Nathaniel Narbonne High School - El Eco Yearbook (Harbor City, CA)

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Many a teacher used to heave a sigh of relief upon coming to Wilbur Maddy's paper in a pile of other papers. Even if the lesson wasn't exactly correct, the writing was beautiful and legible. In his junior year Wilbur was rather bashful and shy. but in his last year he blos- somed out beautifully. There were two who were permanently bashful however. One was Zuma Ohara and the other was Tsuneo Tawa. Those two boys were the only Japanese stu- dents in the class. They were both capable students and splendid athletes. Is that Derrell Harline playing his old banjo? Yes, it is. How he could play one! The student body enjoyed his playing immensely. Why, sometimes they would even give up five or ten minutes of their lunch period just to listen to him. And over there are a couple of the class sheiks, curly-headed Billy Dunstan and Russell Gooden. Then do you recall Vivian Knudsen in high school? just like a big doll or as someone said, No bigger than a bar of soap. You woulcln't believe it, but Vee could talk more in roll call than any six people. Her old standby, Rosemary King, wasa close second. In the sevenht grade there was a plain little girl named Maxine Henderson, but few cared about that. She was so small that she wasn't noticed particularly. But in the last three years of high school Max feathered out and became one of the wittiest and best-liked girls of the -Y class. She and Marian Barnett went in for checkered skirts the last year. Pretty swanky, weren't they? Then do you AX recall some of the brain storms Virginia Milton used to have? One was trying to write left-handed. It didn't mat- ter with which hand she wrote when it came to editing the X' WL ' Green and Gold, for then Virginia was right on the job. ' X Xu N I ' c Speaking of puzzles, johnny McEwen was one. Some 'N ri. K es, M' X say Johnny even carried a black compact, with powder and Ji if , I everything in it, to school. Some said it belonged to his .L 'ii ly girl, but others just thought how vain he must be. Allan .T jj f i Rider was a kind of puzzle too. He was so shy that when 7 he was president of his class he used to sit there fairly 'TZ holding his breath for fear he would have to call ameering. A 1 fl He surely drove a big car to school. Remember the Cadil- lac? Big enough to hold a football team and all the substitutes too. It was that little brown-eyed Merle Chandler who played basketball in such a unique way. He sat on the floor most of the time. Maybe it wasn't his own idea, but he usually found himself there anyway. It is commonly believed that red-headed people have bad tempers. Beulah Coats with her trimly waved auburn hair was an exception to this rule. She was soft spoken and quiet. Catherine Bibica is still the same slender Kate of high school days. She could talk almost as fast as Esther Lowman when she got started. Irene Brumbelow was rather a quiet person in school. She didn't do a great deal of talking voluntarily. Irene was more interested in getting A's than anything else. ln the B12 year three new students entered the class and graduated with it. They were Marian Bosserr, who came from Ohio, Peggy O'Connor, who transferred from Arlington high, and Charles Roth, who came from Fremont. All three were active in the schools from which they came and they were accordingly so at Narbonne. One thing in particular that is remembered about Marian is her lovely, lily-white skin. Peggy's pleasing, straightforward manner immediately won her popularity. Charles was a tall, dark-headed boy who aiways laughed. This little reunion has made all the members of the class feel as ifthey were once again in school. Not one has changed in personality. They are all as jolly and congenial as the day they were graduated. Won't it be great if the class can return once more in 1955, so the members can introduce their sons and daughters for what have youj to each other? Page Twenty-five

