North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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(Class Prophecy By Marion Sessoms “We live in fame or go down in flame. Shout! Nothing Air Corps!” can stop the Army The words danced crazily before my eyes. | was so sleepy I could study no longer. I stumbled from the boys’ club room, undressed, said my prayers and fell into bed. Suddenly I was in dreamland. I was piloting a brand new warbird—a Thunderbolt fighter —equipped with the finest and the most ela- borate guns in the world. What a raptured feel- ing I had to think that I was able to pilot such an airplane! Desiring a good adventure I left my English base, flew over the Channel and was running down from my nose. I tried by strenuous effort to keep awake, but to no avail. Unconsciousness crept over me. I realized that I had lost control of my airplane and was diving toward the earth. In a semi-conscious state and in some miracu- lous way, my mind was projected into a wonder- ful future—the glass age in the year of 1955. The future of all my classmates was almost instantaneously revealed to me. One by one their destinies passed before me and I marveled at the wonderful success that each of them had made of their lives. First Carey Cale appeared before me. The scene was Asheville, N. C. in the Land of the Sky in the good old U.S. A., the land of the free. I saw Carey Cale as a successful linotype operator receiving praise for the good job he had com- pleted. He had spent all day linotyping columns of stock lists which is considered perhaps the most difficult task in printing. He was a most proficient printer. Then suddenly Irma Lee Connor was revealed to me as a capable typist for a prominent business man of Hickory. I saw her as she was finishing her typing for the day. She leaned back in her comfortable chair and said, ‘““Whew!’ Her success hadn’t changed her a bit. Scenes kept flashing before me. A pretty su- burban home in Charlotte, N. C. caught my attention and how thrilled I felt when I recognized Melvin Corbett sitting on the doorstep. A cute little boy was with him and I knew in a moment that it was his son. They were both laughing and I knew the little boy had inherited his father’s wit. It was easy to see that Melvin was a success, a good job as a linotype operator on the Charlotte News, a lovely wife and son and a beautiful home. into enemy territory. I zoomed my plane down — to meet a convoy of German trucks heading for the Western front and spattered flame at them. I thought it would be wonderful to prove to the Germans that American pilots were more daring than they. I decided to climb high into the sky and then dive down again in a spiral manner. Up my plane roared into the sky until I was well over 30,000 feet. Again I dived, but this time I noticed an enemy fighter in the air. too. Undaunted, I kept up my attack on the German convoy. The third time I must have climbed too high because, dazed, I rubbed my face with my right arm only to find that blood I quickly concentrated on another scene— a large printing shop in Salisbury, N. C. There stocd Gilmer Lentz directing other men. He was burdened with great responsibility. A newcomer, baffled by the puzzle of the trade, came to him for instruction and Gilmer, in his familiar coun- seling way, sent him back to his work with his puzzle solved. The North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morganton fia shed into view and I suddenly realized as never before how beautiful the cam- pus was. It was dotted with many elegant trees, the grass was so fresh and green that it looked almost blue. I was suddenly shown into a room on the lower floor of the school building. Mildred Pace was teaching language to a class of happy looking boys and girls. She taught as if she had had long experience as a teacher. I realized then that the substituting she did while we were in the Senior Class, had started her on her road to success. The ring on her finger and the smile on her face told me that she was the wife of some lucky fellow.

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Rockingham, N. C. July 3, 1925. When he was an infant, his parents moved to Florida. They lived ten miles north of Miami. While in Florida, Marion lost his hearing as a result of an ear disease that he had when he was seven months old. He is lucky because he can still hear a little with the aid of a hearing device. Marion came to school in the fall of 1932 and Miss Gordon was his first teacher. Mildred Pace has been his classmate all through the grades. He has played on the football team. He enjoys tennis and volley ball just as well. His favorite pastime is reading and solving algebra problems which disturb him. He hopes to go to college and become an engineer. James Vaughn comes from the city of Greens- boro, N. C. where he was born September 25, 1923. Before he became deaf, he attended public school. Mrs. Robert Menzies, one of our former teachers, was James’ public school teacher. To him she is stll ““Miss Wheeler’. When he was seven years old, he had ear trouble which deve- loped into mastoid. He had an operaton, but it was not successful. James became deaf and was sent to this school in the fall of 1931. He and Carey Cale were together in Mrs. Walker’s Pre- paratory Class at Goodwin Hall and have been classmates ever since. James has always played on the football team, but he does not enjoy other but changed his vocation to printing. Last sum- mer he worked in a weaving mill and was very successful. He wants to be a business man when he leaves school. Percy Watson was born totally deaf in the little town of Long Pine on October 4, 1922. He has another deaf brother, Charles, who gradua- ted from this school several years ago. Percy entered in the fall of 1929. He could have gra- duated some years ago, but illness kept him at home and his class left him behind. He has played on both our football and basketball teams and has helped the school win several handsome bas- ketball trophies. His favorite pastime is read- ing. For the past six years his vocation has been printing. Percy has been working as a carpenter during the last several summers but he wants to be a linotype operator when he leaves school. Thus endeth a brief sketch of the personel of the class of 1944. May their future be as bright as their past has been pleasant and may they fulfill the expectations of their friends and teach- ers while holding dear the memories of school days that are ending.

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I hardly realized that Mildred was gone before another newspaper office in the town of Greens- boro emerged into view. I was not the least bit surprised when I saw James Vaughn sitting behind a big desk with a sign on his door which read ‘‘Advertising Manager.” I knew that James had followed up the good beginning he had made while securing and setting up the ads in our Class Book of so long ago. The next scene carried me hundreds of miles southward across the land of cotton and peaches, and into the land of orange blossoms and palm trees. There in a beautiful Florida town, I saw Percy Watson, wearing a snappy suit, walking along the beach. I recalled Percy’s former state of health and knew that his continual winter colds and coughs had carried him to Florida. He was the picture of health and success. As he disappeared into a modern looking office building occupied by an outstanding state paper. I knew that his future, too, was secure. This wonderful insight into the future lives and fame of my fellow students brought me back with a suddeness that caused me to gain instant control of my plane. I realized that I, too, could live in fame and that it was not inevitable that I go down in flame. My future was thus revealed and I deemed my dream a fortunate one, indeed, as it gave me the desire to soar ever higher and higher, to make the most of the educational gains I had made thus far and to achieve in the future. lasting and worthwhile things.