Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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SALUTATORY The class of ’35 salutes you and welcomes you. It is our sincerest desire that every one of you will feel that you are one of us. Some of you have trained and taught us; many of you are a part of the traditions which we have attempted to follow and honor; many are parents of graduates or future graduates of our high school. We all have a common bond in our appreciation and love for this institution. Today we are fused into one. To the parents, we express the gratitude now, at last, fully realized. Not only have you given us life itself, but also the counsel, the encouragement, and the desire necessary to surmount its trials and reap its rewards. Without you we are lost. To the faculty, we extend our hands in friendship and appreciation. The labors of our studies are forgotten; the results, we believe will be remembered; the im-measureable benefits will always be evident. We know how tolerant you have been when we lacked interest, how carefully you have explained and solved many of our difficulties, how you have solaced us in disappointment and shared our joys in triumph. We hope you are happy to see us complete our course and sorry to see us depart. We leave with you our deepest respect and most hearty friendship. On this class day, we are reluctant to think of what we should be if we were thrown into the world without the preparation given us. For making our graduation possible, we are grateful to the school administration. We have been given our opportunity, the future will decide how well we may have deserved it. Soon we shall join the ranks of the alumni, adding to them one of the largest classes in Ionia’s history and swelling their number to approximately two thousand. We feel honored to be graduated from a school which has become noted for its high standards in scholarship, athletics, forensic work, and music, because of their various successes. We have endeavored to carry on the traditions they have established and always maintained. If we have succeeded in adding anything worthwhile to our school, as they did, we are gratified with our efforts. This day marks more than the culmination of our efforts. The achievement of the school in graduating another class and the success of our parents in giving us the best in high school training is now a reality. It is not merely our day, it is yours, too. You have given and we have received. We shall do our best to prove deserving. Since you have been so essential to our success, we are truly happy to have an opportunity to express our deep gratitude. We invite you, today and always, to share our joys. 24 —Arthur Mann

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want are vital, ambitious workers willing to work from the lowest to the highest positions. This willingness on our part will be our best weapon with which to compete for our jobs with experienced laborers. We may do good work on our economic problem by developing a richer character. In striving to rise above the average, we will be on the way to a solution of the practical problems of earning a livelihood. After the stones of ambition are in place, we can turn our attention to the development of the quality of understanding and tolerance. Emphasis on the latter would likely do much to lessen the tension between classes that is causing much of the difficulty today. We are told that we are living in the midst of a transitional period, comparable to the Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution. We realize that we should prepare ourselves to meet these changes intelligently. Tolerance in any personality should be a means of getting ready to confront a changing world. One cannot expect to anticipate all problems that may arise in this world of flux and change. It is steadying to remember that life is not a theoretical problem to be solved, but is rather a series of concrete situations to be met. Robert Browning tells us how this should be done. ‘Then welcome each rebuff That turns earth’s smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go! Be our joys three parts pain! Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!” 23 —Hazel Scholtens

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PROPHECY Twenty-five years has elapsed since the graduates of 1935 left the historical building of Ionia. We left with a mixed feeling of gladness and remorse to further fit ourselves for our several places in the world. It was in 1960 with a happy feeling that I came in contact with all of my old classmates. As I was working for a newspaper syndicate, I was assigned to cover a story of the formation of a new city in the southern part of the country that had been named “Newville.” At once I decided to make a hurried airplane trip to this community. We were soaring around a small town. We went lower and lower for we were going to land. The airport, I learned later, had been constructed by an old classmate, Wilson Rochester. Three men came rushing to the plane as soon as we had stopped. The men whirled the plane around, and as I was helped out of the plane, the pilot instructed the chief mechanic, Harold Signs, to check the motor as he was re leave early in the morning. I heard several people talking, and I thought I recognized their voices. As they came nearer. I realized that they were five old classmates, Edward Brown, Stuart Brock, Roland Heim, Carl Higgins, and the mayor of the city, Carl Groening, who had formed a reception committee. Carl told me that the new city should have been called “Class of ’35” as there are so many members of that class living there. I asked him where the telegraph office was, and he said he would take me there. Immediately we were in the telegraph office, preparing to wire the paper ab:ut the strange setting, and there I saw two other classmates, Jane Hoy and Star Miles, who were taking complete charge of the office. As we turned to leave, we met more clasrmates, Hermene Arnold and Jean Curtis, who were running cne of the mos! fa.hionr.ble dress shops in town. I then began search ng for a hotel. At last I saw a mammoth sign, “Newville Hotel.’ I stopped, and was very much surprised to see that the proprietor was William Carbaugh. He began relating the good times that we had at cld I. H. S. Mr. Caibaugh told me that there was a community banquet in the dining rocm and that everyone was invited, and urged Mr. Groening and me to attend the affair. The Jennings Jazz Boys were furnishing the rhythm for the banquet. In the orchestra I recognized Harley Bricker, who was slipping into the hearts of the ladies all over the country with his slide trombone. Next I saw a friend who had always hoped to reach higher levels and to have people gaze with awe and marvel at his achievement. Harold Clark is now an exhibition tight-wire performer, advertising the durability of the products of the Lem-mien. Bliss and Schmidt Wire Company. I was next privileged to meet a renowned discoverer, Robert Dunnett. Mr. Dunnett is owner of one of the largest dairy farms in the United States. On this farm he grows Mexican Jumping beans which he feeds to his cattle, so that instead of getting milk in eight and ten-quart quantities, he gets butter in pound and pound and one half cakes. 25