Kinston High School - Kay Aitch Ess Yearbook (Kinston, NC)

Page 34 text:

KINSTON HIGH SCHOOL THE KA Y A IT CHESS NINETEEN TWENTY-FOUR CLASS PROPHECY It was in the spring of 1942. I was working in New York at the time, and had been since my graduation from High School in 1924. This special day 1 was feeling blue and wishing I were home. As I walked along the street there came to my ears a famihar sound, one that I had not heard for a good many years; in fact, the whistle that was used among the girls of the Class of ' 24. Turning around, whom should I see but Elise Gray, my old friend. Joyous greetings and exclamations followed. Finally the talk ran back t(; our dear class, that of ' 24. It has been so long since I was hf)me that I have lost track of everyone, I said. Do you know what has become of Grace Wooten? Oh! Elise said, she is married. To whom? 1 asked, Vernon Cowper? No, not Vernon, but another boy from a different part of the State. Vernon used to be crazy about Grace, and when she was married he left for the South Sea Islands to try to find consolation. Dorothy Suggs went with him, and the last I heard of them was that Vernon had built up a great practice among the natives (having studied medicine), and that Dorothy was his invalu- able assistant. x nd Marjorie Hunter? What has become of her since Grace ' s marriage? I asked. Why, Marjorie is now a staid old maid. Plato Collins expressed the wish to be a preacher, after which Marjorie declared that as she wasn ' t fit to become a preacher ' s wife, she would prefer single blessedness to marriage happiness. Plato married someone else, and seems quite happy. Amie Jordan Parham used to want to go on the stage. What has become of this wish? I asked. Elise laughed, and said, Amie is teaching school somewhere out in the country, and has her time divided between the country swains. And what has become of the girl who used to slam Science so hard — Lillah Johnston? I queried. W ell, I guess she ' s sorry for it now. She was married two or three years after her graduation. After six months of married life, I saw in the paper that her husband was trying to divorce her. And the charges! She didn ' t know how to cook, and as a servant was not available, she had to make an effort. The result was — divorce! Poor Lillah! And that Latin brought her to this fate. Of course, you remember Ruth Palmer and Louise Tyndall, don ' t you? (This from Elise.) Sure, I replied. What about them? Louise and Ruth have gone into the millinery business together. Louise does the trimming and Ruth keeps books. I saw something yesterday that surprised me not a little, said I. It was a gigantic picture, sitting before a theatre on Broadway, of Marie Williams. Marie is in the biggest ballet dance hit of the season. Thirty- Two

Page 33 text:

KINSTON HIGH SCHOOL THE KAYAITCHESS NINETEEN TWENTY-FOUR Eighth: To the school-at-large we do surrender, give and bequeath the chance of distinguishing themselves literarily, as several of the members of said class have done, through working for and supporting the school publications with tireless zeal and work. May they come to cherish and protect them in the future as they have cherished and started them in the past. Ninth: l pon the said Junior Class we do place the duty of editing The Connecting Link and the 1925 Kayaitchess. Tenth: Whereas, the Junior Class is a minor by the age of three months, and will not attain the full age of seniority until September, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-Four; now, therefore, our will and desire is that Mr. Ray Arm- strong, or his successor, as Principal of the aforesaid school, be and is hereby constituted and appointed guardian of the said Junior Class, to have and to hold the custody of their estate until the said Junior Class arrives at the full age of seniority. Eleventh: We do tender, give and bequeath to each of the single-blessed members of the said faculty of the said school one marriage license blank, and as we tender it we exhort them to find a tender one as a companion, so that theirs may be a propitious change to married life. We do solemnly advise them to do away with old pipes-, bachelor-buttons and other acquirements by instinct during their many years of single-blessedness, which have caused them to congregate and start staying in every evening after making such a change. Twelfth: Our will and desire is that all the residue of our estate, of what- soever nature, and whensoever, wheresoever, and howsoever acquired and not herein disposed of, shall be sold by our executor, or his successor, and the pro- ceeds thereof used in the purchase of an individual life-size portrait of each and every individual of this class, said photograph to be placed in the aforesaid building, at present occupied by the Kinston High School, and we do ask the succeeding principal to employ the use of police force, if necessary, to protect these pictures. Thirteenth: We hereby constitute and appoint our beloved Superintendent as «ur lawful and sole executor, to all intents and purposes, to execute this, our last will and testament, according to the true intent and meaning of the same, hereby employing the services of the scrub faculty (viz: the janitors) to en- force the disposition of our property by him — by physical force, if necessary. Fourteenth: We do give and bequeath this item of our constituted will to the support of that good old superstition that thirteen is an unlucky number. In Witness Whereof, We, the said Class of Nineteen Hundred and 1 Twenty-Four, and the testator, have to this, our last and will and testament, subscribed our title and given and bequeathed our support, this sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-four. [Signed] Class of 1924. — Testator. Thirty-One

