Sparland High School - Hilltopper Yearbook (Sparland, IL)

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have the opportunity to present our class play, which was UThe Nutt Familyu. This name really seem- ed to describe us. We also got to go to our first formal dance. We held our prom and banquet at the Jefferson Hotel in Peoria. We thought it was the best one ever. And it was! This year Janis Ross, who had been with us all the way, left us. As vacation time came again we could hardly wait to get back to school. For this year we would be the bosses and big wheels of the school. The first thing we did was to elect our officers. In our class meetings we never got much done with all the discussions and arguments. The poor boys didn't have a chance they were so outnumbered. We lost one boy early in the year, Dan Purple. We thought we were pretty smart when we helped with initiation and had those freshmen kneeling to us. Another thing that pleased us was getting time off of school to sell annual ads. We started work- ing on our class play in October. We heard rumors to the effect that it was the best ever given and, of course, we believed them. Seniors are kept busy with their play, homecoming, working on the annual, earning money for the trip, and awaiting the fateful day. We were no exceptions. And here we are at last, a class of fifteen, Jim Mattingly, Wilma Slutz, Kaye Hoskins,Beverly Lish- man, Raymond Ehnle, Donna Osborne, Beverly Wil- kins, Alice Webber, Mike Ratcliff, Ethel Davis, Mary Leigh, Phillip Easter, Gerry Schultz, Many Jane Finnegan, and Bob Spellious. We have proved to be a very active and resource- ful class during our four years at Sparland High School. We hope the following classes leave as good a reputation as we have. You're right, there is no conceil in Sparland High, the Class of '54 has it all

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when we moved across the hall to the seventh grade, we entered Mrs. Wilson's room, who was very anxious to get a hold of us angels Cif you don't believe me, ask herb. This year we gained Mary Jane Finnegan, Eugene Eves, Dan Purple, Dick Davis, and Margaret Ann Kelly. The year 1950 we were very proud, because we were eighth graders now and nearing our high school days. We ended our grade school Wdazen under the very cap- able leadership of Mrs. Margaret Wilson, who said she was going to flunk all of us because she hated to see her darlings leave her. We graduated a class of twenty, including seven La Prairie students. The year of l95O was the big moment of our school career, for we were, now Ugreen Freshiesng green he- cause we knew nothing about high school and wondered what smart joke would be thrown at us next by an upper classman, There were nineteen of us now: Jim Mattingly, Mary Leigh, Janis Ross, Hary Jane Finne- gan, Beverly Wilkins, Donna Osborne, Ethel Davis, Gerry Schultz, Wilma Slutz, Beverly Lishman, Kaye Hoskins, Alice Webber, Michael Ratcliff, Don Dawson, Eugene Eves, Phillip Easter, Dick Davis,Raymond Ehnle, and Dan Purple. During this year most of us got to have our first date and go on our first hay- rack rides. Because we liked parties so well, we got off to a good start by having a nSock Hopu, which once again started the dancing fever. As sophomores we lived up to the nickname Hsilly sophomoresu and I mean we were silly! If we were dared to do anything we'd do it, such as walk through the halls barefoot or roll our bluejeans up above our knees. During this year we gained Bob Spellious. Again this year we had a very successful dance, the S.H.S. Round-Up. The following year, our junior year, we were Hjolly juniorsn. This was a year we all looked for- ward to because we would receive our class rings and

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SENIOR CLASS NEWS ff!!! NN The members of the Senior Class of l954 are truly sorry that we must now leave the familiar and belov- ed halls of Sparland High School. We wish all you other students the very best of luck and hope that you benefit highly from your experience at our school and get as much enjoyment from it as we did. Senior pictures were taken on September 17. And thank goodness, they all flattered us. Then on Friday, November 13, we gave our senior play, The Able Miss Cain. It still seems wonderful that it was such a hit. A lot of the credit goes to our director, Hr. Charles Pearson. Collecting ads was our next event, and we really had a lot of fun. We split into four groups and competition was stiff. The Chilli group netted the most. We presented the Christmas Assembly this year. Mrs. George Hacker from Lacon, gave NThe Christmas Storyn, a dramatic reading. Everyone enjoyed it very much. The big-mid-year event was the '54 Homecoming, January 8, which was attended by one of the biggest crowds ever. The senior candidate, Mary Jane Finne- gan, was crowned Queen of the Homecoming. After the coronation, the crowd danced to the music of Ozzie Osborne's Orchestra. Five members of the class attended Campus Day at Bradley University on April 13. They toured the cam- pus and had counciling periods with some of the in structors to decide what courses to study in college