Red Oak High School - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Red Oak, NC)

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Our junior year kept us quite busy. We were glad to have as our sponsor Mrs. W. B. Ennis, Jr. and Mr. J. A. Martin as our principal. That year we were glad to have Marilyn Strum to join our class but we were sorry to lose Edward Garner who joined the Navy. Our officers were: President, Roslyn House, Vice-President, Mar- garet Armstrongg Secretary, Marilyn Strum, and Treasurers, Mary Jo Griffin and Edna Joyce Griffin. Our popularity queen and king were Marilyn Strum and L. A. Green. Two more members of our class joined the Beta Club. They were Margaret Armstrong and Marilyn Strum. In order to make money for various need such as the Junior- Senior Banquet, we presented a play, Hot Water , directed by Mrs. W. B. Ennis, Jr. We also sold magazines and sponsored a square dance. The highlight of the year was the banquet we gave.the Seniors in April. The supper was held in the Red Oak Club House and the dance at the High School Gymnasium. Both were beautifully decorated. The gym was decorated in blue and white. The music was furnished by Tom Hearne and his band. For the graduation class of '49 Mary Ellen Avent was Chief Marshall and Marilyn Strum, Mattie B. Shearin, Mary Jo Griffin, and Theresa Ward were also Marshalls. The basketball team was represented by our class. L. A. Green and Edwin Shearin made the boys basketball team and L. A. Green, Curtis Rose, and Edwin Shearin made the boys baseball team with Bobby Proctor as manager. Mary Ellen Avent was elected to act as class editor for the '49 annual. At last the time has come when we are dignified seniors. There are twenty-three of us. We were sorry that Ruth Dickens, a former member of our class was not with us. She completed her grade during the summer. We were very glad to have Mies. V. G. Collins, the former Miss Bernice Horton, as our sponsor. She has guided shown us our mistakes, and donated much of her time helping us in any way she could during our senior year. Our officers were: President, L. A. Green, Vice-President, Edna Joyce Griffing Secretary, Jackie Skinnerg and Treasurers, Sylvia Proctor and Edwin Shearin. Several of our class members are officers of the Beta Club. Mary Ellen Avent is President, Edwin Shearin, Vice-President, Mattie B. Shearin, Secretaryg Edna Joyce Griffin, Treasurer, and Margaret Armstrong, Reporter. Again the Glee Club was well represented by our class. Roslyn House, Mary .To Griffin, and Barbara Flowers were members of the girls basketball team and Roslyn House was elected Captain. Edwin Shearin and L. A. Green made the boys team. Margaret Armstrong and Billy Vick were our popularity Queen and King for the year. In these memories of the good Old School Days we have given you some of the reflections of what happened yesterday. Edna Lewis

