Punchard High School - Prism Yearbook (Andover, MA)

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CLASS DAY AND GRADUATION SPEAKERS Front row: Mary Ellison, Rita Lynch, Nancy Gahan, June Bell. Back row: Frank Buntin, Janice Driscoll, William Moore, Jean Gilfoy, Arthur Beer. 19

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CLASS DAY COMMITTEE Front row: Harold Bendroth, Claire Lefebvre, Constance Boddy, Henry Albers. Back row: Mary Ellison, Edward McVey, LeRoy Cronier, Rovena Eastman. 18

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As I sat writing the history of the class of ' 43, I found that this class has com- pleted three trying years, much more than most of the previous classes. We are the first class to complete a full year of school- ing during this present world conflict. Many more duties and obligations have been forced upon us; such as serving as air raid wardens, airplane spotters, nurses ' aides, and also serving in home nursing and many other essential war duties. Still others of the boys have left school to get in the thick of the fight. We begin our his- tory of the class of ' 43 keeping all this in mind. As we came into this new and strange building in September, 1940, we were promptly ushered to rooms 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10. We were then 130 strangers, but since then to the present time our ranks have become pretty much depleted. Our first act as sophomores was to elect class officers, as follows: Charles Flanagan, President; Ted Nowell, Vice-President: Rita Lynch, Secretary ; Jeanne Gregory, Treasurer and social committee chairman. Athletics were participated in by only a few, as our ability had as yet been un- recognized. Our social career was a short but successful one, our only event a dance, coming in the spring and going over in a big way. Then we left on our long- awaited summer vacation. We returned as best we could after a hard but enjoyable summer, to find our- selves now much more respected as juniors. We again elected our officers, this time Ted Nowell, President; Charles Flanagan, Vice-President; Janice Driscoll, Secretary; Jeanne Gregory, Treasurer; and Donald Look to handle our social life. Our class welcomed two new boys: Gib Hamlin and Jack Henderson, both of whom went on to take a large place in our athletics. We juniors were much heard of in athletics, but were yet to reach our peak. This was to be a big year, with our giving the Junior-Senior Prom and select- ing our class rings. For the prom Jean Gil- foy directed the transformation of the Gym, which afterward could hardly be rec- ognized. Our junior year was interrupted in De- cember, December 7 to be exact. Japan had made a cowardly and unprovoked at- tack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Lovely called us into the Auditorium on December 8 to hear President Roosevelt declare war on the Japanese Empire. From then on our entire lives were to be altered, taking on as we did, new and added responsibilities. We helped as wardens, spotters, First Aid- ers, and in other civilian defense jobs that I have already mentioned. We found our- selves without cars and gas, which had be- come an indispensable part of our daily lives. Finally we concluded our year ' s study and once more went out to enjoy our last big vacation. We came back as highly grown-up Se- niors, so we thought, after a hard vaca- tion on farms and in factories. The offi- cers were elected for our last and biggest year. They were: Jack Henderson, Presi- dent; Gib Hamlin, Vice-President; Rita Lynch, Secretary; Jean Gregory, Treas- urer; and Jackie Verrette as our all-im- portant social committee chairman. Our football team led by Capt. Gib Hamlin and coached by Mr. Riel, went through a successful season climaxed by victories over Methuen and Johnson. Much credit goes to hard work on the part of all the boys, as well as the coaches. After a brief lull in our activities we began our basketball season. Coached by Mr. McKiniry, we went through a good but not too successful season, due to the lack of players. After we came back from our Christmas vacation, the boys began to get impatient and in want of action. In a patriotic way they began leaving for one branch of the service or another. Up to the time of this writing the following have left our ranks: Gib Hamlin and Bob Em- mert for the Army; Alvin Towne, Dick 20