John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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ROSALIE SHERMAN THE CHURCH was quiet exeept tor the sott strains of a hymn that was being played in the rear. The pews were filled with an assort- ment ot people. Some rich--some poor. Some old-some young. There was the old woman with her white shawl and her worn black coat in con- trast to the attractive lady next to her bedecked in turs and a feathered hat. Throughout the church there was a buzz ot anticipation and excitement that was unusual. All the candles on the altar were lit and there were bouquets oi tloral offerings. Not tar from the church, about ten blocks away, a woman in her late titties hurried out of her house. Her name was Paula Bennett. She hastily looked at her watch and walked briskly to the curb and entered a cream coupe. Her navy suit was ex- pensively tailored with a gray fur piece thrown over one shoulder. Her gray hair was piled high topped by a chic hat and veiling that matched her suit. On the left side of her suit there was a pink corsage of roses. She shut the door of her car, turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the curb. As she did so, she thought ot the roses and bent her head slightly to inhale their fragrance. She thought to herself: lt was so sweet ot Paul to send the roses. He always knew how much I loved them. At the thought of Paul, her nephew, whom she had adopted when he was three years old after the death of his mother, her eyes misted slightly and she quickly reprimanded herself, l shouldn't feel this way. l'm not losing him, it's just that l'1l miss him. How l wish that Madge were here to see him! Looking ahead to the right she saw that she was approaching the church and slowed down the car. She 16

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4 .g ' To view the coming Spring from on high, I clinihed into my attic one day. And 1'niJ'i11g the 'LL'lll6f01U, what did I .fee B111 it little Jjnirrow awtiitiizg nie. It inzift lnzzfe waited If month at letut ltr hody way Jo cold Premed clofely hy the wiiidow .fill The little ,fpnrrow had died. SOPI-IIE BELIAKO I? We I often thought how fntile life would he, U7hen the one I loved the moft nm' gone from me. UV hen the .found of her .rioeet voice would never rome, To wake me in the morning like the mn. Or cheer my heart, when ,rick with Jorrows ldden. Or lighten with her .fl7'0l1g white handy, my hnrden. O God-I never thought fufonld he like thif, I never thought I'd long I0 for her gentle kim. jnxl' to fee the .vilnen in her lovely hair ' Would help to lift my loneline5.f and deep despair. But life goef on, no tfifions do appear I'nt called iz hermit, people laugh and sneer For only God .iznd I-not another Cnn ez,-'er know how ninth I n1i.f5 my mother. GILBERT LACLAIR

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parked by the White sign marked for this and got out of the car. Slowly she walked up the church steps, twist- ing her white gloves in her hands. Passing through the vestibule, she walked down the middle aisle and knelt at the row Richard Carshairs, one of her oldest friends' had saved for her. She nodded to him and he leaned over and Whispered David Iordon is here! Wait, don't turn now, he's sitting in the row in back of us in the other section. For a moment she sat there as if stricken, and her mind raced back to her first meeting with David Jordon. lt was nearly thirty years ago when her younger sister Madge had brought home the tall, gaunt, and rather handsome young man she had met at a charity affair, and had introduced him as her husband. The family was shocked! Paula turned to Richard to say something, but her words were lost as she remembered the years that fol- lowed Madge's marriage. For the sake of Madge the family was kind to him at first, and it wasn't long be- fore they really liked him and were happy in the knowledge that Madge had made a wise choice. David was independent and started his own practice as a lawyer. With his keen mind and winning personality it didn't take long before his practice flour- ished. By then Madge and David had their own home not far from the Bennett household. Sunday afternoons the families could be seen riding in the new autos that were coming into mode, or going on picnics. 'They were married two years when their first and only child was born. Paula remembered the day she went to see the baby. She remembered how Madge had laughed as she said Look, everything pink. Everybody 17 was so sure that he'd be a girl. We were going to name him Paula after you, but now We'll call him Paul. Paul grew fast and sturdy, but when three years old tragedy struck! lt was in February. Flu had been going around and the weather was nasty with slush in the streets. Madge caught cold and it developed into pneumonia. Within three days Madge died. After that David became moody and melancholy. He would go for days Without speaking to anyone or even looking at little Paul who was living at the Bennett house under the care of Paula. - Sitting here Paula Bennett looked at the man sitting on the opposite side of the church. How different he seemed from the David who asked her to adopt Paul so that he could start life anew. Yes-he had changed. Changed a great deal. She knew that he had been successful in another section of the state. His hair was streaked with gray, and his appear- ance was Well tailored. But yet, there was something lacking. His face as he knelt there had a quiet- ness qbout it. It seemed to cry out in his eyes that something was miss- ing. Suddenly the light of the church went on and the Mass began. As Paul came walking down the aisle, she knew that her years of caring for him Weren't sacrifices but a gift to enrich her life. As he came toward her, he smiled and she knelt and re- ceived his first blessing. Her heart found no room for malice, she was happy and her heart was singing with a feeling of humble con- tentment for only a week before Paul had been ordained to the Priest- hood and was celebrating his first. Mass.