strong that America may live is surely not too much to ask of any of us. In the past, many have taken it for granted that the library which was theirs would remain without effort on their part. We have asked so much from government and given so little. The nation has been kind to us. But now the tables are reversed. The nation calls upon us to preserve the very liberties which we have enjoyed. To give rather than to take is now our slogan. And we must give. We must give in money, in energy and in service. We must give by enduring hardships and doing without pleasure. We shall meet the crisis as every generation in America has done. This year there is coming out of the high schools of the nation thousands of young men and women awaiting service for their country. As those before us fought to give life to this nation—as those before us fought to preserve this nation, and to nurture it—so we will serve that America may live.