Oakwood High School - Acorn Yearbook (Fithian, IL)

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THE ACORN OF I9 the opera house we hastened to the Coliseum to see the final game of the World s Series basketball tournament. As we entered, a spectacular play from the center of the floor by none other than our old friend, Howard Durbin, clinched the title for the United States. A few hours later we landed on the outskirts of Shanghai near a war-torn mission where Glen Cunningham was ministering to the needs of the wretched natives. Upon visiting a nearby hospital we encountered Dr. Rodney Payne, who was just recovering from a severe attack of Chinese mumps, thanks to the de- voted attention of his efficient nurse, Frances Johnston. .lust across the street from the hospital in big red box car letters we read the sign, Condon's Funeral Home. In an instant I realized that Dick was still up to his old tricks of covering up Rodney's mistakes. While our plane was being refueled in Honolulu, I seized the opportunity of repairing the damage done to my personal appearance during my sky ride, by visiting the Jenkins and Hart Beauty Salon. Mary Elizabeth suggested that I call at the Island branch of the United States Department of Agriculture to have a chat with John Rutan, director of the entomological research laboratory. We found him down on all fours manipulating a high powered microscope as he counted the hairs on the bald pate of a coddling moth. We noticed over in the corner two figures in a huddle. On nearer approach we discovered I-Toward Richter and Fred Gutterridge counting and sorting ant eggs. We rushed back to the airport, boarded our plane, and took off for Alameda Field near Oakland, California. We tuned in on station O.T.H.S., owned and operated by Audrey Johnson and Helen Tillotson. We heard a booming voice. faintly familiar, announce, This red-hot campaign will close tonight at 9:00 P. M. with a debate between Beatrice W'ilder and Richard jenkins on the ques- tion, Resolved that blue pin feathers will never grow on pink elephants. Your announcer is Lowell CThomasj Murphy. The time is now 5 P. M. Coleta watch time-C-O-L-E-IT-A. Before we landed at Alameda we circled over Alcatraz Island, where far below we saw the gray mass of the famous San Quenten Prison. I learned from the spirit that Jack Strongarm Van Zandt, the warden, had just settled a hunger strike by feeding the strikers cream puffs concocted by the head of the commissary department, Fred Balbach. who got his cream puff start in the foods laboratory of O.T.H.S. He also told me that assisting Warden Van Zandt were Charles Smith, the idolized head of the Drop-The-Handkerchieb Department and Ed McClure, the popular chief of the Pick-It-Up-Bureau. A few minutes later we landed at the Alameda Airport. That afternoon we visited the famous zoo at Golden Gate Park. There we had a little chat with joe Neff while he touched up the elephant's toe nails with bright red polish. His partner, Ferris Cvillen, was busily engaged in giving Leo Cthe lionl a rosebud permanent. We wormed our way through a crowd gathered around an iron cage through the bars of which we watched Betty VVilson and Ann Oakwood instruct- ing a bevy of attentive monkeys in the intricacies of ballroom dancing.

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THE ACORN - AOF I9 CLASS PROPHECY 8 One evening as I sat gazing into the fire, I saw slowly rising from the embers, Il small figure with tiny wings. Although momentarily startled, I soon regained my composure as the spirit said, Madam, I am the spirit of the Class of '39, Come with me and I will reveal to you the future of this remarkable group. I followed him, and he led me to an odd looking airplane. I entered, and, after rising steadily for some time, I picked up the courage to look below. On the highway a speeding car caught my attention. I was surprised to find that it was not a traffic cop pursuing a bandit, but only Junior Harden carrying on the family Ford business. I1 seemed no time at all until we were landing in front of the White House. Here I found Andy Young presiding over the affairs of the nation. He told me confidentially that, though his present duties did not weigh heavily upon him, he had never fully recovered from the strain of guiding the destinies of the Class of '39 for three years. We learned from His Excellency that William Watson was star reporter for The Washington Post, published by Joseph Dejonghe. We hurried back to the plane and Hew up the coast to New York. There we landed on the roof of a large, downtown hotel. As the dinner hour was near, we made our way to the main dining room. I picked up a menu, and the first thing I read was, Owned and Managed by Martha Cork. We found Martha in her office, the same old Martha. She told us that Jim Cade was living in Manhattan, and with the help of Ferol Jones, his private secretary, was managing a chain of Cade 5-and-10 cent stores extending from coast to coast. We continued northward to Boston. Wishing to cash a check, I was directed by the spirit to a large bank, where I recognized Max Myers as the cashier. Beside him stood a charming brunette, Evelyn Hadden, who had evidently con- sented to become his permanent home adviser. I accepted their invitation to attend a World's Series game between the Floston Bees and the New York Yankees. As I adjusted my field glasses, I spied Frank Thompson acting as umpire behind home plate. Early the next morning we headed eastward across the Atlantic. Not far out we met a large sea plane. My companion informed me that it was a trans- Atlantic airliner. I-le also told me that it had been guided through many a storm by its efficient pilot, Cullman Reed, while the stewardess, Nancy Crawford, was quieting the fears of the passengers. Soon after reaching Paris I found myself seated in a beautiful opera house, while I listened to an even more beautiful aria sung by Mary Vinson. Leaving

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THE ACORN OF I9 At the airport we encountered Bill Fagaly as he stepped from a plane. VVorried by disciplinary problems, Principal Fagaly told us that he was rushing to the International Convention of Inventors, where Doris Saults and Elouise Cunningham were demonstrating their new invention, an automatic spanking machine. Enroute to Reno we stopped at Mill's College to see President Ruby Osborn and Freda O'Banion, associate professor of Egyptology. Soon after taking off again we were attracted by a whirring sound on our left. We gazed from the window of the cockpit and were thrilled at the sight of a silver plane writing these words: See the latest Delores gowns modeled by Marilyn Williams, Hollywood, California . Nevertheless, we continued our journey to The Biggest Little Town in the World . There we visited the Divorce Mill , where the busy miller, Leo Palmer, was turning out divorces on a wholesale scale. On this rosy, bright morning while the bees were twittering in the tree tops and the birds were buzzing among the honeysuckle vines, Geraldine Hughs and Myrtle Williams, two souls with but a single thought, through the courtly effort of Judge Leo Hard-I-Iearted Palmer were doomed to go their separate ways. Before we resumed our journey we bought the latest issue of Desert Life . The cover page featured an artistic picture of Virginia Watson, noted for her desert paintings. Hastily turning the pages all at once we saw a picture entitled The Desert Canary . It was a beautiful representation of the four-legged animal dear to the hearts of all desert dwellers and better known in the language of the street as the donkey. We stopped for a drink at Old Faithful Geyser. A few minutes later from the winding shores of Yellowstone Lake, we watched Viola Morman and Thelma VVoodard instruct the native fishes how to swim. Continuing our flight eastward we dropped low over The Garden of the Gods. Cn Pinnacle Point we sighted a solitary soul, seated and sharply silhouetted against the sinking sun. From the Spirit I learned that this lonely being was our own dear Robert Longfellow Palmer and that he was at it again. Leaving Bob on Pinnacle Point we continued to Denver, Colorado, where I assumed my responsibilities as Supervisor of Nurses in the Rocky Mountain Emergency I-Iospital. just as I received my first call to duty, the Spirit said, Madam, I have shown you, to the best of my ability, the whereabouts of your fellow classmates. With these words he disappeared into the fire as quickly as he had appeared, and I awoke from mv dream. B. B.