Reading Memorial High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Reading, MA)

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THE PIONEER this devilment, refreshments were served and the new and old limped home soon after. It was all in fun, and we think that the candidates enjoyed it as much as we did. Or did they? Well, that brings us up to date. However, here’s a word for the future. We are planning the usual Wed¬ nesday evening swims at the University Club; a dance, a sleigh ride, and a ski party are planned when the snow sets in. These, together with an imposing list of good speakers, are all potentialities up the program commit¬ tee’s sleeve. Oh, yes, one more thing. At a recent meeting it was announced that Miss Nichols is seriously planning a similar girls club. Well, you can imagine the enthusiasm that was displayed at this news! Miss Nichols shall never lack support as long as there is one Hi-Yer breathing. The Hi-Y would like to thank both our adviser, Mr. Sussmann, and the school for helpful co-operation with our club and our subsidiary, the Service Squad, which boasts a full complement of Hi-Y men. Tom Connelly RIFLE CLUB A new organization in the High School this year, and one which we feel deserves publicity, is the Rifle Club under the leadership of Mr. Taylor. The group has been meeting every Thursday night at eight o’clock in the American Legion House. Their president is Les¬ lie Kittridge, who was awarded the post when it was vacated by Bill Campbell. Bill was the moving spirit in the organizing of the club, but he had to drop out of it because of increased activity in connection with his National Guard membership. The rules governing the club are set up by the Junior Division of the National Rifle Association of America, of which the Reading Club is a charter mem¬ ber. The object of the Junior Program of the N. R. A. is to develop those qualities of sportsmanship, fair play, manliness, self control, and co-operation which are so essential to success in life. The code which follows is that of the National Rifle Association and should be carried out by every person who picks up a rifle, re¬ gardless of whether he is a member of the N. R. A. or not: (1) I will never allow the muzzle of my gun to point at anything which I do not intend to shoot; (2) 1 will never load my gun when the muzzle is pointed at any part of my body or at any person, nor stand in front of anybody who is loading a gun; (3) I will never cock my gun and pull the trigger for fun; (4) I will never shoot directly at a flat, hard surface, a bottle or similar object, as the bullet is certain to ricochet (glance) from it; (5) I will never handle a gun with¬ out first opening the breech to be sure the gun is empty and looking through the bore to see that it is clean; (6) 1 will never carry my gun loaded except when hunting and will then be sure that it is locked in the “safe” po¬ sition; (7) I will never shoot at a song-bird or harmless animal for the sport and will always be sure that no wounded game is left to suffer; (8) I will remember that a .22 caliber bullet will travel three-quarters of a mile, or through nine inches of ordinary board, and will ricochet a long way across water; (9) I will always put my gun muzzle first through a fence before I climb the fence and will climb over between the next two fence posts; (10) I will always give my gun a thorough clean¬ ing as soon as I am through firing. The first meet was at Beverly with the Beverly High School crack shooting team of girls. The results were excellent for Beverly! The scoring was done on this basis: out of ten shooting for each side the scores of the five highest were counted. The scores for the Bev¬ erly girls speak for themselves. Out of a possible 100, their first shooter got 99; their second entrant, 98; their third, fourth, and fifth shooters tied with 97. The boys have hopes in connection with some of their other meets, however, which are in prospect with Malden, Melrose, Norwood, Braintree, Quincy, and Haverhill. Due to the lightness of their own rifles, which are the only ones they have had for use, the boys have had much difficulty in making good scores so far. This reason for lack of accomplishment will be reme¬ died in the future by the fact that the Reading Post of the American Legion will lend the club their heavier rifles for practice and meets. As the enthusiasm is high, we feel that we shall hear a lot of the Rifle Club in the future. We send them our heartiest wishes for a suc¬ cessful opening season. David St. Hilaire ALL THE NEWS WE DARE TO PRINT Let’s get some support for the 0. F. F. Club! We still believe its aim to be a worthy one and some day we fervently hope that it will receive the recognition due it. The fate of its officers might have something to do with its decline. First President Gunn resigned, Second President Adams was removed from office, and the third president, Andy McLaughlin, was nearly as¬ sassinated in a futile attempt by some females to end the club activities for good. We have news of a law suit: “The Coffee Cup” vs. Mr. Joseph Fitzgerald. Charge—One broken drinking glass, unpaid for. Result—Case settled out of .court. Mr. Fitzgerald, due to the urgings of his friends, paid “The Coffee Cup” management one nickle. What romantic young couple can be seen wending their amorous way home from school every afternoon? We can say, however, that Russell is training her cor¬ rectly. He makes her walk home with him. Who is the cute little blonde whose picture adorns Mr. Dixon’s desk? We know, do you? What two gridiron stars used two lockers apiece? There’s nothing like having plenty of room is there? The things we see on blackboards are many and varied! Mr. Spencer’s fertile brain has matched the titles of modern books with the names of mythical char¬ acters. . We hope that we are not infringing on any copyright by quoting Mr. Spencer’s “original” list: “If I had four Apples”—Atalanta; “The Conqueror”— T wenty-six

