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

Page 29 text:

VALEDICTORY Joyce Mattox We, the class of 1949, have arrived at one of the most important events in our lives, our graduation from Lee High School. Now that we have reached this point, our desire is to go farther and take advantage of the new opportunities that will come to us. With these new changes will come many new experiences, and many important decisions will have to be made. How are we, who are so inex¬ perienced in the ways of life, to meet these conditions? The motto of the senior class is “Nosce te Ipsum, Know Thyself”. Before we can meet the realities of life, each of us will have to know more about him¬ self, truly know his own personality. Until now, we have made our decisions with the careful guidance of others. Now we shall have to make these decisions for ourselves. As we can see, we have no easy task before us. To know ourselves will require as much study, and probably more than we have spent on our school work these past years. Each of us has formed many habits, good and bad. It will require great will power on our part to break the undesirable habits that we have formed. Things done from habit make up a great part of our lives, and if the majority of our habits are bad, we have little hope of being better than our habits. We must realize that man is not perfect; there is only One who is perfect, and we should pattern our lives after Him. We know that as boys and girls we can do but so much and that each of us has limitations. Most of us, however, never put forth our greatest effort, and therefore we do not know what we can do. Therefore let us, now, know our¬ selves, and satisfy ourselves as to what we can or cannot do. The persons who get ahead in this world and become great successes are those persons who have the initiative to, at least, attempt new things. To keep that little spark of initiative, which most of us have, alive, we should set a goal and work toward it. If we earnestly strive to reach that goal, our lives will surely not be failures. Once we fully understand ourselves and know our possibilities and limita¬ tions, we shall be ready to take our proper places in life. Unless we ht ourselves into the work for which we are best fitted, we shall not be of much use to our¬ selves or to our associates. The task may seem hard at first, but it is necessary, and we should do it. We sincerely thank our parents, our teachers, and our many friends for their kind help along the way. We hope we shall merit their faith in us, and their hope for us. We promise, as we the class of 1949 say, “Farewell”, not to fail you.

Page 28 text:

HONOR SOCIETY Seated (L. to R.)—Charlot te Sheffer, Joyce Mattox. Standing (L. to R.)—Gordon Jennings, Jess Miller, Bernard Furry. KaHmutl Jtiomu - §»nrirhj of §miniiaru, S ' rhonls Cluuiiu Staunton (fljnjjhM liiitiui all Jiii ' ii by llirtip j.Irfsruts.llmt mu I ' ri ' iia.fhaiartvr sdinlnrsltty Iraftrrship anil smart an- rarhmal tjualitirs .worthy of mVitmcu.U ' iitfut in all erltooU thmdorr the XaHmtttl I’nmur Sitriftu of rriutiianj rlnwts of thf Kitiimiitl Assofiatuut of fnnu ' iaru Srlnud (Jrmrtpnh yiitrs yranto ami iMryati ' s thnuiyh tin ' authority of this A ' barter the jjriuilftif ain ' t ynlorr to establish roniimt anO ainuiuister tlrr Staunton Chapter as a loral i£ haytrr of lltr 2Catiiiual Junior uru ' tu rtf §mmit;tnj S?rluuils tThis (£hartiT Kttnihrr MM. is worn mtii nrnntrii this 3f?ifth iimj of Jffbrunrtj.Miirlmi liimiurii yprtg-tSix. by the National (Cmtucil whose ouuiatmro arr affix eft brltuu £ yt SftrtUnj. - ■

Page 30 text:

SALUTATORY Jess P. Miller My friends, the life of a high school student may seem gay and frivolous to you who have so long been away from its trials, but to us it is stark, staring reality. The troubles of youth may seem simple to you beside the more complex ones of later life, but to us who have just this night passed out of the “valley of the shadow” they live in all their terror. For instance, nearly every person who has gone through high school knows what it is to be “financially embarassed”. In fact, 1 contend we have been at times as lacking in funds as it is humanly possible to be. Of course, you say, that’s true, but you can still put the touch on Pop. Ha! It’s been a long time since you tried to “put the touch on Pop”, hasn’t it? Today, it is far easier to work for our money . Another woe in the hard, hard life of a high school student is the way work constantly piles up. Anyone knows the longer you leave work, the easier it becomes. At least, that is the theory upon which all high school students base their work. “Never do today, what you can put ofif until tomorrow”. However, the teachers are constantly trying to disprove this theory as a bad practice by zealous applica¬ tion of homework assignments. Little do the teachers realize if this practice con¬ tinues the result it might have on future classes not so brilliant and understanding as we. There is one more condition that needs reporting, a condition peculiar to our own class. We have approximately two and twenty-seven hundreths girls for every boy. Now at first glance that would seem ideal from a boy’s viewpoint. But everytime we vote on anything in the class, the girls always have their way. What could be more ignominious for a group of self-respecting, red-blooded young men than to be completely dominated by girls? Even if you don’t count the twenty- seven hundreths of a girl, we are still outnumbered two to one. It’s enough to drive a man to communism. ✓ Now, that I have told you a few of the woes confronting us, perhaps I should give my idea on what should be done to alleviate the suffering of future classes. There is but one course, to form a union of Downtrodden High School Students, the D. H. S. S. Union, local number one. On this bitter note, I close. On behalf of the Class of 1949, I extend a most hearty welcome to all of you. Make yourself at home and enjoy the evening. We shall.