Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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From the Church should come high ideals and the spiritual satisfaction that comes from right liv- ing. Senator Tobey during the Kefauver hearings called on the people to seek religious inspiration and predicted that through a return to religious prin- ciples “we will have a nation in which ‘dwelleth righteousness’ and before God, it is high time!” In the school more stress should be placed on development of sound character through a respon- sible attitude towards work on the part of the stu- dent. Many irresponsible pupils try to slide by with doing as little honest work and putting in as little time as possible in order to receive their diplomas. But a diploma should mean more than just sliding by. It should represent a key to the future which has been earned by honest perserverance, and it should be a symbol of a sound character as well as of academic achievement. So far as the teen-ager, or anybody else for that matter, is concerned, morality, like charity, begins at home. Sara Henderson Hay in her sonnet has expressed it well in these words: CLASS HISTOJRY CLASS HISTORY By EVELYN KARALIAS “When I, with bitter tongue, denounce those crimes Which man commits against his fellow men, And say he makes a shambles of the times. And list his evil deeds again, again; Cry he is ruthless to achieve his ends, Say he is cruel and greedy and unwise, That he betrays his honor and his friends, At my own door the accusation his. For I am part of the great body of Man And in my breast there lodges all I blame, Diminished merely in its scope and span, In its essential qualities the same. Between the world’s and my own sins I find ' lhe differences of degree, not kind.” This would lead us to conclude that the hope for the future then lies in the determined effort of each individual to make of himself a nobler character. This effort when multiplied by 150,000,000 would obviously result in a better America, and when multiplied still further by 2,000,000,000, a better world. It was a pleasant fall day in early September in the year of 1946 when our class, the class of 1951, launched its career at I. H. S. That year, our first, will not be easily forgotten, for it introduced to us a new system of learning and many new friends. Observing and somewhat brilliant, we, before long, had mastered locker combinations, drawn mental maps of the different routes to classrooms, and quickly learned which stairway to use. The one-way seats in Study Hall didn’t bother us. We just climbed over — gracefully if you happened to be a girl, not so gracefully if a boy. After all the excitement and thrill were over, we settled down and elected David Wilson as our president; Philip Ross as our vice-president; Eleanor Powers, our secretary; and Letitia Day, our treasurer. We held the traditional eighth grade social, which proved to be fun and served as our introduction to high school social life. Our talented class was already taking shape. We presented our first assembly in the form of a play. Most of the credit for its success was due to Miss Hill, who directed it. A rather tardy apology may not be out of order for the many distressing mo- ments we caused her by consuming quantities of potato chips backstage during rehearsals. The claim of our brilliance was finally justified when two of our supposed prodigies, Clark McCarthy and David Wilson, attempted to recite from memory the poem, “The Barefoot Boy,” backwards. Clark did very well with very few errors, but it was David who excelled in the recitations. The fall of 1947 found us full-fledged high school students — capable of appearing on the honor roll, studying subjects of our own choosing, and partici- pating in sports. To lead us this year, we kept our same president, David Wilson, and elected Charlie Bolles to the office of vice president; Maureen Sulli- van, secretary, and Letitia Day, treasurer. We were full of new ambition and vigor in this year, and not knowing all the rules, we wanted to mimic the upperclassmen and choose class celebrities and vote on this and that, but Miss Manzer curbed our enthusiasm and assured us there was plenty of time for these activities later. We were, however, allowed to choose class colors of royal blue and silver. We held our first dance for the school on Saint Patrick’s Day, which proved to be an enjoyable one. The old desire to show off our talent returned again this year when we presented our first enter- tainment to the school. Packed with a variety of talent and something different, it caused classes ahead of us to mention us in their wills, a bit of publicity which made us quite proud. In this very year our enthusiasm at one of the assemblies was mistaken for misconduct, and we were publicly and immediately subjected to lessons on how to enter and behave in the auditorium. This setback, to our prestige, however, did not lessen our enthusiasm for all future assemblies. We welcomed Lois Lindberg to our happy group this year. Lois has proved herself a friendly class- mate, a good student, often making our honor roll, 20

