Ravena Coeymans Selkirk High School - Memoirs Yearbook (Ravena, NY)

Page 24 text:

CLASS HISTORY The purpose of this history is to point out briefly, and above all, faithfully, the high spots in our lives in high school without regard to tradition or custom. The work is divided into three parts: discovery, exploration, and settlement, with an after- word in which some strictly personal opinions are hazarded regarding the probable future of the Class of '41. The discovery of the Class of '41 was indeed the luckiest thing that ever happened to Ravena High School. just imagine, fifty-six promising young students all in one class! Some of us lived up to expectations in that first year, while an extremely small percentage missed by an insig- nificant margin. After we had been here a while, we were allowed to have our own organization. The following officers were elected after due consideration: president, Kenneth Klenkg vice president, Alice Craw, secretary, Wanda Travis, treasurer, Bill Gallagher, and student council representative, Alice Craw. By the time we became sophomores, everyone knew that we were due to become outstanding in the schoolis history. The officers of this year: president, Kenneth Klenkg vice president, Alice Craw, secretary, Wanda Travis, treasurer, Bill Gallagher, and student council representative, Donald Kniffen, were quick to find out that Bernie, a newcomer, was an excellent worker. We put on one of the best Strawberry Shindigs that Ravena has ever had, several benefit movies, and a bake sale-minus the chairman until the sale was over. Will we ever forget the prankster who put the bee in Skevvy's meringue pie after that bake sale? We also had a Hallowe'en party which was suddenly attended by a Mr. Henry Blenis, member of the Board, while a practice blackout was being held. Many faces were still red the next day! After our installation as juniors, we took on an air of sophistication, and everyone was saying, Can I believe my eyes and ears? Politics were brought into play, and the following officers were elected: president, Myron Boice, vice president, Leland Osterhout, secretary, Floyd Tomp- kins, treasurer, Bill Gallagher, and student council representative, Donald Kniffen. Our first event of the year was the Harvest Hop. More movies and dances followed, with the never-to- be-forgotten May Dance at which Alice Craw and Floyd Tompkins were selected as May Queen and King, respectively. Let me assure you, my friends, no two better monarchs have reigned in Ravena High School. The junior pigs, as we were called, also put on a Slack Hop for the seniors, instead of the usual formal Prom. Unforgettable was the selection of Bill Gallagher as All-League Center, Bill being the only player to receive an unanimous vote by the coaches for any position, and the happy hours spent in the chemistry laboratory spreading sweet-smelling perfume odors all over the school. Of course, we couldn't help it if we couldn't read the label and it said Sulfur. Quite an uproar was also created when Ralph Wells tried, while dissolving some powder in water, to help the process by heat. Ralph helped all right! He didn't need a barber for quite a while! Now we come to the fourth and greatest year in the history of the class. Owing to an old educational custom, we became seniors in September. With the gaining of this title, we began to take ourselves more seriously than ever before. So seriously, in fact, that by spring we were positively dizzy with dignity. All this was looked upon with friendly amusement by the teacher- explorers, who regarded the result of four years of hard labor with rightful pride. They had converted a band of ignorant, untamed, aborigines into intelligent, courteous citizens of their great school and had lost an unusually low proportion in the process. The officers elected were: president, Floyd Tompkins, vice president, Myron Boice, treasurer, Bill Gallagher, student council representative, Donald Kniffen. This group, with the aid of the class, organized and successfully carried out the blanket club, magazine drive, put on the senior play, and took in Washington all in one year. Now comes the settlement. Most of us have chosen our vocations. Each of us is destined to become famous and honored throughout our land. Among us are lawyers, doctors, artists, musicians, business managers, editors, philanthropists, and many more. We hope that we will have some teacher-explorers also, to explore more high school classes as we, ourselves, were explored. It may be that we erred on the side of restraint in writing this history. Many have said as much. But we wrote it to suit ourselves. So we take the opportunity to say now that in our far from humble opinion, the Class of 1941 is the most brilliant and attractive of any class known to history and will always be remembered by the faculty of Ravena High School and the people of the town as that wonderful Class of '4l. Donald Kmfen Page eighteen

Page 23 text:

STEPHEN WALLEY Steve Likes: Blondes Dislikes: Red heads An affable and courteous gentleman. Executive Committee 4. . MJ, i., gi, AN I' .- . L es: Q rts. zsli C nc cd people Once med never for- , gotten aseball, , 45 Stage Committee 41 onor Roll. BERNICE WELLS Bernice Likes: Reading Dislikes: Light people Foremost captain of her time, rich in saving common sense. Library Club I, 2, 3, 4. Page seventeen ,ef I I ENIOR RALPH WELLS ' ' Prcjessor ' ' Likes: History C Dislikes: Serious people Man uf polite learning and liberal education. International Relation Club 3. 45 Senior Play 45 Cap and Gown Staff 45 Scarlet Tzmagcr Staff 2, 45 Debate Club 45 Honor Rollg Hull of Fame. ELEANOR WHITE '-Iwifr' C L4 WM' Likes: Rummies and rabbits Dislikes: Kaiser hair cuts Hence with denial vain and coy exvusef' Qlee Club I, 2, 35 International Rela- tion Club 3, 45 Dranxatics Club 3, 45 Senior Play 45 Attendant 35 Executive Committee 2, 35 Band 45 Orclwstra I, 45 Cap and Gown Staff 45 Scarlet Tanager Stuff I, 2. 3, 45 Varsity Basket- ball I5 Debate Club 45 Girls Athletic Association 3. 45 Honor Roll5 Hall of Fame. S 1941 ,J

