Reedsburg High School - Gleaner Yearbook (Reedsburg, WI)

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It • • limi ] V i • i The Class of Returning after an absence of fifteen years to the city of Reedsburg I found everything much changed- On the night after my arrival I chanced to pass by the old High School building, and as I drew near the old, familiar place I noticed, to my intense surprise, that a group of some twenty or thirty people were assembled on the lawn. They were seated in a se ni circL around a blazing ca np fire and I w ndered what this gathering meant. Hut, as the tlicce ii' rays of firelight shed its ruddy glow on each fa I lomprehended it all in a second. It was a reunion of tn. Classof 1913. Ithen happily joined the gathering and in due time found out where each individual had been and what cacti had accomplished during this long period of separation. Malvin Davis, it seemed, had made himself famous in the wrorld of Exploration and Discovery. In the year 1h20 lie discovered a new continent the like of which no one had ever even dreamed. He explained further that he was contemplating an expedition to the East Pole. Phillip Schweke, it was said, had, soon after completing lign School, contracted the terrifying disease called “verbomania” and physicians had pronounced his a hopeless case. I recall that even in his early school days Phillip showed a remarkable tendency toward this disease. 1913 in 1928 Florence Thompson for a time seemed to have completely disappeared. It was revealed later that she had become a most noted critic. Chief among her interests was the criticizing and revising of Dante’s and Shakespeare’s works. Later, I was informed that the original works were abolished entirely and Florence's versions placed into the hands of the whimsical public. Forest Vayette had. as a writer of poetry, fulfilled the great expectations of his friends and teachers. His poems, so I was told, were of the most simple and alluring type, and his efforts had brightened many a desolate home. Among his most noted ones were, “If I Were a Hird, “Dotty Dimple,” “Hoses Red,” “The Private Cutter.” and a series of Lullaoys, all of which were dedicated to his wife. Fate, it seemed dealt harshly with Walter Brown. He accidently stepped too near a tire while kindling it, and “Sparks” became attached to him. In spite of his frantic efforts to free himself, he was a doomed man. He died shortly alter. Soon after leaving High School Walter Donahue and John Flynn were seized with a “Wanderlust.” They set out on foot, intending to take a trip around the world, but after a few days absence they returned to their native city

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and withal happy hearted girls and boys. During our Junior year oratorical honors were won by one of our n embers—Henry Powell—who was the school representa tive at the league Contest. Nearly every year our class ias ranked the highest in quarterly average. 1912 finds us Seniors at last, and with the very name we feel an added responsibility. We have successfully weathered the rocks of Geometry, and, given proper con-litions, we expect to be able to prove two triangles equal •ven when we are old and grey and other generations are puzzling over these problems. We are now struggling in he rapids of Physics and although few of us can construct in electric bell or run a steam engine, we all have come to .ealize the sad truth of tin law “that for every action there is a reaction, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.” We are supposed, by this time, to have lost all signs of timidity and ignorance and to have acquired a dignity of bearing and wisdom of manner more befitting our maturer years and calmer judgment, yet we are still as tun-loving as ever and ready for a lark any time. Two short months and we will say good-bye to our dear old school and go out into the world to gain further knowledge or to earn our own living. We will never for. get the four happiest years of our life years of work, of play, of enjoyment, years which have broadened our life in every sense and which have taught us that great end of all education righ living. Happy as we will in to have completed the High School coarse, everyone of us will leave school next May with a feeling of sadness and re gret, sadness that those care-free happy days of our youth can never be again, and regr rt'that we must L ave so many dear friends and classmates. Many and helpful are the lessons we have learned during these four short years and we owe much to our able instructors whose influence and good example have guided our actions and helped shape our characters, and no matter what we do in the future, or where we shall be, in the storms of the years to come we will ever be mindful of our High School struggles and victories and how we have won and always expect to win Success Through Difficulties.

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with tears of joy in their eyes. They decided to remain in old Reedsburg for the rest of their days and were glad to join in the 1928 reunion of their class. Dorothy Hawkins had become noted for her literary works. Chief among her valuable collection she said was “The Vast Iron Mines of Ironton. A copy of it has been' placed in all the up-to-date High Schools. Clarissa Henry, one person related, devoted the first ten years of her life after leaving High School to writing a sketch of her life. In spite of its many thrilling passages, it failed to please the critical public. Recently she was seen in La Valle starring in “The Pink Lady and “Francis II.” Ruth Sparkes fearing to venture out in the cold, wide world had decided to remain in Reedsburg for a time. She pursued the occupation of a saleswoman and had accumulated a vast fortune by selling Hix ley’s English Mustard. She said that she expected to follow this profession as her life's work. Disgusted with life and the ways of the world, Gretchen Aton and Elva Schuette had started out one bright, sunny day for the Island of Majorca in the Mediterranean Sea. Whether they ever reached their destination remains an unknown fact, for not one of the company present could inform me as to their fate. Henry Powell, after coming to grief in trying to invent a new sort of .frying machine had turned to the occupation of salesman. He made a specialty of selling Wriglcy’s Spearmint Gum. He had attained his highest ambition, so he told us that night and was content and at peace with the world. Rose Sparks, after her ;• (Unity's untimely disaster, seemed dazed for several years. She later rented a pleasant little cat Cage near the suburbs of Ableman and now lives in seclusion away from the noise and din of .he city, supremly happy in the company of her cat and dog. So deeply does she feel her great sorrow that she does not even attend her class reunions. I learned that Caecelia Thiemann was known the wide world over as the second Sarah Rernhardt. After several successful years in amateur theatrical work in High School she blossomed forth as an actress of no mean ability and does her best work in “An Old Sweetheart of Mine,” though her talent and power of interpretation is perhaps best displayed in that splendid comedy, “The Cut-up of Physics Lab.” Wesley Snydert while touring through foreign lands, was suddenly seized with a desperate resolution. On the memorable night ot .Tun » 3rd, 1920. he plunged into the seething waters of the Cispian Sea. The cause of his great sorrow remains unknown. Minnie Holtz and Nina Pelton had probably contributed more to the welfare of mankind than any other two people. They had succ ed- d in convincing the world that the present m des ot demonstrating problems in I f