Roxbury Memorial High School for Boys - Bostonian Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Dedicated 10 Mr. Robert B. Masterson The class of 1953 feels singularly privileged in being per- mitted to dedicate its yearbook to Mr. Robert B. Masterson, retiring Head Master of Roxbury Memorial High School (Boys). During the past quarter century Mr. Masterson has guided the destiny of thousands of graduates in dismal days and dark, through a period of history as unpromising and depressing as the world has known. That these graduates have been success- ful not only according to the wordly definition of success, but in becoming loyal, devout citizens, is due in largest measure to his inspiration and to-his example. The word “master” seems harsh when applied to our beloved principal. Rather, in his relations with students has he combined the affection of a father with the kindly encouragement and leadership of an older brother. We, like the classes that preceded us, love Mr. Masterson; we reverence his ideals; we cherish his memory. Physically he is leaving us; with God’s help, the lessons in good living which he has instilled in us, will remain with us always.

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Headmaster’s Farewell Seventy years is a long time. I remember marching as a small boy in the victory torch-light procession at the election of President Grover Cleveland. I saw the disappearance of horse-drawn street cars and the introduction of electric trans- portation. When I was 12, there were only four automobiles registered in the whole country. The first automobile that I saw was such a novelty that it led a circus parade. Every Memorial Day time, blue-clad veterans marched to cemeteries and frequently came to school, all of them clad in generals’ uniforms, to tell us about the battles of the Civil War. When I was in high school, Marconi flashed the first wireless signal across the Atlantic, and about the same time basketball was invented in Springfield. Motion Pictures had not yet appeared. School consisted of nine grades in grammar school and four years in high school. The Junior High School had not been established. Students chose either the Latin and Greek clas- sical course or a “Scientific” one that contained no ancient lan- guages. Commercial courses were introduced in about 1899. No advice was ever given to pupils about what course to take, and no one cared whether pupils passed or failed. The college board examinations were introduced in 1907, the year I began to teach; but in our school, only one teacher ever said anything about them. There was no advising, no giving any assistance of the sort that here at our school the guidance department and all of our teachers so generously give to every boy in every course. No other school that I have ever heard of has done so much for the boys as this school. I hope that you, in turn, will imitate the solicitude your teachers have had for you, re that, when you grow up and meet other boys, you will help and advise and guide whoever may come to you for assistance. Robert B. Masterson