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government sponsored test. The others are subject to be called at any time. Even though education may be interrupted, many young men have come to realize that working for Uncle Sam is inevitable, and they are somewhat comforted by the reassuring college records of veterans who, educators agree, profit most by a college education under the G.I. Bill. There are arguments in favor and against the use of eighteen-year-olds. Foremost of the latter is the assumption that these fellows are too young for military service. Although many boys that age are immature, countless others settle down and profit by military training and experience. We have all seen wandering, disinterested young men enlist in the service and come back with a real sense of values and become useful citizens in their communities. Another advantage of the service is the oppor- tunity for young men to learn a profitable trade. Some of our draftees learn more in the service than they ever would in outside life. One of the main disadvantages of this plan for drafting eighteen-year-olds is that we need trained scientists, doctors, technicians, etc. These professions require many years of uninterrupted study which is difficult to attain under present world conditions. Paul Banfield has suggested a solution for this problem. He advocates the drafting of all eighteen- year-olds as soon as they finish high school. They could take military training in the summer between their junior and senior years in high school, and the year following graduation. They would then be allowed to attend college. Such students could take Reserve Officers’ Training Corps courses at college and spend summers training. Thus they would be ready in case of an emergency. Whether it will be necessary to use the eighteen-year-old group, we do not yet know; but if it is, we can count on these boys to be ready. In the words of Emerson: “So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When duty whispers low, Thou must, The youth replies, I can.” BUILDING CHARACTER FOR A By ELEANOR POWERS BETTER WORED A most important turning point in our lives is graduation from high school. To many it may mean going on to a higher level of education; others may apply for jobs, enlist or be drafted into the army. Whatever we do, we must realize that we are no longer to live sheltered lives, protected and cared for by our parents, and encouraged and helped by our teachers. Instead we are going to have to face the world by ourselves. “But,” you may ask, “what kind of world are we facing?” Let’s take a look at a picture of America today. It is a dark, gloomy one as revealed by the recent Kefauver investigation committee. Such an exposure of nationally organized gambling, racketeering, political corruption, and immorality is unprecedented in our country and evidence that we have reached a new low in public and private moral- ity. Not even young people are immune to the greedy machinations of totally unprincipled men as the basketball scandals and widespread sales of narcotics to teen-agers testify. Shocking and disturbing as these exposures are, perhaps even more so are the unethical, to say the least, practices and misuse of power and influence in high places as uncovered by Senator Fulbright’s investigation of the Reconstruction Finance Corpora- tion. More shocking, because we expect more from our leaders, who should be setting the pattern of conduct for the people. “If gold rust, what can iron do?” To say within the letter of the law but to fail to respect the spirit of the law, as offenders in government have done, is a gross derelition of duty and responsibility. Fortunately there is a brighter side to the picture. The people have been thoroughly aroused and shocked into action at these exposures, and steps are being taken to clean up America. The recommendations of the Kefauver Committee Report will without doubt be scrupulously followed ,and Senator Fulbright’s plea for higher standards of conduct in government officials will be heeded. Such a clean-up, of course, demands a people, alert and responsible to their civic duties and determined to vote into office only men of unquestioned integrity who will carry out the will of the people for honest government. But where do we as teen-agers fit into this pic- ture ? In building a strong character home, church, and school must join forces to place a renewed and stronger emphasis upon simple honesty. In the home it is necessary that there be a renewed emphasis upon character building and the inculcation of the simple virtues of honesty and uprightness in family and social relationships. 19

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and an able actress as she effectively played her role in the senior play. Also honoring our ranks this year was Billy Bruni, hailing from Peabody. Bi.i, with his violin, was a great asset to the enter- tainments we presented, and he never failed to get an encore. Returning to the old haunting grounds the next fall, as sophomores this time, we felt as though we knew all the ropes and we were, to put it mildly, slightly conceited. We were not the only ones who thought so, for later in the year an anonymous dic- tionary of I.H.S. appeared in the “Cub” and we, as sopnomores, were proclaimed “the supposed sophis- ticates of I.H.S.” Climbing off our high horse, we settled down and chase our leaders. Charles Bolles was promoted from his position as vice president to the office of presi- dent. His foimer position of vice president was taken by Clark McCarthy. Confident in the good work of our secretary, we again chose Maureen Sullivan, and for the position of