Parker High School - La Reata Yearbook (Parker, AZ)

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Settlor 'ProfeAectf It is now in the year of 1949, and I have just visited an old Indian Village. On my tours of the village I come across the old witchdoctor. Whereupon I asked him if he could get in touch with his gods and ask them what my classmates of '49 are doing now. He said that he could and proceeded to tell me about them. Cecil, he said, is now up in Las Vegas running a gambling casino after the Weber Bread Company ran Holsum out of business and caused Cecil to have to give up his job as Holsum distributor around Parker and vicinity. I find that Camie Witzleben is now in Chicago practicing medicine. He has iust gotten out of medical school and has found a good job as chief surgeon of the Veteran's Hospital. Could you give me a hint where Virginia Burgoz is and what she is doing? He said, Virginia is still in Parker, the proprietor of the Malt Shop where she had worked while in school. Without asking him he asked me if I knew Pedro Leon. Of course I know him, what about him? Well, he's been trying to sell us Indians his idea of a prefabricated house in- stead of letting us keep using our teepees. He's a high pressure salesman working for G. F. and Company. Dale Cowan, he went on, is holding a soft government job up in northern California. By the way, you all guessed right; he and Betty Jo were married and have three sets of twins. He also says that Barbara Wilbanks is up in Vegas working in a department store. She hasn't given up the idea of getting Cecil by hook or crook. Henry Washington, he says, is doing fine up in Fresno, California with his (action service) service stations, scattered all over California. He is still single and going strong. The old witchdoctor tells me that Norma McCoy is working in Los Angeles as a bookkeeper for Sears and Roebuck. Loretta Stephan, our young bride, he continued, is living at Stephan's Dude Ranch, The Oasis of the Desert, after she finally persuaded Fred to reopen the Ranch. She now has two children in school. Nita Shull is now the head waitress in the City Drug Store in Parker. The witchdoctor also tells me she is to be married to Bob Rhodes. The old doctor finally told me Earl Langendorf has a ranch in Montana where he is living quite happily with his family. Lydia Paddock is now head nurse at the Indian Agency Hospital at Parker. George Lomayesva is playing basketball for Phillips 66 Oilers now and it seems that his athletic ability will bring him a nice income. He says we will find Echo Mae teaching Dramatics in the University of Arizona. We find Malcolm Swick, chief of the council of the Colorado River Indian Reservation here in Parker. The old witchdoctor congratulated me on having graduated with such a won- derful class. He feels that we all will be happy and comfortable for the rest of our lives. After the doctor told me what he has, I'll believe in whatever he says or any hunches he happens to have. 10

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Se U n The history of the Senior Class of '49 began way back in grammar school when a few of us started together in the sixth grade right here in Parker. We looked forward to the day when we would be graduated from grade school. It seemed a long time then, but the time passed quickly, and before we knew it we were out of grammar school ready for high school. I admit, it seemed a long road while we were traveling it, but looking back, it was only a short while that we were in grade school. We then entered high school where we were joined by new members who had come in from other schools. Our freshman year seemed great because we thought we were getting places in the world, now that we were in high school. The Seniors, and everybody else for that matter, seemed to have it in for the Freshmen, poor un- derdogs is all that we were. The Freshmen had good morale though, so we took it all right. Everybody got his four sacred credits for which he had put forth many hard hours in his Freshman year, so we all journeyed on toward the day we look forward to. In our Sophomore year we didn't feel quite so important because high school wasn’t so new to us, and we were still lower-classmen. We poured it on the Freshmen of that year at initiation time though. The Sophomores felt they carried a lot of weight around school that year, having taken the school tournament in basketball and scoring more points in the track meets than any other class. When it came to wield- ing influence in the Student Council we had hardly any. It seemed that even the Freshmen had it over the Sophomores, and I would say we were robbed. I guess it was then we felt we were just lower-classmen and didn't get what we wanted just because we thought we ought to. At that I believe the second year was the best and passed almost as quickly as our Senior year. Our Junior year was next in line, and we felt important because of our being upper-classmen. We acquired a few more juniors from Parker Dam who came to school over here. As for Student Council, we had three Juniors in there, and we did fairly well as far as getting dances was concerned. Time dragged for the simple reason we kept wishing the year would end soon, so that we could get out of school a little more quickly. That's all we could think of, graduation. We gave a nice ban- quet for the Seniors, and the Junior-Senior Prom was a great success. At last our long year was ended. We were seniors ! ! ! ! All the Seniors came back to school in good spirits with the thought of gradu- ation in mind. In our Senior year, we were the big wheels of the school. The year we had waited for so long had arrived. We had control of the Student Council, as Seniors always do. We had choice dances and other activity dates. The first semester went by fast, and our graduation was drawing nearer. The second semester seemed to go a little more slowly because we were getting over-anxious for graduation day when we no longer would go to high school where we had spent four hard years of toil and strife, mixed with pleasure, fun, and trouble. At last the big event came and passed, and now, as we look back over the journey we have made it doesn't seem so long. We say it seems like just last year when we graduated from grade school, and now from high school, to start out on our life-work or to go to college to further our education. Whatever we do, we will always remember our four years in high school and most of all the day we graduated. 9

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 7 o4e Section, Row I — Echo Coffey, Henry Washington, Camie Witzleben, Barbara Wilbanks. Row 2 — Norma McCoy, Loretta Stephan, Lida Paddock, Camilo Leon. Row 3 — Dale Cowan, Virginia Burgoz, Earl Langendorf. Row 4 — Cecil Florence. I I