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Claw .Hid iory Time flies! It seems only yesterday we opened the door to our high school ca- reer. Together we have had a wonderful time, winning, losing, studying, playing. Although there are twelve grades to be completed before graduation and the ninth grade is the freshman year in high school it would be a mistake to begin this story in the ninth grade. And so, the history of our eventful high school days begin in the eighth grade where together we entered the high school building as Hgreenhornsu, but nevertheless there was a determined look upon our faces and a will in our minds to go forward. There were thirty-six students on roll and right away we elected our officers. They were: President, Jackie Skinnerg Vice-President, Donald Teachey, and Trea- surer, Edwin Shearin. Mrs. J. D. Jones was our home room teacher and J. A. Mar- tin was our principal. We began changing classes and this made us feel extremely important. Some of us thought we were in high school, but we were only in the eighth grade, remember! Our popularity queen and king were Jackie Skinner and Edwin Shearin. With quite a lot of enthusiasm the following year we entered the ninth grade. At that awkward age of grins and giggles we pestered Mrs. J. B. Jones for a year. Entering high school meant more than just another grade in school. It meant working on schedule, deciding on subjects, learning to be in class on time and working out pro- blems of our own. Again we were glad to have Mr. J. A. Martin for our principal. Our officers for the year were: President, Mattie Boseman Shearin, Vice-President, Donald Teachey, Secretary, Mary Ellen Avent, and Treasurer, Edwin Shearin. We be- gan the year with twenty-seven on roll. We were fortunate enough to have Roslyn House make the girls basketball team. Barbara Flowers and Donald Teachey were elected Popularity Queen and King. We were very proud of the fact that Donald was crowned King. Our sophomore class was very successful. We began with twenty-seven on roll. Our officers for the year were: President, Curtis Rose, Vice-President, Jackie Skin- nerg Secretary and treasurer, Edwin Shearin. We were glad to have Mr. W. B. Ennis, Jr. as our sponsor and Mr. J. A. Martin, principal. That year the Glee Club was well represented by our class. We felt very honored because nine of our students were asked to join the National Beta Club, an honor anyone would be proud to claim. They were Jackie Skinner, Mary Ellen Avent, Theresa Ward, Mattie B. Shearin, Mary Jo Griffin, Edna Joyce Griffin, Edwin Shearin, and L. A. Green. Our popularity queen and king were Ruth Dickens and Curtis Rose. Again we felt very proud because for di the second time a king from our class was crowned. The girls basketball team was also supported by members of our class. They were Roslyn House, Edna Joyce Grif- fin, Theresa Ward, Mary Jo Griffin, and Patsy Trusselle. L. A. Green made boys basketball and baseball teams.

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Cladd frophecy Everything was confused, people were mumbling, I could hear them, but nothing was clear. My eyes were open, though my vision was blurred. I could hear someone calling my name. The voice sounded familiar, and when things became clear I recognized Patsy Trusselle bending over me. With her same teasing smile shelasked me when I would start taking driving lessons. She could always make a joke of anything. As we were talking, another nurse came through on her round of checking patients. Here I was met with another surprise, for it was another classmate, Edna Lewis. I was beginning to wonder if it were safe to stay there and upon voicing this opinion, added that the next thing would probably be Charles Sutton walking in as a doctor. Whereupon Patsy laughingly informed me that this seemed impossible as Charles was finishing dealings on a large group of chain stores scheduled for opening very soon. The following day I received a statement from the Highway Patrol concerning the wreck. They had found--to my relief--the driver of the other car at fault. This other driver, it said, was an expert mechanic and would attend to all repairs. Just imagine though, to my surprise who he was--that big guy of my high school class, Walter Pittman. People do meet in the strangest places. Then, at last, with myself and my car in such good hands, I dropped off into the first restful sleep since the accident. The next day Mary .To came in to see me. She's librarian at the University of North Carolina library now and has made a very good record there. As usual we started the regular gossip, and when Edna and Patsy came in we all began tracing the whereabouts of the rest of our classmates. Mary Jo told us Edna Joyce Griffin had become a Commercial teacher at a large business school in Florida, Betty Violet Keen is Educational Director at Mars Hill College, and Roslyn House is working as an assistant at a large interior decorating firm in Richmond. She then in turn, inquired about the classmates of my community, Mary Ellen Avent, Edwin Shearin, and Mattie Boseman Shearin. They always go home for Christmas and so we manage to keep in touch with one another. After several years Mary Ellen and Mattie are finally teaching in the same city. Mattie is teaching third grade at Wiley Elementary School in Raleigh and Mary Ellen is teaching history and math at Hugh Morson High. Edwin has become one of the most prominent electrical engineers in the state, and has just been accepted to take the position as head of the Electrical Division at State College. L. A. Green also has become prominent in his field of work with Diesel engines. The engineers of the upper brackets are keeping a close watch on his latest accomplish- ments. It would really be just like him to find something new, as he always did look for a new way of doing things. Of course mentioning L. A. made us think of Donald Teachey and Billy Vick. Mary Jo told us Donald stopped by to see her when he passed through the city last week. He always wanted to travel, so at last he has a job as a traveling salesman, and that's not all, he has finally gotten that car he always wanted, a big Buick convertible. I guess he is finally enjoying life.