Page 25 text:

CLASS PRGPHECY Twelve years have come and gone since the September morning in 1929 when the present senior class marched into the first grade and met Miss Van Alystyne, their first teacher. Thus started their twelve years of readin', writin', and 'rithmeticf' In these dozen years they have studied-maybe not hard, but they have studied-to prepare themselves for the time when they would be thrown at the mercy of the wide, wide world. Now as they arrive at the threshold and prepare to pass from these hallowed halls of Ravena High, one wonders what shall become of them in the future and whether all their preparation has gone for naught. Perhaps you would like to come with me aboard my magic carpet. Climb aboard and let us see what has happened to my classmates. Our carpet whisks up and away and we arrive at our first destination, New Baltimore. Here in the Methodist Church we find Donald Kniffen, the pastor, delivering the Sunday morning message. Next our carpet pulls up at the Ravena station. There we find Donald Richter, busily engaged in running the West Shore Railroad. Ric has risen from the lowly call-boy job to the position of station master in a short space of years. Let's stop for a minute at the City Hall. Here in the judiciary chambers we find somber-faced Ralph Wells-pardon me, His Honor Mr. Wells-presiding over a case in which Florence Benn, woman-lawyer, is council for the defendent and Harold Rowe is the courtroom cop. The carpet takes 05 again and lands at a track meet. We see a tall, middle aged man dash the hundred in eight flat and we recognize Dewitt Simons, better known as Flash Simons, super dash man. The countryside flashes by beneath our flying carpet and we glide gently to rest in the Senate Chambers in the Capitol. One senator jumps up and shouts Now! don't you wish we had elected Wilkie in '40? I knew Leland Osterhout would make a good politician. As we pull up alongside a speeding locomotive, we see in the dimly lighted cab Smoke Scharoun bringing the Limited through on time. Up, up and away our carpet goes. Suddenly we are flying around a great oflice building and through the windows many familiar faces can be seen hard at work in the busy business world. There's Katherine Vincent busy on a stenciling machine, and there are Shirley Jarvis and Marian Stalker, private secretaries. There are Jim Weidman, Jack Gombel and Leonard Richardson, all business men of the future. Irene Irwin and Josephine Ventura we also notice as we flash by and there are Joan Carnibucci and Floyd Tompkins, both pouring over business records. We flash quickly on and our next stop is in a theater. On the bill as Stellitch and Diaitch, we recognize as Russell Steltz and Sam Diacetis, who are making good in the comical theater. Again we whiz high and far and away to the rollin' western plains. Here we see Marcy Tinkle, bad hombre and cattle rustler deluxe riding a bucking bronc and shooting six guns. Our magic carpet whisks us across the Atlantic to far off Switzerland where we find Mabel Miller, vacationing school teacher, yodeling atop a snow capped peak. On our way back again we stop in Ravena at the Buckley Grocery. Jerome Buckley, once a clerk, has risen to the ownership of a grocery chain. We also find Dorothy Greene, sketching scenery for her next mural painting. Another old classmate, Edna Rossi, has become a Nobel Prize Chemist. ' On the next stop we find ourselves in a broadcasting station. Here Bernadette O'Sullivan, another Heda Hopper in Hollywood, is confiding to her radio public-'K Have you heard P In the oflice of Miss Eleanor Hummer, dean of Howell College, we find Bill Gallagher, college professor. We flash across country again and we find ourselves at the weekly meeting of The Patrons of Husbandry, Local 864. Sanford Beichman, Harold Collins, Mryon Boice, Arnold Rarick, Joe Krzykowski, and Steven Wally, are well known agriculturists and prominent in Local 864. When we stop at a great medical center, we find Iris Bliss, a female saw bones, and Olive Kirby, a child nurse. Alice Craw, Eleanor White, Bernice Wells, Wanda Travis, Isabele Shaw, Helen Pebler, Elvera Makely and Anne Amedio are all full-fledged Girls in White. Our carpet comes gently to rest and our trip is finished. No matter how this prophecy paints the future of the Class of '41, you can expect much of these graduates. Here's hoping they all attain their goal and become as much in life as they deem it necessary to become. Kenny Klink Page nlnohon