treasurer, we voted for Eleanor Buxton. Eleanor joined us in our sophomore year and getting into the swing of things in no time at all, we immediately developed faith in her and turned our money box over to her. We missed “Lolly”, though, when she didn’t return to us in our junior year, as she left to attend Concord High. Others joining us this year were Ann Lombard and Henry Morgan. Ann has made many friends since our sophomore year and Henry has often broken the silence of our classes with his bellowing laugh. We missed him when he left us in the middle of our senior year to join the Air Corps. Once again we rounded up all the talent and presented another entertainment for the school. And once again Billy Bruni held the audience spell- bound with “Fiddle Faddle.” Our sophomore year was indeed the highlight year of our high school career, for the majority of us had Mrs. Lord for English, Latin, and Home Room. She proved most interesting and had us constantly marveling and gasping at the astounding feats she performed in her youth and drooling over her favorite recipes — one of these a Spanish chicken casserole. Yes, she provided us with much humor as well as studies, and whatever she said or did always made the headlines in “The Cub.” As juniors, we had become bolder, proud, and a little anxious, as we remembered the Junior Prom and class rings ahead. To conduct our affairs, we kept our same presi- dent and secretary, and elected Ann Hull as our vies president, and Katherine Flynn as our treasurer. Once again the urge to sing and dance came upon us, so once again we presented another successful entertainment for the school with many boys par- ticipating. Our class rings arrived at last. There was some exchanging, but most of us placed our ring on the reserved finger. After much fuss and debate, we held our Junior Prom. Even though we had the eternal problem of lack of escorts, there was quite a turnout of juniors and everyone had fun. The prom was thought to have been quite successful even though the news “leaked” out that it had left us a few dollars and cents in the hole. Towards the end of our junior year, we learned that the senior class was leaving us a “gift.” Of course, we were pleased and eager to learn what the gift would be and found out in due time that it was William Pescosolido. Now don’t get me wrong; Bill didn’t flunk. He simply requested a demotion to our junior class because he loved basketball and wanted to play it one more year. At any rate we welcomed him, for Bill proved to be quite a valuable acquisition as he livened up our classes with his many jokes and witty remarks and played well an important lead in the senior play. We also welcomed Kay Billings, much to the delight of the boys, and Allegra Cripps, our woman pilot. Our senior year found us united into one big family, huddled in the Study Hall with Miss Allen mothering the brood. Missing in our ranks this year were Katy Flynn and Billy Bruni. Katy had heard wedding bells early last summer, and Billy was stolen by Governor Dummer. An eventful and busy year was ahead of us, so we got right down to business and chose our leaders. David Wilson returned to his office of president after two years’ retirement. Sumner Tyler took the seat of vice president. We kept our same faithful secre- tary, Maureen Sullivan, and gave the money box to Letitia Day. First of all, we held the Hallowe’en Barn Dance which was sponsored by the Boosters’ Club. Fun was had by all and another successful evening was experienced. Our senior day was somewhat calmer than the usual senior day, the highlight of the affair being Gwyneth Gunn’s joke present. Our next venture was the benefit show which was held to collect funds for athletics. The entire school participated, and the public felt they received their money’s worth, as the show was a huge success. A great deal of credit is due to Florence Campbell, who was the originator of the idea and took charge of the entire show and helped make it the success it was. A fashion show was arranged this year for girls only, but since the boys argued that they would be paying for the clothes in future years, they were given special permission to attend. Our four lovely models were Joey Gillis, Eleanor Powers, Florence Campbell, and Ann Hull. Something fairly recent at I.H.S. is Good Govern- ment Day. An appropriate program was arranged by the economics class and an election was held the following day in which David Wilson became our representative. At the same time we chose our D.A.R. girl, Mary O’Brien, a student very deserving of the honor. Of course, the year would not have been complete without a senior play, so we presented one of Noel Coward’s sparkling comedies — “I’ll Leave It To You.” All concerned worked hard towards its suc- cess, and Clark McCarthy, I understand, learned a little something about women. Since last year’s Operetta was so successful, an- other was presented this year with Eleanor Powers, David Wilson, Clark McCarthy, Irene Boudreau, James Hill, Maureen Sullivan, Sumner Tyler, Ann Lombard, Charles Bolles, and Janet Gillis taking the leading roles. Now all that remains of this high school career are the big nights — graduation and reception. Behind them lie five long years of high school life, five long years of study, and friendship, and five long years of happiness — fraught with memo- ries of I.H.S. which we shall cherish always. 21