Lancaster Mennonite High School - Laurel Wreath Yearbook (Lancaster, PA)

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Class History Do you remember when the school year of 1945-46 opened at L.M.S. on September ll? Prob-a-bly you don't, but to about 28 of us, or half of the graduating class, that marked the beginning of our L.M.S. career. The freshman class was large, as always, with 74 members, with the rest of the class dropping out somewhere along the way to graduatio-n. A varied group it was with one from Florida, another from Maryland, and the rest from our native state. Brother Mahlon Hess, a former L.M.S. teacher, had the opening address and two days later we learned to know our classmates and school at a get-acquainted social. The fa-ll revival meetings were in charge of Brother J. Irvin Lehman and the spring meetings were held by Brother Martin Kraybill. On November 27, we had our annual Thanksgiving Program and social along with open house. Before we knew it the year was over and our sophomore year had begun on September 10 with 35 of the present seniors in the class of 46 sophomores. Brother Ira Landis delivered to us the opening address with the theme, I would not have you ignorant, brethren. Brother Milton Brackbill conducted the fall revival meetings and Brother Harvey E. Shank was the evangelist in the spring. During our sophomore year the junior business training class visited the Paradise State Bank and its vault with the ven-tilating system and burglar alarm. In biol- ogy we dissected craylish and sponges midst the odor of formaldehyde. Mrs. Nelson Kauffman was present for conjoint prayer circle one evening and held our attention with her life-testi- mony and storytelling. Norman Shirk had a close call when he was hit by a car while -walking along the Lincoln Highway at night. After a few days in the hospital he was with us again. We enjoyed a talfy pull on February ll very much. . The next year our junior year began with Brother Harold Breneman giving the opening address on Making Use of Our Time. After a get-acquainted social we found ten more persons had joined our class and with a few leaving we numbered 49 with only four of them not with us now to graduate. IVe found our junior year probably the easiest as far as lessons were concerned because each year we were getting more skillful with our lessons and we had not yet taken up the activities of seniors. Our revival meetings were held by Brother Jacob Rittenhouse in the fall and Brother Amos Weaver in the spring. A trip to the Franklin In- stitute at Philadelphia on March 6 was a feature of the physics class besides building toy electric motors. On April 2 the American history class visited Wheatland near Lancaster, the home of the only president from Pennsylvania, Buchanan. After entertaining the seniors as our guests at the annual junior-senior outing we left school to rest for the last and biggest year. During the summer we had a class reunion at Charles Shenk's home. When school began for the last time for us as seniors, we welcomed seven new students. Among them is Leota Brunk representing California. With the addition of two Bible students, another joining us in the middle of the year, and three more to receive their diplomas with us we became the largest graduating class of L.M.S. so far, fifty-nine. Early in the year we started preparing for graduation. We finally decided upon the election of the Laurel Wreath staff. We became accustomed to many dinnertime class meetings as that was our only time available. On December 9 and 10 we tested our intelligence by the Iowa Educational Test. We had a class party at the home of Glenn and Clarence Rutt on November 13 and another on March 12 at the home of Irene Stoltzfus. A trip to the state capitol at Harrisburg was part of our P.O.D. class. As a class we spent a day in Washington visiting the many places of interest there. The Mother-Daughter social came and went as did the Father-Son social. The fall revival meetings were in charge of Brother AI. Irvin Lehman and the spring meetings were held by Brother Raymond Charles. These ac-tivities as well as many others are among the many pleasant memories we have of L.M.S. All this is interesting, but is the past where We center our attention? No, youth lives in the future. Lead On, O King Eternal! -Clarence Rutt Seventy-six

