Southington High School - Chronicle Yearbook (Southington, CT)

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S1 if? il 1 A 4:4143 'H il-1 f 'Q ' 1'5'f2'ml-' il It . l .Nei is .tam-i - I - tNl'9',i,f-fQ 1m' 'ff i 5srf'ttrefefifffir r - L ' r L.H.S. CHRONICLE lass Zszfo ry At eight o'clock on September 9, 1942, our plane took off on its Hight--'- destination Graduationg a little town which is a favorite resort for the youth of the nation. Every boy and girl wishes to pass through this town, and like all others, we did too. It was a gorgeous day and the sun shone in all its splendor. As our plane lifted its wheels from the ground and soared skyward, our hearts leaped into our mouths, for we knew we were on an important flight, and it was up to us whether we reached Graduation or not. The weather reports were favorable, but who could foretell what might come up in the future? Our pilot was Alan Edwards, the co-pilot, jerry Hotchkiss, navigator, Ruth Ann McNerney, radio-man, Arline Phelan. With this crew to guide us, we entered our first lap of this long journey. Air activities were few, and since we were still inexperienced, we were just as glad. Naturally, since we were just beginners in the uskywaysn-we hardly had the right-away. As we glanced out the windows of our plane, we saw the Seniorl' pass us-just wait till our plane could carry that caption. We, of course, were called Freshmen We often got off the beam but we flew along and trusted in our crew. Our first stop was uSophomore where we had a stop-over of ten months. As we departed from the airport, we were told to be sure to be at the base at eight oiclock, September 20, 1943 when we would begin the second lap of our journey. We met on the appointed date and as we once more took our seats on the plane, which now was christened Sophomore,' the title we had earned, because we had reached our first stop without mishap, we became acquainted with our new crew, Pilot, Jimmy Wallace, co-pilot, Bill Nardi, navigator, Agnes Zakrewskig and radio- man, Dick Marinelli. The weather reports were favorable, and we began to feel that there would be smooth flying from now on. There were numerous air activities this time, but since we were on the second lap of our flight, we handled the situation very well and even managed to increase our supplies. This section of the journey went along very smoothly, and in no time we were fastening our safety belts in preparation of a 4-pointn landing at junior-town. As we parted at the airport to have some fun during our stop-over period, we looked at each other with a vague glimpse of astonishment. Our journey would be over in no time - for here we were, watching our plane being shoved into the hangar and the streamline model which belonged in the high-brackets of the skyways and preserved the right-of-way, was being tested and the name Ujuniori' painted upon its fuselage. Junior was a beautiful plane and our feeling of being in the upper-bracketsl' began to ease into our senses. Yes, we had a new crew, too. Vito Riccio replaced Jimmy Wallace as pilot, William Height replaced Bill Nardi as co-pilot, Jean Cockayne replaced Agnes Zakrewski as navigator, and Ralph Riccio replaced Dick Marinelli as radio-man. Soaring through the air, we took great pleasure in looking down at the planes flying below bearing the names of 'Treshmanw and Sophomoref' Our hearts were light aslwe winged our way to our last stop before reaching our destination. It can be said that this lap of our journey was the most enjoyable. There was hardly a minute that we weren't participating in air shows and the plane Junior was well-publicized and well-known throughout the Skyway. 17

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L.H.S. CHRONICLE zfmemffy for lass of 1946 September 9, 1942, Wednesday Lv. Home .. ..... 7:30 Arr. Freshman ... ....8:00 HOTEL LEWIS Dance, June 5, 1943 September 20, 1943, Monday Lv. Freshman ........... 7 : 30 Arr. Sophomore .... . . . HOTEL LEWIS .8:00 Sport Dance. . .October 16, 1943 Christmas Dance. .Dec. 23, 1943 September 6, 1944, Wednesday Lv. Sophomore . ..... 7:30 Arr. Junior . . .... 8:00 HOTEL LEWIS Sport Dance. . .October 14, 1944 Hot Dog Sale. .October 19, 1944 Hot Dog Sale. .October 26, 1944 Junior Promenade Hot Dog Sale .... March 8, 1945 November 25 1944 St. Patriclis Day Dance March 17, 1945 Junior Recital ...... April, 1945 September 5, 1945, Wednesday Lv. Junior . . ..... 7:30 Arr. Senior . .... 8:00 HOTEL LEWIS Hot Dog Sale. . .October 8, 1945 Fall Dance .... October 26, 1945 Senior Play Valentine Dance December 6 and 7, 1945 February 16, 1946 Hot Dog Sale. .January 11, 1946 Hot Dog Sale. . .lN4arch 14, 1946 Spring Dance ..... May 4, 1946 Senior Prom ....... June 1, 1946 Class Night ...... June 13, 1946 Graduation ..,.... June 17, 1946 June 17, 1946, Monday LV. Senior .. ..... 8:00 Arr. Alumni .... ..... 1 0:00 m JERRY HoTcHK1ss

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L.H.S. CHRONICLE We reached our last stop before our destination Graduation', and that was 'fSenior.,' At our stop-over at Senior, we looked over our logbook for the past journey and found its pages full of reports for our executive at the home office, Mrs. joll. At this point of our journey, Mrs. joll, who had been our steadying guide and a source of help throughout this trip, left us and Miss Fagan replaced her as our executive officer. On September 5, 1945, we started our last and most important trip - our crew was as follows: Pilot, Dick Wood, co-pilot, Bill Nardi, navigator, Jean Cockayne, radio-man, Ralph Riccio. We were all confident we would reach Graduation', with this able-bodied crew to man our plane. We were at last the proud possessors of the plane that bore the caption Senior,', and we flew along on wings and clouds as light as air. The 'Senior was filled with noise and fun-making-yet there were times when we all set about doing our work. This lap of our journey was filled with innumerable air activities and the most important of them all was the night we landed at Copper Kettle and held a banquet there-one last night altogether before separating at Graduation Once more we took to the air, when before we knew it, the Hash came to fasten all safety belts for landing and the wheels of our beloved ship softly touched the ground-a perfect landing at Graduation, We all rushed forward to congratulate the crew that had guided us through this last lap of our trip. We had at long last reached our destination, safe and sound, and were ready now to venture into the country on the outskirts of protective Graduation known to all as The Worldi' and our hearts beat a little faster. - But before we passed the gates of c'Graduation , we lingered in the town and reminisced-starting from the time our plane took off at 'Treshmani' and ending at Graduation It dawned on us that we had taken our trip during the rnost eventful era this world had ever known. During our journey we had not been oblivious of the World War-we had felt some of the concussions. Indeed, we did. We recalled the day our great President died, it was a day for serious thought, and our 'cplanew was quiet throughout. Then, too, the day so-called V-E Dayi' was a day for rejoicing for all. There were many more-M D-Dayv, and 'CV--I Day. We on board ship, were not idle all this time either. We had instructors aboard who taught us the fundamentals in Red Cross Work, and First Aid, then, too, there was a time' when air raids were possible and we were shown what to do in case of an air raid. These Air Raid Drills were unexpected and frequent. And yet, we as well as the rest, steered our way through the fog and mist, and landed safely. Even though our trip was full of these activities, we marveled at the swiftness and record-time in which we made our journey. For it seemed like only yesterday that we set forth on board the Freshman,' beginning our Hight. So we bid a sad farewell to our co-passengers and passed out of the gates of 6'Graduation into the gates of The World. JERRY HOTCPIIQISS 'S 18