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CHRISTMAS 19 3 9 hear her helpful answers during the question period that she granted us. On November 29 noontime brought about the end of school and the beginning of the Thanksgiving holi¬ day. An appropriate assembly was held and we were reminded of what we have to be thankful for today. Richard Lewis and Carleton Adams represented us on the platforms, and that well known trio—Evelyn Comey, Alma Mansfield, and Vivian Hook—entertained us with song. By now, you have enjoyed several other interesting and varied assemblies. At least, as the Pioneer goes to press, there are planned for the month of December a film entitled “The Symphony Orchestra’’, a performance by Bruce, the Magician, a talk on “The Work of a Sec¬ retary” by Mrs. Thurber, and our annual Christmas as¬ sembly. We know that it is safe to say at this time that they all proved worth while. Erdine Farwell THE TIME TO START IS NOW! In most of the higher class schools in this great country, there are student governing bodies of one sort or another. Reading High is typical of one of the high¬ er types of high schools in Massachusetts. As most of the student body and faculty know, we have in our school this year an organization known as the Student Affairs Committee. The members of the committee were chosen so as to represent thoroughly the different factions of the school. The committee is comprised of the leaders of various school activities: captains of athletic teams, class officers, leaders of organizations like the Hi-Y and the Service Squad, editor of the Pioneer, and last, but not least, the homeroom repre¬ sentatives, who have one vote and who inform the home¬ rooms of what is being done by the committee. We are banded together to work as one unit for solving the problems which are always arising in mat¬ ters involving scholarship, athletic competition, civics, and sportsmanship. If we in the council can make a favorable start towards the solution of these vital prob¬ lems, then we believe that a great part of the task of improving our school will be accomplished. But we can function only with the complete co-operation 6f the student body. We must have that co-operation. Will you give it to us? If you do, we can promise you a bet¬ ter student government than ever before, and also one that will accomplish something for our school. We were not chosen for the committee by any elaborate elections. We were merely selected, as leaders of school activities, to represent you—the student body. It is our duty to carry out fully what is expected of us as mem¬ bers of the committee and also to uphold the standards of Reading High. A student governing organization is a great thin 2 . On our committee we have a very capable and ambitious group of students and a very fine adviser. Mr..Spencer, all ojLwhom take a great interest in school affairs. W • are not politicians; we simply are a body of students all seeking a common goal; mainly, the betterment of our school. We are fervently trying to get the ball rolling. If you can help us give it enough additional push, it is our expressed belief that in future years Reading High School will have a Student Affairs Committee that will really stand for something in school affairs. Irving Holcomb THE HI-Y CLUB “To create, maintain and extend throughout the school and community, high standards of Christian character.” That is the purpose of Hi-Y, its officers, and members. The club has this year the following hardworking set of leaders: Sherman Poland, vice-presi¬ dent and chairman of the program committee; “Dick” Fellows, secretary; “Ray Hutchinson, treasurer; and Tom Connelly, president. We hope this year to pep up Hi-Y socially and scholastically and to give its mem¬ bers some interesting and beneficial programs. We really believe that 1940 will prove a very eventful year for Hi-Y. The season did not begin until quite late in the year and the first meeting was held in the school library on October 5. Plans were made for the future and a program committee was appointed for the remainder of the year. We felt fortunate in obtaining as the guest speaker Mr. Orville Poland, Chairman of the Civil Lib¬ erties Committee of Boston. Mr. Poland gave a very clever talk on the functions and some of the odd experi¬ ences of that committee. On October 20, we met for the second time and this meeting was a regretful one, for we said “goodby to Mr. Pope, who resigned as our advisor. Mr. Pope has been Hi-Y advisor and an active member of the club for four years, and under his guidance our club en¬ joyed a fine position in the State League and in the community. We were genuinely sorry to lose his services, and we wish him the best of luck. On the same night we welcomed Mr. Spencer, the popular young Latin teacher, who very kindly accepted the hard and irksome job of advisor when that position was offered him. The Hi-Y club feels that it has been very fortunate in ob¬ taining his aid, and we hope he enjoys his work with us. On November 2, we had for our guest speaker Dr. Grover, Superintendent of Reading Schools. His talk was on “The Problems of Youth and stimulated one of the best discussions that the club has enjoyed in a long time. Many of the difficult problems of the modern youth were brought out and discussed. Later in the evening we selected twenty-one new candidates for mem¬ bership. November 16, that was the night! At that time we initiated into our cozy circle the selected twenty-one. We might add that the boys took their medicine, their spankings, and other such punishment like troopers. Cheer up, fellows, you’ll have your turn at walloping and frightening 1940’s crop. After “the works were administered by those subtle brains who originated all Tuenty-fiv