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Class Will In order that we might be more easily remembered, each member ol the senior class of 1949 wills his peculiar ability to a junior class member, hoping that his successor may profit thereby. Leota Brunk wills her knowledge of chemistry to Mary Jane Breneman with best wishes. Galen Buckwalter bestows on james Krady his pleasing manner and his abundance of curly hair. ' Naomi Burkholder mixes a bit olf mischievousness with her cheerfulness and wills it to Charles Longenecker. Martha Denlinger kindly wills her good expression when telling a story to Miriam Clymer. Nyla Ebersole leaves her pleasant smile and athletic ability to Mary Alice Denlinger. john Fisher contributes his quietness and brilliancy to Kenton Brubaker. Donald Gchman wills the cards for driving the Gehman Transportation Bus Service to Pearl Stoltzfus with compliments. Ray Glick wills his interest in reading to Leon Mast. Doris Good wills her ability as an artist to Doris Risser. Miriam Groflf gives her quiet and reserved manner to Mildred Miller. David Harnish willingly bestows his jolly and good-natured ways on James Herr. Paul Hartz wills his interest in having a good tussle with a boy his size or even bigger to Olleck Forry. Anna Ruth Hess wills her interest in missions and Christian service to Carol Mast. Lena Histand regretfully gives her beautiful penmanship and shorthand ability to jay Landis. Arlene Hollinger leaves her sense of humor and pep to Ruth Ressler. Ma-bel Horst honors Norman Shenk by giving him her good marks. Jeanette Hostetter wills to Grace Bender her firmness in standing up for her own viewpoints. Shirley Kauffman wills l1er ability in public speaking to Ethel Petre. Laurence King gives his kindness plus the quali-ty ol being a good sport to Betty Blank. John Kraybill leaves his ability to compose music to Lois Ruth. Martha Kurtz wills what it takes to make friends easily to Martha Myers. janet Leaman bestows her good marks in English on Marian I-lostet-ter. Marian M. Leaman gives her high voice and friendly manner to Christian Peifer. Harry Lefever wills a portion of his excessive stature to Mildred Myer. Martha Lutz leaves her German tongue to Merrill Derstine. Eunice Martin leaves her seat in the typing room to Helen Keener. Donald Mast wills l1is interest in sports to Allen Beiler. Oliver Mast wills his ability in imitating a rooster to Elvin Martin. Norma Metzler leaves her l1CatI1CSS in character to june Denlinger. 'Ioyce Miller gives her dark, wavy hair and pleasant personality to Mildred Clymer. Eugene Peifer wills 11is habit of cracking his fingers to Carl Mellinger. Ellen Petre gives joan Bergey the honored seat of being editor. Ruth Ranck gives Merle Herr the quality of being a good commercial student. Dorothy Reifsnyder leaves her dormitory room to Alta Bomberger. Harold Rohrer wills his rich bass voice to W' alter Miller. Clarence Rutt leaves his position as president to Ivan Leaman. Glenn Rutt bestows his interest in photography on Edwin Landis. Esther Sanderson gives her knowledge of ge-tting around in the big city of Philadelphia to any junior who may need it. Seventy-seven

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ed a short while, and then went to visit the owners of the greenhouses, who, the girls told us, were Ralph Weaver and .l-larry Lefever. They were raising many carnations and other things in partnership. Much as we hated to go, we felt we had to be going on, so we decided to visit L.M.S. yet before lunch. Here we found Esther Stoltzfus in the infnrmary, not as a patient, but as the nurse. VVhile we talked, in walked Martha Lutz, who was teaching some of the commercial courses there, and Doris Good, who had charge of the girls' health classes, and was also teaching the art classes and conducting the Stylus group. Here we were told that Helen Shenk was teaching in one of our Christian elementary day schools, but Anna Ruth Hess, who had traveled farthest in our class, was teaching in the girls' school in Africa. We hated to leave the scene of our school days, but we felt we must be moving along, and as it was almost noon, we decided to stop at a restaurant and eat. Mfe soon came to a neat- looking restaurant and here we found Harold Rohrer the proprietor, and Mabel Weaver and Marian Leaman the waitresses. After a most enjoyable lunch hour during which we spent the time recalling our school days, we had to leave. VVe went to visit John Henry Kraybill, who was farming a large farm near by. We were very much surprised to Hnd that Charles Shenk, who was living on the next farm, had volunteered for mission work in New York, and was selling the farm to Warren Shenk, who had been his hired man. When we talked with Charles, he told us that Esther Sanderson and Dorothy Reifsnyder were going to New York also as mission workers. Charles told us of some more classmates we wouldn't see. Ellen Petre and Naomi Burk- holder were both at E.M.C. finishing an extensive course in Bible. However, he said we could easily see some othersg Miriam Groff and Joyce Miller were living on near-by farms. From them we learned that the Brubaker girls were also living close by, as was Romaine Shenk. Here too we learned that Janet Leaman had continued her study in music, and was now giving piano lessons when she was not busy in her own home. On the way home we stopped at Mellinger's Church, where a large crowd of people had gathered to hear Shirley Kauffman give a talk on mission work in the mountains of Kentucky. Ruth Westenberger conducted a children's meeting and, though we were not little children any more, I am sure we all enjoyed i't. Also we were glad to see so many of our former class- mates present. Lena Histand told us she was now a busy farmer's wife. Robert Zehr, who was farming in Delaware, was also there. His friends told us he had won state recognition of his farm which was equipped with every electrical labor-saving device practical. V70 also talked to Eunice Martin, who, as you might expect, was keeping books for Martin's Meat Packing Co. However, she was going to start housekeeping soon also. How we former classmates hated to leave! So many of our class were present, but all had to go. Nevertheless, we made arrangements for a reunion later, which we would all want to attend. As I took Donald and Ray home, none of us said much, but each of us was thinking plenty. Regardless of how tired we might have been, none of us complained of that. Hadn't we seen or found out what all our classmates were doing? I know the trip was worth any trouble it might have caused. -Donald Gehman Seventy-five