Richmond High School - Shield Yearbook (Richmond, CA)

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he Shield of 1962 y of has worked long’ and faithfully, and each has made her influence felt in both yme- the day-to-day business of school and, more subtly, in the lives of the thousands lish, of students who have passed through her classes. To these teachers, with love, -hers esteem and appreciation, we, the Class of 1962, wholeheartedly dedicate our Shield. MRS. ELVIRA LEAM Everything about Mrs. Leam indicates that she loves people and loves | to have them around. She teaches in a sea of humanity and thrives; enter- i tains all the time and is happy; dotes on her husband, father and daughter and is deeply content. Indeed she feels thoroughly at home in the family t of man, and makes everyone else feel at home as well. Such a person { makes a fine teacher. In her there is no sharp impatience at the foibles of | the young, only understanding. This does not mean that Mrs. Leam is not the captain of her classroom. She is, but with such a delicate blend of courtesy and firmness that her students feel proper classroom decorum to be as right as rain. Most probably Mrs. Leam's unhurried perfectionism, love of neatness and order, gracious hospitality, effortless artistry as housewife and mother, and regard for the comfort of others, derive in part from her splendid Icelandic ancestry. Although she no longer speaks the Icelandic of her parents, she understands it perfectly. Nor has she forgotten the examples of parental strength and resourcefulness which fortified her childhood and youth in Minnesota where she was born and raised and from whose university she was graduated. Like the years of her youth, the eighteen years which Mrs. Leam has taught at R.U.H.S. hive been good and happy ones, but now a natural end has come to them. For, with the retirement of her husband from business, Mrs. Leam has decided to retire, too. They plan to leave the Richmond area, and live out their lives in their charming house on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Although we deeply regret that Mrs. Leam is leaving us and our community, we rejoice in the many cloudless years that await her and her husband in their home by the fabled lake. a (ee ee eae, ee Se ee MISS NELL BAGGLEY Miss Baggley is blessed with drive and a perfect sense of direction. Hence, her classes proceed with energy and purpose, and her students emerge with skills honed to the finest possible edge. Clearly, Miss Baggley puts over her subject, rather than herself. In a sense this is a pity, because she is such an astonishing person. Her wit and humor are a byword among her friends, and so are her passion for ideas, devotion to principle, depth of learning, and love of beauty. Two of the chief joys of her life are travelling and literature. Many times has she voyaged across the face of the earth and many times has she written her exquisite poems and had them published. Miss Baggley was born in England, raised in California, and educated at the University in Berkeley. Although her A.B. was in English literature, she chose to take her M.A. in Business, a subject she thought much less heart-breaking to teach. Miss Baggley taught in two high schools before she came to R.U.H.S. in 1943, bringing with her vigor, forthrightness, and truly superb teaching skills. In the ensuing years, despite periods of almost desperate ill-health, Miss Baggley went through each day as though nothing at all were the matter. Inde ed, she set up and brilliantly pioneered the course of Office Practice. Now, unfortunately for us, Miss Baggley has chosen to retire from the uneven battle, and pursue a more restful way of life. We have reason to believe that henceforward she will spend golden hours in her Japanese garden, whenever she is not immersed in the mysteries of poetic composition, or standing in the bow of some ship pointed toward her favorite land of Japan. ee, eS ee Se) ae SU eS —S ss fe oP Ww Vl