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CHRISTMAS 19 3 9 Caesar; “Royal Road to Romance”—Cupid; “Kidnap¬ ped”—Prosirpina; “Gone with the Wind”—Mercury; “All this and Heaven Too”—Jupiter; “The Wanderer” —Aeneas; “Alone”—Penelope; “With Malice Towards Some”—Juno; and “Full Harvest”—Ceres. Well, at least you classical linguists will get the point! We’ve almost come to the conclusion that some of the “girls” at this school don’t employ kiss proof lip¬ stick. How else are we going to account for that tell¬ tale red smooch on Coach Holgerson’s cheek at the Tramp Dance? Will Robert Perry’s innate hatred of the opposite sex melt before the hypnotic gaze of one of our sopho¬ more charmers? Bob’s a member of the 0. F. F. Club so we guess that they will have to install a new vice- president sometime in the not too distant future. Who is the sophomore girl that is noted for her parties and unique refreshments? Will this get us an invitation, Martha? Well, we’ve held our style show, otherwise known as the Tramp Dance. Pupils who acted as models pre¬ viewed what the well dressed tramp of 1940 will wear. The main event at the Tramp Dance was a mock wed¬ ding. The part of the blushing bride was portrayed by Grace Bowers. The groom was played by Irving Hol¬ comb; the minister, by Clark Nyman; the best man, by “B. F.” Tucker; the shot gun-bearing father of the bride, by Tom Connelly; the bridesmaid, by Betty Dal¬ ton; and the groom’s other wife and family, by Doris Steele. The lovely flower girls were Robert Story and Kenneth Gray. Prizes for the best costumes were award¬ ed to Janet Lawson, Vivian Hook, and Alexander Dis- sel. You missed something if you weren’t there—the bang-up dance of the season. The cross-country team placed eleventh in the B. U. Invitation meet. Mr. Spencer, cross-country coach, placed first with a certain young lady who he still claims is his sister. But we think her name isn’t Spencer— yet. Walter Hilton runs up a lot of mileage in those frequent trips to Malden. We wonder what the attrac¬ tion is down there—or is it a double feature, Walt? School spirit, which some few assert has been dor¬ mant for so long, came to life at the Lexington game. If you don’t believe so, you should ha e been there! A great display of courage is shown by “Professor Bates, not only on the football field, hut in wearing those horn-rimmed spectacles. What is it about “Bunten s’ that makes a girl feel domestic? We noticed that on se eral occasions Bets has avidly engaged in wiping off the tops of tables. Looks like she’s surelx practising. Bill Jaques may not he fast on his feet hut he can certainly jump. On a recent trip to Stoneham he wa- spotted by seven or eight of the fairer sex, who ga e chase. For a while it looked as if they might catch the 1 fleeing Bill, but he hurdled a high stonewall and thus made his escape. Yes, Bill is one of the few members of a certain well known organization who live up to its rules. We notice among other things that Emily Hanley was all but walked off her feet at the Tramp Dance. Her average partner danced about six steps with her before he was cut in on by a new aspirant. Who was the lone football enthusiast who fell down the bleachers during the Punchard game? We’re cer¬ tain that the team appreciates your support, Gracie. The dance for “Speed”, known as “Speed’s Ball”, was a great success financially and socially. The only thing that detracted from the affair was the fact that “Speed” couldn’t be out there on the floor dancing. We can see that sitting out every dance has its points, how¬ ever. We are glad to see that he has thrown away his crutches and is again able to walk around on both of his pedal extremities. The most loyal supporters of our embattled foot¬ ball team were Headmaster Sussmann, Chairman of the School Committee Tanner, and Superintendent of Schools Grover. Day after day these three were seen in the otherwise deserted grandstand silently watching practice. They were at the games, too. Flash!!! This isn ' t exactly a news item, and we certainly do dare to print it; in fact, we would shout it from the house-tops if there were a convenient housetop around. The members of the staff are not the only people who work on the Pioneer. Some of the hardest workers are Eleanor Pestana, Marjorie Wentworth, Margit Courossi, Kay Witham, Virginia 0 Brien, Louise Pattison, Betty Blaikie, Muriel Arthur, and Jean Sar¬ gent. They type the material for the Pioneer from the original manuscripts, and one look at those original manuscripts would make anyone appreciate their efforts. Carleton Adams Ruth Pomeroy ALUMNI NEWS Last June there were one hundred and forty-nine graduates of the class of 1939 released from Reading High School into a waiting world. Through the sum¬ mer months the old home town saw few of the hundred and forty-nine. Now and then word crept through that Linda Twornbly was in Alaska; that our silent factotum, “Dick” Stratton, had been accepted at Maine; that our vice president, “Ruthie” Pol 1 itz, had gone south; that “she” was waiting on table; and that “he”, of all people, was washing dishes in “Cow - ' Hampshire. Well, Sep¬ tember rolled round again and found the follow ing back for a session as post graduates: Louise Clark, Helen Connelly, Claire Delong, “Dottie Doucette, Marion Goodridge, Marion Gray, Ruth Jewett, Doris Kelly, Lois T wenty-seven