Onarga Township High School - Onarquois Yearbook (Onarga, IL)

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□ THE '45 ONARQUOIS □ desire for our class to meet ten years hence, in 1951. On September 7, 1941, 33 frightened freshmen took their first taste of high school and two seconds later spit it out. It had a definite strong and bitter taste. We were joined in our freshman year by Duane Brantley, Norbert Cluver, Shirley Colebank. Bill Cox, Delbert Henegar, Wayne McNeil, Katherine Meints, Dick Peters, Evelyn Rueck, Bob Rutledge, Cedric Shroyer, and Kenneth Sterrenberg, all from outlying country schools. Our class officers were Paul Schnurr, President; Richard Peters, Vice President; Velma Link, Secretary; and Rex Mitchell, Treasurer. We were required to take three subjects, General Science under Miss Hanson, English under Mr. Goodwin, and Algebra under Mr. Reed. Miss Hanson said after she had us in science for a while that most of us would undoubtedly get jobs in the Westing- house Electrical laboratories------as office boys. Mr. Goodwin tried his best to teach us English, but when we started to talk about split infinitives and participles he just had to take a backseat because he couldn’t keep up with us. Mr. Reed did his best in Algebra but try as he would, we just couldn’t wait for him and so we had to leave him still studying Algebra when we walked out of the door our final day of school. After laboring through our Freshman year, including initiation and general mistreatment by the seniors, we advanced one step closer to our dream, the north side of the Study Hall. We were joined this year by one more student, Frances Rice. We were well represented in all activities, our boys helping Onarga have a Championship football team. Those unlucky people who were “stuck” with the job of class officers were: Glea Thorne, President; Tom Carter, Vice President; (he couldn’t stand the strain and moved away, being replaced by Paul Schnurr), Duane Brantley, Treasurer; and Peggy Uphoff, Secretary. Mrs. McMillan had the maddening job of class sponsor. On August 31 of 1943 we trudged back to school and took our place in the junior section. Shortly after school started we had our election of officers and chose them as follows: President, Jack Wright; Vice President, Kenneth Sterrenberg; Treasurer, Peggy Uphoff; Secretary, Blanche Lindsay. During this year our athletic teams enjoyed a very successful year, following up the example set by the boys last year. The football team was undefeated, and the juniors had three boys representing them on the first team — Kan-osky, Sterrenberg, and Schnurr. The basketball team was also very successful, and our representatives on the first team were Wright and Sterrenberg. The junior class put on a play, “Even Stephen”, the main character parts being taken by Jack Wright, Peggy Uphoff, Sam Brantley, Glea Thorne, Kenny Sterrenberg, and Utopia Kincade. The money from the play was put with the money made from selling pop and candy at the games and with this we put on our prom. The gym was very beautifully decorated with a parachute in the middle, and the rest of the gym in blue. We had the O. M. S. band, and I’m sure that all will admit it was one of the best planned and most beautiful proms in years. Joe Kan-osky left us in May to go to the Navy. Joe was well liked and will be greatly missed in our senior year. On September 5, 1944, we started on our last leg of the journey and took our place as

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□ THE ’45 ONARQUOIS □ Senior Qlass history In the fateful year of ’33, 27 first-graders took their first tender steps into the realm of education. Under the iron hand of Miss Harriet Cane we mastered the art of reading and writing although we waited till we were in the second grade before we got any of our books published that we had dashed off in our spare time. It was while we were in the first grade that we organized the red hot rhythm band. In the second grade we were beginning to grow up, and we started to delve into mathematics. We dashed through 1 plus 1 and 2 plus 2, but in 3 plus 3 we had difficulty, though under the able guidance of Miss Kathleen Artz we finally mastered it. We carried on with the Grade School corn machine, in other words, the rhythm band, through the year but discarded it in the spring. In the fall of ’35 we went into third grade and here learned the multiplication tables like 2x3 is 8 and 4x4 is 32 under Miss Helen Black. It was here that we had a swell time in the spring because during April and May the school was shut down for the scarlet fever scare. Our next step was under Miss Julia Danforth in the fourth grade where we picked up an additional subject, history, to which we adapted like a fish adapts to dry land. In the fifth grade we really launched out on our search of knowledge under Miss Char- □ lotte Clarke. It was here that the boys started off on their magnificent athletic career. (I think it was in our senior year that we had a boy make the second team in ping pong.) As much as we disliked to leave the fifth grade we had to climb the ladder of knowledge and so our little class of sunshine marched into Miss Fern Yaw’s class in 1933. Although we didn’t start a new subject in the sixth we did pick up many physcological pointers in the daily lectures given by our lecturing teacher. In the seventh grade we were really beginning to become true citizens of the world. Here we had two teachers, Mr. Bevins and Mr. Wright. While Mr. Bevins taught us facts of history and arithmetic, Mr. Wright explained the origin of the English language. Here we put on our Sam Brown belts and started off on our career of protecting the little ones. (Patrol boys). In the eighth, we had our same teachers and the same studies. It was in the winter of our eighth grade year that we had the big championship basketball team. We won the “B” tourney in the county. In May we had our graduation and we really thought we were big then. Jack Wright and Blanche Lindsay received the Legion Awards. Jack was also valedictorian. Just before we graduated Bob Hockersmith presented each one of us with pins on which was expressed the

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□ THE ’45 ONARQUOIS □ seniors. We started our senior year with 21 seniors, but Richard Peters left us at midyear to enter the Army. Here’s hoping that Dick will have the best of luck in the service. The seniors were very alive in the Thespian play this year. It’s title was, “Growing Pains”, and Jack Wright, Duane Brantley, Bob Pierce, and Utopia Kincaid represented the seniors in the cast. The senior play hasn’t been presented at the time of this writing. For the first time in our four years of high school we won the six-week scholarship cup. After this happened the teachers and the school were ready to expect anything from us, and we tried our best not to disappoint them. Our class officers for the year were Kenny Sterrenberg, President; Blanche Lindsay, Vice President; Margaret Uphoff, Secretary; and Bob Hockersmith, Treasurer. Although our sports were not what they have been in recent years we didn’t give up hope, at least not in the Senior class where all ten of the boys entered at least one of the sports during the year. As spring draws near, we begin to think about getting out of school and of having a rest from all books. Many of us have probably been heard to say that, “if they ever see another book after this year they’d be tempted to burn it”, but we’re certain that next year when school starts again, all 21 of the seniors will be ready to take their place in the class rooms again. This we think covers the history of our class pretty well, that is fairly well, well, lightly. We could perhaps go more into detail, but we don’t think that this would settle very good with the teachers and students, so with deep regret we leave our class at the end of twelve years of school and hope and trust to luck that this benefits them in their coming years of life in the world of tomorrow. Come listen to me, you students so free, All you that love joy for to hear. I’ll tell you a tale, a tale filled with glee. Of the seniors, who nothing do fear. They sit in the north of the big Study Hall. Four years labored they to get there. “You, too, shall sit there, yes, one and all,” Say the seniors, so bold and so fair.