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who had some kind of a record for having such a variety of shoes. She had them in every color ofthe rainbow. You're right, it was Gertie Scanlon. No, she did not remain a chubby little soul in high school, Neither did she wear brightly colored shoes. Helen Hart - where is she? Didn't she come back from Canada? She was surely ener- getic. Don't you remember how she used to lead songs and yells? Then do you remember Irba Schmidt as she played Elizabeth in Three-Cornered 1VIoon ? Wasn't she grand? Whenever someone was needed for some entertainment to ac- company anything from a toe dance to a 'cello solo, Irba was called upon. She was a shark in shorthand too. Remember it, Irba Mae? Marian Barnett liked 'shorthand too. Oh yeah, says Marian. If she was ever really serious about anything, it would have been classed as one of the seven wonders of the world. When the senior sweaters came out, George Gould, Paul Youngkers, and Homer Cheek looked almost like triplets. They were so nearly the same stature. Paul was the play- - 'ful kind of person who liked to bar people around. You could always tell when Homer was around by that horse laugh he had. George was about as bad. A ' Good-natured Esther Petersen is still as neat as the all . . . - , . Q, Q I 9 proverbial pin ano twice as sharp mentally. Esther had a niclc- is ' I' - if name in the seventh grade that was hard to live down. She 9 S was called Powerful Katrinkaf' x -l if ' 1 5 XX If more Chinese ate less rice and more spaghetti and -:ji , A 5 garlic, the stores would sell less rice and consequently one Q Ll al would smell more garlic. Don't be alarmed. It's only 5 ii 'H .. - George Skippy', Taylor's theory as to why there are more E gg Italians than Chinese--or sumpin'l This little explanation - -6? ,gf is much like his answers to questions in school. Skippy '? wasa brilliant student, however. In fact, he was the pride of his class. About the same time that George entered Narbonne, Florence Stowe put in an appearance. Her good nature and wit won her instant popularity. Zeddie Masters was another one of those scientifically jninded souls. Once he was heard to remark that the theory of evolution Il'luSt be right because his girl had made a monkey out of him. Joe Burkhard and Zeddie were both that breezy type of carefree person. Joe was very witty, but very stubborn when he was so inclined. Remember Bernice Rozell? She certainly had a mind of her own. It used to be a special delight to her to put on a lot of lipstick and then let some Jane Addams girls see her, just to hear them holler. Bernice worked hard and she received good grades. Another girl who ex- pected five or six A's on each card was Mae Whisler. That class was well supplied with crooners. Louis Irvine was one in particular. Someone told Louis once that soon he'd have to bring his razor to school so he could shave between periods. Earl Sterling was another one of those warblers. He especially prided himself on the way he could sing those little boo-boo-boo notes the way Crosby did. He had a role in the junior play and surely did it justice. Hugh McGovney was one of the most precise people anyone ever met. He played a trumpet in the orchestra many terms. Eva Carstensen played in the orchestra for a time too. She played that dainty little instrument called the 'cello. Her girlhood chum, Emma Erick- son, also played one. Alfred Thorsen used to tease Emma by reciting a few lines from an old poem about a thousand Swedes ran through the weeds chased by one Norwegian. To look at Myrtle Willis you might have taken her for a quiet little girl. Those who knew her quite well could tell some rare stories about her pranks fespecially some she played on teachersj, Shirley Lou Reeves was a quiet but industrious girl. Remember the touch of southln accent? Her speech was peculiarly droll. She liked journalism especially. Page Twenty-four

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history of the Winter class of 1936 is is aa On a cold and wintry day in 1930 we entered this gigantic building as B7's. There were so many of us that we were divided into three groups under the sponsorship of Miss Ahrens, Miss Mc Garry, and Mr. Waterman. The first big event in our seventh grade lives was a party. Then, as we became educated scrubs and advanced to the A7's, we began to take an active part in athletics. Our girls defeated the B7 girls in volleyball while the boys in Mr. Water- man's group won seven games and lost one in the noon basketball league. By this time we had become accustomed to the scenery and the many people around us. and our knees shook with less violence at the approach of anyone. Miss McGarry's homerocm was so bold as to invite the other two groups to 3 Christmas party in Bungalow two. A play, written and directed by Frank Hinckley, was presented much to the amusement and amazement of those present. After this, we had a Valentine's party and celebrated every following Yuletide. Miss Metiarry Even though the seventh and eighth grades held many thrills for us, the ninth grade was far more important because of the functions preceding our ascent into sen- ioi-high school. Many members of our class held offices in various organizations. Clark XValker was the vice-president ofthe Junior A.S.B. during the second semester and Lucille Wor- thington was secretary.XX7ith the help of Miss Ahrens and her puppets, the students success- fully presented a puppet show of well-known fairy tales at one of the junior assemblies. It was something unusual and not easily to he forgotten. Then too, many of the students belonged to the junior Honor and Scholarship societies, which showed that we were very industrious. Marjorie Irvine was president of that organization in the A9 semester and Kaoru Takaki was secretary and treasurer in the A8 and B9 terms. We now had only two roll calls instead of three because during this term Mr. Waterman's group III had been divided and had entered Miss McGarry's and Miss Ahrcns' groups. Night of all nights! The A9 banquet! To us then it was considered quite a formal af- fair because we had after-dinner speeches and all the trimmings. We chose Fables for our theme and carried out our decorations in a novel black and white effect. Clark Walker acted as toastmaster of the evening. Next came the solemn affair of our A9 graduation, after which we became full-fledged senior high students. After three years in the junior high, both the boys and girls made great strides in athletics.The boys had already won the junior high football championship and in the tenth and eleventh grades they won the interclass track meet and interschool football championship. They won honors in football again in the twelfth grade. The cross-country run of 1934 was exciting. Parker Stahnke of our class, a dark-horse, surprised everyone by taking first place. That was a great day for our junior roll calls. Boys who were most active on the track team were Walter McCartney, Parker Stahnke, Slomer Angelich, Amos Nance, Hiroshi Watana- be and Albert Widi1er. Many of the boys were on the varsity football team. Gordon Woods, Clark XValker, Wallace Mayer, Stanley Nietupski, john McQueen and Lloyd Crowihers were bright and shin- ing lights. During this time of glory for our boys. the girls were not laying down on the job. Bessie Grafe, Evelyn Jones, Audrey Murray, La Gene Haynes, Bessie Coward, Lucille Wor- thington, Kazuye Nakahara, Mariorie Irvine, and Kaoru Takaki had been admitted into the Senior G.A.A. and were working in interclass games'and playdays. Nearly all of these girls won letters. Page Twenty -six