Midway High School - Semper Yearbook (Church Road, VA)

Page 15 text:

SENIORS FRAX(’i:s XADINK WILLIAMS— Baskctlmll ; Softliall. Kffic-ioiit . . . lu l]iful. MARY LAT RA M ' lLLTAMS (“Priss”)— Alumni Editor “Midiu ' ws”; Reportm- 4-H ( ' luh; Tioasurcr Honu ' Economics Cluh; Basketball. Brunette . . . dependaliility ■ . . brifjlit colois. CLASS HISTORY rany picture t exist in the gallery of memories of the class of 1939. Of these let us select the most interesting. Do we rememher when we |)osed for that first one? AVas it in 1921 or 1922 that with tlie aid of the proverbial stork and the Oods of Fate we were horn into a world that was now on the road to a speedy recovery from the war of a few yeai ' s earlier ? AVe began our school-life in September of 1928, when, tightly clutching our mother’s hand, we entered grammar school, eager to explore the mysteries of Reading, ’Kitin’ and ’Kithmetic ' whicli open for us the doors to the portals » f knowledge. Those first days were interesting because Aliss Raker, our teacher, found a new story for us each day. Among these wei ' e “The Three Bears,’’ “Little Red Riding Hood’’ and others, but tlie story telling soon became a thing of the past and we settled down to work. Time slipped by (piite rapidly. The spelling of the tlays of the week, how to tell time, and many other im])ortaut facts were learned in the second grade with Aliss Ilawkes as instructress. The thiial grade ' ajid Aliss Clarke presented to us that terrible punishment — examinations.

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SENIORS BEULAH MAE SPAIN (“Peulah”) — Secietaiy Hi-Y Club; Viee Presidf ' iit Glee Club; Yiee-President Musie Club; Secretary- Treasurer Biology Club; Girls’ SjKirts Editor “Semper”; Basketball; May Court- “He’s tlie cutest thing” . . . Midway’s musician . . . aliility. WILLIAM HARRISON VAUGHAN (“Sugar Puddin’”)— Manage! ' Basketball Team; Secretary E.F-A.; Football. “My blond haired b:iby up yonder” . . . witty . . . good sport. NANCIE CHRISTINA WATKINS— Chaplain Hi-Y Club; Biisketb;ill ; Softball W:ivy hair . . . brown eyes. WILLIAM MAURICE LEONARD (“Billy”)— Basketbiill; Baseball. “The i ' o:id to Wilson is p:ived with good attentions” . . . “If we pass’’ . . . friend to Jill . . . business-like. VIRGINIA PEARL LEWIS (“Gin”)-- Basketball. “With or without onions.’” . . . fr:ink . . . gooil s]iort. •lOSEPH VINCENT MACH (“Gre:isy”) — President L;itin Club; Subserii)tioii Manage! ' “Se!!iper”; Glee Club; Associate S ' po! ' ts Editor “Mid!!ews’’; Presiile!!t Sti!(le!!t Body; Basketball; Football; B;iseb:!ll. I)ei)e!!d:ible . . . e!!d-!!!:iii . . . bi ' ow!i eyes. “Fake a late! ' iil.’’

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CLASS HISTORY [continued] 1!);51 and witli it the 4th »rad(‘. AVe were really learning ' tilings — so we thonght. Aliss Xnnnally must have had (|uite a woiulei’ful ])atienee to have endured ns. Fifth o-rade and whom did we tind as oni‘ teacher? None othei ' than Aliss Alaloiu ' . That history, “What the Old World (i;iv( the New” was (inite a pain. Thanks to some one, oni ' fifth gi ' ade fricnuls don’t have to exist throno ' h that m»w. Oh! we Avei ' ( ' »’radually “rowinii ' older and we were in the sixth orade. All of ns were (|uite fond of Alis Watkins, hut, it was usual thing ' , day in and day out — Arithmetie, Spelling, History, Knglish and tiioe to go honu ' . AVe liv(“d through it, hut don ' t ask ns how. We wen quite happy indeed ! AVe wei ' e going to study civics, and what did that im ' an? Why, we were in the sevcmth grade and “yon must take last term examinations whethei’ yon have an avcu ' ag ' e of !H) or not.” And then that night we received oni ' diplomas that gave ns that long worked for right to go to high school. Miss Winn was i-ather glad to get rid of ns, we guess. Freshmen! A’es, we w( re Freshmen. ( ii eeidmnis ? Well, mayhe so! Ifiit after all we tliink that heing a freshman was not so very had. The worst thing was learning which class was in which room, hut aftei ' a few days we had all that straight. Aliss Fraser’s hel|)ing hand guided ns straight thi ' ongh. As so])homores we regained a little of onr self-confidence and began to hcdieve we I ' eally weren’t so gi ' cen aftei ' all. There will always exist in onr memory that baseball game between AlcKenney and .Midway at Alidway and those cheer-leaders we had. Later, they played at Lee Park in Petersburg; and Alidway came out victorious. Time jiassed on and we wm ' o looking foiwvard to our third yi ar of high school. .Inniors! AVe could hardly believe it! It was onr duty and |)leasnre (as is usually the custom) to entertain the seniors. AVe all had a grand time attending the movie at the (’( ' iitury theativ and the .social hour at Peck’s Peach. Kememher those cakes, candles, and gifts? How could we forget? Time mai ' ched on ; we found ourselves looking to the future, a hit more sophis- ticated, dignified, and serious than we had ever been before. Seniors! At last! Success! Achiiwement ! What we had hoped, dreamed, and woi ' ked for. A es, we had ur struggles — they all do. What kind of invita- tions w(‘ wanted, what we were going to wear, and many otlnu ' ini|)ortant things had to he decideil. Put, were they im])ortant ? We thought so, anyway. Don’t forget, fhongh, we had onr fun too. 4’hose football games at Plackstone and .Appomattox will never he forgotten, neither will that day that we posed for onr pictures to Ik put in the annual. Ves, this is oni ' last memory of high school ami with it comes that old saying that should he rememhei ' ed by all of ns, “Of a good heginning cometh a good end.” Sni ' cly this is triuv AVe go forth with many true and loyal friends. AA’e are not frightened. AA’e will he as courageous as we ' have always been. AA’e will keep a broad outlook on life and oni- deep ap| reciation of high ideals and rememhei ' that graduation is oidy tlu ' heginning of pi ' cparatioji for a new, I ' icher and fnlh ' r life. — Ahvin ' AATi.u. .ms.