Page 35 text:

KINSTON HIGH SCHOOI. THE KA Y A IT CHESS NINETEEN TWENTY-FOUR Marie Williams! I never thought that of her! But then, the case of Grace Rouse is almost so bad. She has gone in for black-faced clogging on the stage. There was a sensational article in the paper about Grace, written by Kmmalie Taylor, who is now a cub reporter. The accompaniment for Grace ' s dance was played by the famous violinist. Montrose Tull, and the celebrated pianist, Irene Nachamson. I feel rather honored to have been to school with these celebrities , I said. Don ' t let me forget to tell you about Claire Worthington. She has lengthened her dresses, dyed her hair and is now an important business woman. Eldred Rhem is now an athletic coach in a renowned college, with Verna Smith as her assistant. Do Nellie Spencer and Ruby Lee Leggette still live in Kinston? Yes. Nellie recently won the Beauty Contest that was held in March. I can ' t understand how it happened, because, as she owns a garage and is the chief workwoman, she has to stay dirty all the time. Ruby Lee is the Senior Latin teacher in K. H. S. The latest news is that she had vamped the Principal, and he was on the point of proposing to her, when his wife came in. Ruby Lee, of course, didn ' t know of the exi ' stance of Mrs. Principal. The former is now ' a broken-hearted girl. Mary Cummings and Robert E. Lee are editors-in-chief of The Motion Picture Magazine and are both great successes. I saw Verna Hodges up here the other day, I said. I only had time to speak to her, since she was going abroad to gather antiques for her shop, which is located in Chicago. William, or rather ' Dog ' , Westbrook is a fashion model for one of the large firms, and a fine one he is. He is now the rage among the ladies and the envy of the men. But look at his friend, William Taylor. William is a farmer and cares nothing for style. And so William Taylor has degenerated into this? But, surely, our studious Vance Spcnce hasn ' t let such a fate overtake him? No. Vance has turned out to be a cake-eater, tea-hound, and lounge- lizard. Quite the stufT, you know. I never had any idea that Vance would end bp this way, I said. Neither did L but Fate laughs at us all. Look, for instance, at Helen Haskins. Poor Helen is still dreaming of Poughkeepsie, as James Dail never returned to Kinston. I heard he eloped with a schoolmate up there. And, then, too, Carrie Mae Dunn lives on golf links. She is a golf fiend. Louise Tull, her faithful companion, takes her stump-speeches that she wants to learn and goes with Carrie Mae to the links to see that she doesn ' t get hurt in any way. Carrie Mae Dunn, Louise Tull and Mary Emma Bizzell were great chums, but poor Mary Ennna is tied at home, now, with three kids and no nurse. Another interesting fact about Carrie Mae is, that rumor has it that she will soon take one-half interest in Heber Taylor ' s Jazz Orchestra. Here I interrupted her by asking her the whereabouts of Olive and Owen Sutton. Why, Owen is chief star in the opera Fly Away. His golden voice has won him fame. Olive was fioor-walker in Adler ' s Department Store, but was Thirty-Three