Somerset High School - Raider / Memoirs Yearbook (Somerset, MA)

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The Raider hardwood quintet, coached by Bill Kearns, provided its followers with many thrills and finished the season with an impressive 12-4 record and close second in the Narry League. Once again Bill Burgess received All-Narry honors for his out¬ standing play during the basketball season. Paul Ginalski and Jim Medeiros received the highest honors possible by being selected Somerset High’s representatives to Boys’ State. September 9, 1953;—the dawn of a new school year, our last at Somerset High. It seemed impossible, yet it was true, that we had finally obtained the highest level in our high school career—the Senior year. With the aid of Miss Mason, our new advisor, we carefully selected those whom we wished to lead us through our fourth and final year. Those selected were: President, James Sousa; Vice President, Ann Weeden; Secretary, Claudette Levesque; Treasurer, Jim Doonan; Girl Councillor, Marilee Archambault; and Boy Councillor, Russell Cadorette. Paul Ginalski, now known to all as Moe,” who had been the outstanding leader of our class for three years now relinquished this position of president of the class to become president of the SAA. Jimmy Medeiros, who had had some previous experience in the student coun¬ cil, was elected by the student body to the honored position of SAA Treasurer. The Memoirs XVII staff having been appointed, they began work immediately. Barbara Boyle received top honors as Editor, with Beth Kilgrew as her assistant; Jim Balaguer was given the task of Business Manager, and with Miss Walsh assisting us, we started out to produce the best yearbook in SHS history. Coach John Simpson turned out another magnificent football team, termed by many as the best in SHS history. Led by Co-Captains Bill Burgess, who set an all-time Eastern Massachusetts individual scoring record of 159 points, and Jim Doonan, this powerful grid machine rolled through an undefeated, untied season to cop the Narry League Championship and 4th place in State Class D.” The gridders ended their sensational season by defeating their arch rival Case 27-7 in a hard-fought contest on Thanksgiving Day, thereby retaining possession of the prized ”49ers” Trophy. Now the days flew by much faster and before we knew it—the Senior Orals!!! After these were completed, graduation rehearsals started in full swing. We could hardly realize that there were only three events remaining in our final year—the Junior- Senior Prom, the Class Banquet, and Graduation. Both the Prom and the Banquet were exquisite affairs. And, through the blur of dreamy and exciting happenings, there is one memorable event which brought many a lump to the throats of my friends Graduation Night. It wasn’t until we received our diplomas that we realized that we were no longers Seniors—we were Alumni!!!

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We first entered the halls of Somerset High back in the fall of 1950. We were the traditionally timid freshmen, awestruck by the sudden transition from grammar school to high school. Slowly we became accustomed to the novelty of high school— to the new teachers, class mates, studies, and rules. Our initial task was the election of class officers and under the able supervision of Mrs. Staples we elected the following: President, Paul Ginalski; Vice President, Ann Weeden; Secretary, June Kadlec; Treasurer, Jimmy Doonan; Boy Councillor, Ronny Cheney; and Girl Councillor, Audrey Slade. In striving to establish a treasury, we launched our first dance in the spring. Appropriately named Music in May,” it proved to be a huge success and was recognized as one of the outstanding social events of the year. Other highlights of our freshman year were: The Frosh Acquaint¬ ance Social, the traditional Sadie Hawkins Day, and the sensational 50-0 win over the Case Cardinals in the annual Turkey-Day” football classic and the retention of the 49ers” Trophy. After a wonderful summer vacation, we returned to the corridors of SHS as Sopho¬ mores. With Mr. Kineavy as our class advisor we carefully selected our class officers. Once again Paul Ginalski, who had done a remarkable job the previous year, was elected to lead the class along with Marilyn France, Vice President; Claudette Le¬ vesque, Secretary; Jim Doonan, Treasurer; Jane Wimpenny, Girl Councillor, and Jimmy Medeiros, Boy Councillor. This was a year of many firsts” in SHS history— the Dime-A-Week Plan which would furnish financial benefit throughout the school, the new Junior High and Memorial Gym, and the new three coach system established to meet the needs of increased enrollment. The fast progressing Soph class highlighted the social year by sponsoring their annual dance, Winter Wonderland” in December. In athletics, Somerset, under the direction of Coach Barrett, again defeated Case High 20-12 to top off an exciting football season and add another year to the 49ers” Trophy. Coaches Kearns and Kineavy guided their respective teams to successful seasons in basketball and baseball and the Raiders broke a four year track domination of Dighton by edging them a mere three-quarters of a point. The prominent athletes from the Soph class in varsity sports were Bill Burgess, Tom O’Connell, Jim Medeiros, Paul Ginalski, Jim Doonan, and Ronny Cheney, who proved his remarkable ability on the baseball diamond by being chosen All-Narry shortstop. After a brief respite, the summer vacation, we began the second half of our high school career. Under the direction of Miss McGrath, Junior Class Advisor, we elected the following officers: President, Paul Ginalski; Vice President, Audrey Slade; Secre¬ tary, Claudette Levesque; Treasurer, Tom O’Connell; Boy Councillor, Bill Burgess; and Girl Councillor, Marilee Archambault. Our class came into prominence in school government when Barbara Boyle and Ann Weeden became Vice President and Secre¬ tary, respectively, of the SAA. The new Director of Athletics, Coach John Simpson, led the football team to the first undefeated season since 1947, in winning the Narry League Championship. This clean slate was marred only by a 13-13 tie to a stubborn Mansfield, but it upset the powerful grid juggernaut of Dighton 26-13 and retired the 49ers” Trophy for another year by defeating Case High 12-0, in the annual Turkey-Day” clash. All-Narry honors went to Bill Burgess, Tom O’Connell, Moe” Ginalski, Jim Medeiros, and Norm Chace. The Touchdown Whirl,” a dance spon¬ sored by the Juniors on the night of the stunning upset of Dighton, smashed all previous attendance records and was judged the outstanding hit of the year.

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Audrey Slade Art Editor James Balaguer Business Manager Beth Kilgrew Assistant Editor Joe Borge Assistant Business Manager Barbara Boyle Editor ART STAFF LITERARY STAFF AND MISS WALSH BUSINESS STAFF AND MISS MASON