Packer Collegiate Institute - Pelican Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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DEAR DIARY June, 2000 Dear Diary, Today, while I was rummaging through the attic, I found something that took me back fifty years. It was the diary I kept during my Senior year at Packer. It brought back memories that I had long forgotten. How many pleasant memories that diary of the Class of ' 50. I ' ve been rereading the diary and have experienced many a smile and many a pang in recalling the daily episodes. For instance there is the entry of September 21, 1949, the first day of our Senior year. Gee, it was good to see all the kids again. We had a lot to talk about. The summer went so fast and everybody is so tan. Tomorrow we get our caps and gowns. Then, we ' ll feel like Seniors. How time flew after we got into the routine of things. Here ' s an entry that ' s typical of our class. It ' s the one for October 24. We certainly make it hard for Ruth and Evelyn. I don ' t know what they would do without that bell. We were almost late for Chapel this morning. They ran around telling us, ' The music ' s begun. Hurry up and get on line. ' After Chapel there were the usual announcements. Elfriede asked us to pay our class dues, and Jean Dedrick asked us to pay for our Pelicans. Betsy wanted suggestions for a forum topic. We finally decided on Should Religion Be Taught in Public Schools. ' ' After announcements were over, there was the usual dash for the last minute cigarette before the ten o ' clock class. This afternoon the Workshop had a Gay Nineties Revue. Six of us did a dance routine to By the Sea. The costumes included shower caps and gym suits. Marjorie King sang Hello, My Baby, and Nancy Balchunas did I ' i Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage. One part that was very good was the take off on a silent movie. The Senior specialty, the Flora Dora Baby, was also done. The revue was a big success. Teddie deserved a lot of credit for the work she put into it. Here ' s one entry that is remembered by many m our class. It is the one for the 21st of November. There certainly was excitement in school today. Last weekend six of us went away for big college weekends. Teddie went up to the Syracuse-Colgate weekend. Ruth went to Cornell. Wilma and Cathleen both went to Boston, Wilma to M. I. T. and Cathleen to Tufts. Mary and I went up to the Yale-Harvard game. Throughout the day all I heard were tales of the weekend ' s happenings. Then, there was our Senior Play, Tbe Cherry Orchard. How we worked on that. Here ' s the entry for Dec. 1, the day before the play was given. At lunch today we made up a song about the play. We changed the words of ' be With Yon at Apple Blossom Time to ' be M iih Yon in Cherry Orchard Time. Then we went around the lunchrooms and sang it. I think we ' re going to sing it in Chapel 34

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SENIORS BETSY WEGROCKI A JioL JLu. v Gentle and quiet, a lady all through. ,, A bright little student. . . . ( ■ ' And talented too. fdAC JOAN WELLS She ' s an artist — always drawing a croivd. ,Vf

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tomorrow. Marilyn Sussel is very good as the lead, and they say Solveig is going to have for her pet in it the dog that played with The Cherry Orchard on Broadway. How we all worried about that play, but it finally went off very well. I remember Ruth ' s nephew didn ' t recognize her, and he thought Joan Wells was Santa Claus, because of her long beard. The next entry that stands out is the one for March 13. Today in Chapel ' Aschenbach and Hair played duets on the piano. Included, of course, was Don ' t Blame Me. much to the amusement of our class. I guess that will be the only time harmonizing is allowed in Chapel. This afternoon the Seniors inhabited the Social Room, as usual. Dottie, Lois Valen- tine, Janet, and Joan were playing bridge. Janet seemed to be quite confused by Joan ' s artificial club. How often the phrase, Jo n, what ' U I do with this hand? ' can be heard. To add to the confusion June was teaching Mickey, Louise, Edna, and Barbara Frisch- man to do the Charleston, and Lupe was teaching Lois Hopper to do the Hula Hula. Marjorie King and Ginny Scileppi left to go to Jehovah ' s Witnesses for their Soci- ology survey, and word came that the Social Room is to be redecorated. I wonder how long it looked neat after that. Here ' s another entry for the same week. It ' s for St. Patrick ' s Day. Today we held a party. It started off in the Assembly Room with entertainment. Louise and Solveig each played the piano, and Marjorie King, Marjorie Kautz, and Nancy Balchunas sang. After this we went to the Social Room, and Teddie and Evelyn gave out little gifts to express each person ' s outstanding characteristic. Looking back on it, our class really got along very well. Lunchtime was another period which was full of activity. My entry for the March 21 shows a typical lunch period. Today was one of those days in the lunch room when everybody was singing. I had to eat my lunch in a hurry because I had some work to do, and Frances Poggi was also hurrying so she could practice some vaults. Thank heavens we have her for the Meet. When I got upstairs, the radio was going, Beryl was teaching Nancy and Betty Coelho knitting, Solveig and Dagmar were having a tete a tete on the sofa, probably doing their Math homework. I kept this diary throughout most of the year, but the entry of March 21 is the last I can find. Although I have no written record of the remaining days at Packer I still have memories of May Day and all the events of graduation, which are so symbolic of Packer. Our graduation was the climax of all we had worked for, or even joked about; it was a triumph tempered by the more important realization that we are not the be-all and the end-all here. Although there were many times when we were discouraged, the memories we hold are all happy ones, which on our recalling them provide us with pleasant moments. 35