Oratory Preparatory School - Oratorian Yearbook (Summit, NJ)

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THE SENIOR CLASS Sftllllllfllgfl Deslan Metayer, Victor Ormachea, William Smttfd: john Denman, Donald Busch, Raymond Ga- McAuIiffe, Charles Kirk, James Cuddy, Henry Dejan. dala, john Martin, George Esposito, Louis Gadala. Bernard Trindell, Paul Townsend, Leonard Schley. CLASS HISTORY FRESHMAN YEAR 1944 - 1945 On September 18, 1944, there arrived at Oratory Prep, Summit, New Jersey, a group of nervous and bewildered boys. Since the class of 1948 bears this look of bewilderment and a nervy man- ner, the above group mentioned and this class may be said to be the same. As freshmen we were at once astonished at the upperclassmen, especially the seniors. They, in turn, were puzzled by our microscopic group, which at best boasted a few individuals whose arms and legs exceeded the size of the rest of their bodies. We were introduced immediately to a very thorough and extremely painful initiation period which came to a merciful close the following September when we were officially recognized as sophomores. We soon grew accustomed to life at the school and the warm feeling of friendship be, stowed on us by the priests and faculty. We well remember the long hours we wrestled with algebra and Latin, either plugging with rad- icals or marching with Caesar to conquer the Gauls. The war was on then and HitIer's march was being halted. Many of our seniors graduated in january and went off to war. This was Oratory's contribution to the war effort. This year saw the introduction of our new laboratory which was generously donated by the Mothers' Club. The months rolled by and soon the warm breezes of spring were upon us. We departed happily in june, proud not only that we were no longer the fearful freshmen, but also that all of us had passed with flying colors. I9

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,gn terpretcz tion Since we, the Senior Class, during our school life at Oratory, have found that faithfulness to God includes loyalty to Church and country, we have chosen for our theme the motto on our school shield - Fidelimr. To this end we have been trained: to keep our faith and trust in God, to remain true to ourselves, to our Church as founded by Christ, and to our neighbor wherever we may meet him. Furthermore we wish to keep to an ideal our instructors have had in directing our educational progress, and which Cardinal Newman, priest of The Oratory, has expressed so eloquently. 4. One main portion of intellectual education, of the labors of both school and university, is to remove the original dimness of the mind's eye: to strengthen and perfect its vision, to enable it to look out into the world right forward, steadily and truly, to give the mind clearness, accuracy, precision, to enable it to use words aright, to understand what it says, to conceive justly what it thinks about, to compare, analyze, define and reason correctly. Thus, let our motto - Fidelifas - be our theme as symblematic of our intent to be both spiritually and intellectually faithful in all things. ,, The img C'!9i'i.r1ia12 pmdzzfl of Clariytianz edlfcafiozz it flue t1zpei'1zaztfmzl 1724212 who flames, judges' and arts mmlafrztly amd comiriefzlly 272 avcordanre willy righl reatofz illumifzed by lbe f11permzlm'al light of the example and teaching of Clarirtf' . . . Pope Pius XI

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SOPHOMORE YEAR 1945 - 1946 We returned in our sophomore year confident of success. A lot of this cockiness was knocked out of us when we were presented with our new schedule. Again we faced algebra but on a high- er plane. We switched from Caesar to Cicero to plod further into the exploits of the Roman Em- pire. Also Spanish was injected into our curricula. Therefore, we faced a stiff year but one that bore fruit. Our sports were limited to intramural athletics. A growing demand for sports was swelling among all the classes of the high school . We progressed onward in our studies, cram- ming for exams and striving bravely to decode the puzzling writings of the Romans. Once again winter turned to spring and another group of upperclassmen graduated. The war was now over and we looked forward to a new era throughout the country and at Oratory. JUNIOR YEAR 1946 - 1947 When we arrived back at Oratory we were greeted with the happy news of the resumption of sports. The spirit of the school increased hun- dredfold and the turnouts for each sport were large. We did not fare well in football and bask- etball. But on the diamond we looked good and showed promise. A large number of the class of '48 was well represented in all these sports. We saw a growing athletic program gradually becom- ing a reality, thanks to Father Bain and to Mr. Weber who volunteered his services as coach. We worked hard this year both at athletics and studies. The world was at peace and all was serene at Oratory-until the final exams. The traditional cramming was on and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the week of t-he finals was over. As we watched the seniors receive their dip- lomas we couldn't help wondering what we'd look like only a year away. SENIOR YEAR 1947 - 1948 ' Our last year was upon us. Our studies were easier and fewer than the past years since we had worked off our necessary credits. But still we had 20 our class leaders as well as our sport leaders who set the pace. On the field of sport we were much better. Our football team still lacked a victory but our Court combination turned in a winning season. The class of '48 still formed the nucleus of these teams. The weeks passed too swiftly here at Oratory. The months slipped by unnoticed. No sooner were the mid-term exams over than we were pre- paring for june. We laughed when we looked at the freshmen. We didnlt look like that! Were we that small? It is hard to believe but some of us were even smaller. It isn't easy to leave Oratory. To most of us this was our second home. The years we have spent here will always be a pleasant part of our life. The fun we had to-gether from wobbly- kneedl' freshmen to college-minded seniors will al- ways be a memory that will draw a chuckle. The football and basketball games, the jug classes, the dances, all these will be vivid in our memory. Also we'll recall Father Kelly and Father Bain who were always helpful and kind to us. We'll remember Father Fox who straightened us out so many times with our problems. The friendship extended to us by the priests and faculty will al- ways l:e an inspiration to us. It's funny, we couldn't wait to graduate when we were juniors and sophomores when the grind was tough. Now, way down deep, many of us wish we were back there again even with old Julius Caesar and Cicero. We have made many friendships amongst us which are more than high school fancies. We'll miss our friends we leave here in the faculty and the student body, but most of all we'll miss the spirit of Oratory which guided us through these past years.