Pembroke Academy - Academian Yearbook (Pembroke, NH)

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LUELLA MARIE BLRKESLEE I know not what the success will be, but the attempt I vow Radiant, resourceful, and radical is our gal Lue. Continually in- volved in some perplexing situation, she thrives on her ability to make both ends meet--no matter how impossible it seems to the rest of us. Aside from tremendous scholastic achievements, Lua has shown her versatility in dramatics and sports, she's our jack of all trades, and how she manages to do so much with so little time amazes everyone. Always busy, but never too occupied to help a friend, we'll never forget her no matter how far the foreign service may take her. So Lue, in your travels, remember that you have your class of '58 wishing you the very best of everything. Valedictoriang secretary 1,2,3, basketball 2,3,4 fco-captainjg general chorus 1, double quartette 1, senior play, winter carnival l,2,3 Qqueenl, 45 assemblies 1,33 prom 3 fco -chairman decorationsj, 49 memory prize speaking 1,2 Q3rdj, 3 Q4thj, 4 flstjg state speech touma- ment 2,33 secretary-athletic association 4, Hi-Y 2, yearbook business manager 45 original prize speaking 4. VALEDICTORY Tonight we forty -seven students are here because society decrees that twelve years of schooling is terminated by a ceremony called high school graduation. However, there is much more meaning to graduation than simply that, for during these past twelve years, and especially these four at Pembroke, Academy, we have had numerous challenges to meet, before reaching this point. Most of us have met them successfully. What were these challenges? We faced the challenges of growing up, of accepting new ideas, and learning responsibility. . .the responsibility of making the best of that which was offered to us by our teachers. We faced challenges,not only academically and socially, but also in athletics. Socially, we had to learn how to conduct ourselves in the right way and to consider the other person. We were responsible for our actions. We had to shed our selfish feelings and work for the better of the group and team. A very important fact we learned was that we get out of something only what we put into it. This knowledge inspired initiative and competition. To reach our goals, whether they were success on the basketball court or good marks, we learned that perseverance worked best. Unlike our younger days, there was not always an older person to pull the strings that made us work. Instead, we were equipped with strings and guided to use them to the best advantage. How we did pull them de- termined our success. These are but a few of the challenges we have met. But even though graduation has come, we have not yet met all our challenges. For, upon leaving high school and entering life, we shall meet still greater challenges. Especially in this period of time, there is a great challenge that at times seems to be obscured. . . one that Americans cannot always clearly see nor fully understand. As adult Americans, we must now face it. Because we had the good fortune to be born Americans, we were born with a silver spoon in our mouths. . .a silver spoon called Democracy. It is a wonderful word, practiced in a wonderful place, a place abounding in opportunity, believing in freedom, harboring all races and peoples. This is America. We even have a beautiful flag and a statue of liberty to keep us ever mindful of this heritage. This heritage was handed to us at birth. Perhaps we received it too easily. . .we didn't have to work for it. And our greatest challenge now is to keep that spoon shiny and not let it tarnish. This, all Americans are not aware of. We have been living in the state of glory which our great nation has achieved. That glory is the highest, for we are ahead of all other nations in this world. But now we have taken a breather, just a rest, to enjoy all our gains, gains which no other nation has surpassed. There is the popular feeling that we are the best, and we feel very comfortable about it, and because we are the best, many seem to think we now have no more goals for which to strive. But how wrong they are! Now 10

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35 Sim: , eniord

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that we have made these, accomplrshments our goal rs even greater the challenge rs harder We have to mamtarn our hrgh posrtron For rt rs much easter to be on the bottom as we once were, and work up than to be on the top and stay there Amertc rns do notseem conscrous of the fact that rt ts not tmpossrble that some day we could be pushed off the top rn fact rt ts very posstble For remember Rome fell when rt was rn all 1IS glory If thrs should happen then we alone are to blame For whrle we are takrng a breather, the world can pass us by just as the turtle passed the hare rn that seemrngly tmpossrble race Berng on top does a terrrble thrng to the mrnds of people It makes them relax rt makes them complacent rt makes them overconftdent and tt makes them feel that all goals have been reached The Communrsts have already nudged us a lrttle They have shocked us partly out of our lax and non chalant attrtude Amertcans seemed rndrgnant when the Russtans put a satelltte rnto space before we drd They seemed to say How could thev do that to us'7 Don t they know that we are the best? Some people have started to do somethrng about thts threat but to the masses of Amerrcan people, the threat of Lommunrsm strll does not seem enough to get exerted about We are sttll confrdent of our posttron and content to just relax Those few who realrze the threat can not do enough The effort has to come from the heart of the natton from the people What can we do to matntatn our posrtron Frrst, we must realrze that there rs a challenge Then we must get out of our comfortable rockrng charrs and tear our eyes awav from our televrsrons rf possr ble and get to work There ts much to be done for we are far from perfect We have not yet realrzed all our goals Though our sy stem rs best we are lrvrng rn no Utopra Lontrary to popular feelrng we have so much to strtve for that we can t afford to srt by and watch We can tmprove on what we have and learn to use tt better We can turn our destructtve forces, such as the atomrc bomb rnto constructrve forces By practtctng God s law, and lrvrng democracy the way rt should be ltved, we can frght that whrch opposes us There are strll thousands of hungry people rn Amertca and people wtthout Jobs There ts too much crrme, and educatton rs far from perfect Democracy rs sttll not what rt was meant to be for often we do not practrce what we preach For strll we have much prejudrce rntolerance and rn Justtce We sttll have not learned to lrve rn peace ln our posrtron as leader we can do much to make the world a better place rn whrch to lrve We must overcome destructtve forces such as Commumsm not by ftghtrng wars, but rnstead by showtng the world that our way rs the best way So you see we do have a challenge Just as our forefathers had a great job to do the Job of makrng Amerrca what rt ts we have a greater Job We must ftght to preserve rt But we do not seem aware of thrs fact We are rgnorrng the challenge whrch manv of us don t even see We must have a change of mtnd and rrd our selves of thts smug feeltng of overconftdence We srmply must work harder, and not treat thrngs wrth such rndrfference Wouldn t rt be better to wear out than to rust out To keep our posttton, and not let rt rot away, to make a better Amertca we have to meet these challenges successfully, remembertng that though rrght now we are on top our posrtron can crumble from under us, and though Democracy rs better we are far from perfect Just because we seem safe does not mean we are We do have a goal we do have a challenge So wake up, Amerrcans revrve the frght the ftght that made us what we are get out of those soft charrs and get on the Job Act ltke the ptoneers our fathers were Thrs ts the challenge for the Amerrca of tomorrow And now, we the graduates wrsh to thank all those who gave us the tools to meet the challenges we have already met and the basrc foundatton to meet the challenges that we face rn the future To the trustees teachers our parents, and frrends we extend these our heartfelt thanks To our superrntendent Mr Watson and our prtnctpal Mr Currrer who have patrently helped us to gam what we have we add our thanks We the graduattng class of 1958 brd you farewell ll vi . .Q ' . 1 1 - - 1 1 . 1 . 1 1 1 Y . . . V . . . - 1 . ,,1 ,, . . . . . ' 1 1 1 . 1 . 3 , . ' . . 1 , 1 1 - 11 1 11 1 J . . 1 , . . , . A Y , A, . , X x . 1 1 I 1 , . . Y . . . . . . . . , . , . , . , - 1 ' 1 - 1 1 . I , 1 1 . . 1 1 1 - 1 . . . , . . . . , . . . 1 1 1 - 1 - 1 0 1 1 1 , 1 . , 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 , 1