New London High School - Whaler Yearbook (New London, CT)

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D. Connors Fr. O’Callaghan Dr. Hurray R. Green J. Strickland Samuel Kaplan ..........................................President Dr. William J. Murray ......................First Vice President Ralph Green .............................. Second Vice President James L. Strickland .................................... Secretary Francis McGuire ................................... Treasurer

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 SAMUEL KAPLAN President Alumni Banquet 1938 T. Troland A. Ligourie E. Lawrence S. Kaplan Q. Walsh

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BULKELEY IN 1914 By JACOB SHERB In September of 1910 there entered Bulkeley School 64 boys who embarked upon their respective high school careers for the ensuing four years. This was the first four-year class, so-called, because prior thereto three years comprised the regular course of study. In June of 1914 this group, which had by that time been reduced to 29, was graduated at the commencement exercises held in the Lyceum Theatre. We believe that it is reasonable to observe that Bulkeley in 1914 was still the typically quaint New England High School. The first class of four had been graduated in 1875, and thirty-nine years thereafter the school was graduating its second largest class, twenty-nine in number. Thirty-nine boys were graduated in 1908. The school building at that time, encircled by the “old college fence”, presented a picturesque appearance, and the adjoining landmarks enhanced the panorama considerably. The faculty consisted of seven teachers under the able leadership of the late and beloved Walter A. Towne. Of course, no Bulkeley man of that era will ever forget “Sarah” Kenerson, who ministered to the school’s fires during those old fashioned winters and kept things shipshape in and about the school. In general, the tempo of life did not seem to be the hustle bustle of today notwithstanding the hovering of ominous war clouds. Bulkeley, in those days, though comparatively a family circle, nevertheless carried on and fulfilled her traditions, and maintained a favorable position on both the scholastic and athletic fields. The year 1939 reveals that the school has undergone such a complete change that an alumnus like R. Ferdinand Weske, one of that group of twenty-nine a quarter of a century ago, engaged in engineering in the far west since his graduation, would scarcely recognize it as his old alma mater. This is particularly so since Professor Eugene B. Lawrence was retired in 1938, as he was the only remaining member of the 1914 faculty. Were Weske to walk to the school today as he did twenty-five years ago, northward on Huntington Street, from State Street to Bulkeley Place, would anyone wonder at his pronounced confusion when instead of the beautiful street, lined with stately dwellings and bordered with majestic elms, his eyes fell on a denuded thoroughfare with noticeable commercial encroachments along the route? Is it not conceivable that when he reached Bulkeley Place he would be stopped in his tracks? To be sure, he would undoubtedly recognize Governor Winthrop from Huntington Street, but he would have to walk up Bulkeley Place close to the governor and not until then would he perhaps get his bearings from the architecture and the colorful patterns on the slate roof on the rear section of the school. Indeed, were he in the school at the present time while the classes were changing rooms he would become somewhat bewildered to see the streams of humanity gushing from various parts of the building, seething a few moments in the corridors, and disappearing just as rapidly into the class rooms for the next assignment. The sharp contrast to the same process as of 1914 would amaze him. The extent of the school’s growth would at once be apparent without resorting to detailed statistics. It should be noted, however, that in the 1930’s the faculty numbers about twenty, and it is not unusual for the school to graduate from one hundred to one hundred twenty-five each year. Today as in days gone by we find that Bulkeley has kept pace with the march of time, that its progress and development has been commensurate with that of the communities which it serves, and with the pardonable pride of an alumnus we submit that the record speaks for itself. May Bulkeley continue to carry on. [‘age twenty-eight