Robert E Lee High School - Leeway / Record Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

Page 32 text:

By Annie Lee Fauver W E, THE Class of ’3 5, are together this evening for almost the last time. After years of close companionship, we must part and go our separate ways. I would pause here to express, on behalf of the class, a deep and grateful appreciation to the teachers who have so kindly and patiently guided us during the years we have spent here. Now, that we have accomplished graduation, in what shall we engage? Some will choose one vocation; some another. In order to understand what is expected of us, it may be well to view the age in which we live. Briefly, I shall picture to you, as I see them, the conditions and problems that we must face and share. We are living in an age of experimentation and activity. Intelligent people are no longer content to accept the unproved theories of others but must study and ex¬ periment until they have reached a conclusion that is satisfactory to their mental curiosity. This age is an embodiment of Bacon’s plea for experimentation and pro¬ motion of knowledge. Modern scientists begin at the first step, prove to the minutest detail and then present the results as gifts to mankind. This accounts for our great scientific progress. So many realms of matter are being explored and so thoroughly, that we wonder if our knowledge will not some day be complete. This age of activity and ceaseless energy is not unlike that of long ago when Sir Francis Bacon said, I take all knowledge to be my province.” No roads are too rough, no obstacles too great if the travelers can view in the distance their goals—some¬ thing that will make their names remembered and the world’s knowledge greater because of them. So many praiseworthy feats are performed in so many different fields that this age does not lack excitement. There is a freshness and joy in living which makes life sweet and profitable. Many people have a wrong conception of great men. They think that their accomplishments are the result of a genius without labor— this is incorrect. These men had to suffer many a. hardship before they became great. This is also an age of good will, of greater equality of opportunity among mankind. Democracy now has not only a, political but also a humane meaning. Various move¬ ments are on foot to lessen the hardships of the lowly and depressed. Better living con¬ ditions, more freedom and greater means of self expression are b eing provided. These movements and activities are the results of unselfish efforts to increase the happiness of others and to make this world a finer and better place in which to live. What part are we going to play in the life of today? We are challenged by an age that calls for the highest aims and the finest workmanship that the world has yet known. Shall we through our thoughtlessness and carelessness arrest the progress of society or shall we face the challenge squarely and each do his part nobly and well? This, my fellow classmates, is the thought I leave with you, with the earnest plea that we forget not the high and noble ideals which have been presented to us here. Class of ’3 5, Farewell.

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HALLER C. KNOWLES THOMAS A. SHAFER JACK” Philomatliean Literary Society; Ac¬ tivities Association. Critic for Philomatliean Literary Society; Cheer Leader, ’34-’3 5. JAMES BENTON BRYAN Monogram Club, ’32-’33-’34-’35; Activities Association ’33-’34- ’3 5; Phoenix Literary Society; Dramatic Club; Baseball, ’3 3-’34-’3 5; Assistant Mgr. Football Team, ’33; Mgr. Football Team, ’34; Basketball, ’31-’32-’33-’34-’3 5. WILLIAM JUNIOR LOTTS Fooball, ’3 1 -’3 5; Philomathean Literary Society; Basketball Man¬ ager, ’34; Activities Association. THE RECORD 193 5

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Delivered By Shirley Smith L ADIES and gentlemen, the most of you have been coming here to this same school year in and year out, some of you for a genera¬ tion, to see graduating classes do their bit upon graduation night. We are glad to welcome you tonight and shall try to present a program which you will thoroughly enjoy. Now, I know some of you have wondered what the question marks represent. And the term Quo Vadis” is not, perhaps, familiar to all. These two words, and these question marks set the theme for our pro¬ gram tonight. They ask a question, a question that has been in your minds as well as in the minds of the Class of 193 5. And in plain English that question is Whither goest thou,” or in slang Where do we go from here?” The question is a disturbing one, and we face it honestly. This nation, and this old world itself, has reached a crisis in its ex¬ istence, and what course it will choose to take rests in the future. It may be that we, the members of this year’s graduating class, will have a large part in determining the final solution. Finally, the class has asked me to say that it has voted to dedicate this program to the mothers and fathers of the members of the class graduating tonight. To our mothers who washed behind our ears so conscientiously each morning for years it seemed, getting us ready for school; to our mothers who fixed so many hundreds of lunches—so many times when there was nothing to prepare them with—; to our mothers who sewed so many stitches in our clothes which she had tastefully de¬ signed, only to have us tear them so hopelessly in our youthful scrambles at school. And to our dads who worked to send us here in order that we might have a better chance than they ever had; to our dads who took us to the shed when we failed to follow the rules laid down by our teach¬ er; to our lovable, rough old dads who often worked our arithmetic prob¬ lems and gave us the wrong answer so that we had to stay in at school. To them we dedicate our efforts .tonight. For we are what we are because of them. Only because of them were we able to secure all the benefits of this splendid school which is the creation of every taxpayer in this audience tonight. We hope you like our efforts, then, for they are given in a spirit of thankfulness, and appreciation. Class of ’3 5, I salute you and on your behalf again extend a warm welcome to our friends gathered here tonight.