Pontiac Senior High School - Quiver Yearbook (Pontiac, MI)

Page 8 text:

Mr. John J. Thors, Jr. has been principal of Pontiac Senior High School for the past eleven years. He was a former teacher of history from September, 1921 to June, 1925. Mr. Thors was made assistant principal in September, 1925, and held this position for approximately five years. At the end of this time matters concerning Pontiac schools and is always looking for means of improving our school system and keeping our standards high on the reduced budget with which he must work. Mr. French makes any suggestions that he may have to the school board, comprising Mr. Harold L. Blackwood, Mr. Joseph H. Moon, Mr. W. Archie Parker, Mr. Erwin Mr. Frank DuFrain came to Pontiac High School in 1921 as principal of the school. He continued in this capacity until 1931, when he took over the position that he still holds, that of Assistant Superintendent of Schools. he took over the duties of principal. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan. Mr. James C. Covert came into our ranks eleven years ago, in 1930. Before taking up his present duties, he attended the Michigan College of Mining Technology at Houghton, Michigan; State Normal College at Ypsilanti, and the University of Michigan. O. Slater, Mr. Milo D. McLintock, Mr. Ferdinand N. Thiefels, and Mr. Louis H. Schimmel. The members of the board then act on his suggestions or any others that may be made. Governor Murray D. VanWagoner and State Super¬ intendent of Education, Dr. Eugene Elliot, both alumni of Pontiac Senior High, help greatly to improve Michigan schools and to keep the standards of our school at the high point they are today. Keeping the files of Pontiac High School in order, issuing lockers, book cards, and giving out information are duties of Mrs. Marguerite Houghton, Miss Fannie Newton, and Miss Marietta Beach. As to the maintenance of our building, Pontiac High is kept warm, clean, and orderly by a janitorial staff which includes Alec Aitken, George Provan, Robert Sanders, Thomas Hyde, Henry Hagerman, Harold Bowmaster, C. A. Plumb, Rose Schultz, Grace Jackson, and Alice Birrell. In our cafeteria we have Mrs. Ferris, director of all the cafeterias in the Pontiac school system, Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. LaClear, Mrs. Abbott, Mrs. Amidon, and Mrs. Mogg who plan the thousands of student lunches to give the most appetizing and nutritious meals at the lowest cost. These many people keep Pontiac Senior High School running, and are responsible for its well-being. They are the ones to whom we owe our thanks. Therefore, we of the Quiver Staff, representing the students of Pontiac High School, dedicate our hook to them with the hope that they will continue their work, making industrious, dear-thinking, clear-headed, intelligent citizens out of the students who have been placed in their hands. Page four

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Co-operation Builds Citizens by Marvin Geasler Compared to the schools of fifty years ago, public schools of 1941 are modern miracles. Today they are sel¬ dom one room buildings with one teacher doing the work. The many duties necessary to maintain the complex schools of today are now done by hundreds of people. No longer do students endure inadequate buildings, inferior heating, insufficient lighting, mediocre teaching, and many other things that can hinder or prevent successful schools. In their place we have huge fireproof buildings that are well ventilated, warm, clean, and sanitary, lighting that has been scientifically studied to lessen the strain on the students’ eyes, teachers who have studied their profession for years, and hooks that are the fruit of years of research and are prepared to give to one and all the well-rounded education that is so necessary to successful living. All of th is would not be possible in Pontiac Senior High School if it were not for the hundreds of people that are either directly or indirectly connected with our school. One of the most important and least appi-eciated of th is group is John Q. Public. He is our barber, doctor, factory worker, business man, parents, or any other person who is in some way responsible for Pontiac High School. He has in his hands the real administration and financing of our school, and has constantly demanded higher stand¬ ards and a better education for the young people that step into his shoes. If it were not for Mr. John Q. Public, there would he none of the modern schools that we are so proud of today. The general running of a school is usually left to the principal and assistant principal. In Pontiac High School this is in the very capable hands of Mr. John Thors, Jr., and his assistant, Mr. James Covert. Together they keep the school running smoothly, straighten out any difficulties that may arise during a school year, and always keep the future of the students in mind. The teachers in Pontiac Hi gh School have prepared themselves by years of study to educate the students of Pontiac. They are always ready and willing to give any needed help to all students in their care. Working very closely with Mr. Thors, Mr. Covert, and the teachers is Mr. Robert B. French, superintendent of the schools in Pontiac. Mr. French is in charge of all Page three Engrossed in a problem of Chemistry, Elizabeth Robbins and fields. Through the interest and co-operation of the individuals David Bauchat typify the students of P. H. S. interested in their on the faculty, all students are given this opportunity, work and eager to attain a high standard in their respective Picture by Gunnar George ,

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The 1941 Quive r The School Board, which has jurisdiction over the financial and other matters of P.H.S., is pictured above. The School Board is made up of private citizens of Pontiac and includes (left to right) top row—W. Archie Parker, president; H. L. Black¬ wood, and Louis Schimmel. Bottom row: Joseph Moon, F. N. Thief els, Milo D. McLintock, secretary; and Erwin O. Slater, vice-president. Robert B. French, at the right, is superintendent of all Pontiac schools and has charge of any matter concerning them. Pontiac Alumni Gain Fame by Peggy Fisher Pontiac high school can be justly prourl of itself in the matter of alumni, for it has fostered many distinguished sons and daughters, some of them world-famed. From the first graduating class of 1867, in which there were five girls and two boys, to the graduating class of June, 1940, students of the school later became famous. From that first graduating class, Charles Chandler and Richard Hudson became university professors, one a dean of professors at the University of Michigan and the other a professor at the University of Chicago. From the 1940 group came Archolose Godoshian, winner of the Hopwood Literature Prize for Poetry in her freshman year at the University of Michigan. A great many of the Pontiac teachers and professional and business men are graduates of Pontiac High. An in¬ teresting side-light is the fact that at one time alumnae were teaching at Pontiac who represented three generations in the school s history—Miss Derragon, teaching English, who had received her instruction in that subject from Miss Avery, also teaching it at that time, and Miss Mc- Carroll who was still supervising students. Michigan’s Governor, Murray D. VanWagoner, g radu¬ ated from Pontiac High, as did Mrs. VanWagoner and Charles Porritt, his secretary. Dr. Ferris Smith, a world-known plastic surgeon, studied at Pontiac High School and later at the University of Michigan and at Vienna and Berlin. He had held the position of plastic surgeon at Queen’s Hospital in England and at the International Clinic in Paris; at the present lime he is a surgeon at Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids. Poetry, fiction, industrial writer . . . proficient in all these fields, Arthur Pound is an alumnus. He was born in Pontiac in 1884 on the present site of the post office and was taught by Sarah McCarroll. He wrote editorials for the Pontiac daily paper when he was 18, was managing editor of the Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal in 1913 and 1914 and from 1914 to 1917 was the chief editorial writer of the Grand Rapids Press. He joined the United States Navy in 1918. He occupied a post as an editorial writer on the New York Evening Post from 1922-23 and on the New Lork Herald from 1923-1924, he held the position When the rest of us are doing our school work and worrying about exams, we often forget about our busy office girls. Pictured from left to right are: Marguerite Houghton, Louise Sutton, Betty Everett, and Fannie Newton. Page five