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

Page 24 text:

The Pioneer Years, Writing histor) ' would most certainly have been presumptuous to describe the attitude of the school at its opening. Dean Noah Good recalls that there was some concern whether enough students would show up to start a school. The first senior class was much smaller proportionately than it is now. Although The first Mill Stream staff it Started out with only twelve members, it was soon enlarged to sixteen, bringing the total enroll- ment to 153. These first years were exciting years. Students arriving who belic ed themselves to be in for an ex- tended picnic were soon jarred into realization of the fact that the young LMS was striving for academic excellence. Near the school ' s beginning an editorial appeared in the Lancaster New Era voicing the hope that LMS would not neglect its agriculture pro- gram for all the good hard-working Mennonite farmers. From the very first, however, LMS has had, and continues to have, a very strong academic program. The LMS student during the pioneer years reflected to a large extent the Church. He was almost certainly from an agrarian background and was for the main part isolated and unsophisticated with reference to the world around him. TTie spiritual life of students ran very high from the very beginning. There was a strong revival and missionar) ' conviction upon the faculty and student body. Chapel was held at that time in the boys ' dormitory. Science and physical education classes were held in the g) ' mnasium building. Dean Good, who taught all the science courses at that time, recalls that when basketball was being played during chemistry laboratory Dorothy Hubcr (Rclfsnydcr) and Mabel Hemic)- (Weav- er) helping to build (he Girls ' Dorm in 19 ' 19 20

Page 23 text:

Waiting for the bus after school were little more than a mass of trees and underbrush, it had been a place of repute in years gone by. It started out as a large stone barn built in 1774 and a red mill built in 1830. Gradually the Yeats Institute turned it into an Episcopal school designed to prepare students for the church ' s Holy Orders. For a time the school was moderately successful, but it closed in April, 1923, due to many difficulties. The buildings must then have lost their spirit if buildings ever do. During that time it was used briefly for an unsuccess- ful art school and as a police barracks. When the Board of Trustees considered it, it was greatly de- teriorated with some of the lawns farmed. The Board felt that the $43,000 asked for 88 acres was a bit steep, but the papers were finally signed, and a school was born. A supervising com- mittee and faculty were then formed. J. Paul Gray- bill became principal; Noah G. Good, dean; and Clyde Stoner, secretary-treasurer of the new school. Other teachers of the seven-member faculty included Lois Garber, Leah Kauffman, Edna Wenger, and John S. Wenger. Clean-up work had to be done before school could open. During the summer of 1942 much labor was done by volunteer help. By September 14, most of the weeds were pulled, the vines cut, and the broken steps repaired, and a new section of Lancaster Con- ference history was ready to be written. is Founded Sister Lois Garber as teacher of a 1949 nature study class 19

Page 25 text:

1942- J 949 Senior boys quartet, class of 1948 sessions, the beakers would walk to the edge of the shelves and fall unless they were caught. Oc- casionally, of course, a beaker was not caught, and a basic law of physics was demonstrated. Dating on campus was not allowed in the first years, but before too long casual association was permitted. In the earliest years there was a great deal of interest in writing, and membership in Stylus Club was proportionately very high. Coupled with this interest was the formation of the Mill Stream during the first year. Edna Wenger, who served as advisor for the first 14 years, proposed the name. Some, however, thought it too frivolous and presumptuous a title, preferring something more prosaic such as The Journal. The senior yearbook had at first merely been an enlarged final edition of the Mill Stream. Then in 1946 the senior class published the first edition of the new LAUREL WREATH, a title chosen by the class. By 1949 the need for dormitory space for the grow- ing LMS had become acute. Girls were living in the administration building, the upper floor of Noah Good ' s home, which is now the Home Economics building, and in the house where Brother Stanley Kreider lives. In that year the present Girls ' Dormitory was built, and seemingly the matrons have never yet quite recovered from the shock of so many girls together in one place at the same time. Arlene Hess (Thurman), Mary Kathrj ' n Stauffer (Todd) and Eliza- beth Sauder (Eshleman) pose for their picture 21