St Marys Commercial High School - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

Page 30 text:

L 1. 'U 'f-'iii 3 5? gn ugh-'wi if! I 0 P 'L .deli 'ug sph! WV? 5. 11.51 5' M--3'. VW '13 'U K ' 'V' uf 'ii '23 V. Az' r 'ii 'uh 1 ii' IX- ! , 'Q F iff.: it

Page 29 text:

And then the familiar Mister Turkey took the spotlight as the Thanksgiving season rolled around. With charitable and enthusiastic hearts, we collected enough food to fill several baskets for the needy of Old St. Mary's parish. Our award was had in the satisfaction that we were able to bring happiness into the hearts of the unfortunate. During the Forty Hours of Devotion, which lasted from December 6 to 8, a solemn air reigned over the school. This devotion and the Novena to the Immaculate Conception ended on December 8, when all the commercial students participated in a triumphant procession of the Blessed Sacrament. We were then assigned to play the favorite character of the year, good old nSaint Hick.u With our little gifts wrapped in gay paper, we went up to the auditorium for the Christmas party. The smiling faces of the little children and their happy greet- ings were their gifts to us in return. Old Father Time flew swiftly by and only the exams--as if that was not enough--took place in January. In February, we received the hearts of the Post Graduates in the form of invi- tations. On the tenth everyone enjoyed a pleasant time at the Valentine Party. The annual retreat approached rather suddenly after the previous affair. The nOur Fatheru and the nHail Maryu took on a new meaning as our Retreat Master, Father Hoeger, explained them. On Sunday morning, the feast of St. Joseph, we ended the retreat with Mass, a general Communion and the renewal of our Baptismal vows. The traditional Mothers' Day party was held on April 18. On this day, our Mothers had their first glimpse of our nWerkshop.n After being introduced to our teachers, they enjoyed a pleasant afternoon, playing bingo and cards. Swish! Swish! could be heard on the second floor of the school as we prepared for the May Crowning with attendants primping up in their formals and the prefect in her white gown and filmy veil. A very edifying ceremony took place in Church as a crown of blossoms was placed on the head of Our Blessed Mother by the prefect. All the students took part and offered a rose to the Queen of Heaven as we passed her throne. June and Graduation are rather synonymous. With Class Day, we bade farewell to the Graduates of 1959. During the year, several girls already discontinued the course of study. They were Betty Schoenmakers, Lorraine lkir, Geneva Thomas, and Gloria Springer. So now we had only 38 prospective seniors for 1940. Class Day, however, did not end the year, no, we still would be united at the Bob-lo excursion which took place the day after Graduation. After a pleasant day, we said goodbye until we would meet again in September. September 7, the first day of school, 59 new Seniors exchanged greetings with their associates. we were minus a few of our original class of Juniors, but we were happy to welcome a new member into our midst, Margaret DeBruyne, who had just returned from a visit to Belgi m.

Page 31 text:

Our number again decreased when Dorothy Reuter and Evelyn Nestor both dropped the course, and this made a total of 57 in the Senior Class of 1940. Within a week's time we had elected our class officersg Annette Goeddeke, Presidentg Jeanne Campbell, Vice-Presidentg Dorothy Kaczmarek, Secretaryg and Rosemary Wiemeyer, Treasurer. The first duty of the officers was to prepare for the Juniors' initiation. It was to be a nHard Timesn party and with the cooperation of all the members of the class we made it a great success. Even if the President did change the date on which Thanks- giving was to be celebrated, we were ready to do our share for the needy of Old St. Mary's parish. During the Christmas season, when everybody is shopping for gifts for Mary and Sue, we found time to take part in two processions. First, the Forty Hours' Devotion ceremonies, and then we took part in the Midnight Hass on Christmas Eve. Both of the ceremonies were very edifying and brought a little peace to this war-torn world And then an unexpected event took place that brought tears to our eyes and ulumpsn in our threats. After ten years as Pastor of St. Mary's Church, Father Hoeger left us to become Rector of Holy Ghost M,ssionary College located at Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania. He gave his farewell address to the parishioners on February ll, the ending of the Immaculate Conception Novena. But on the following day, he came personally to bid farewell to the students of the mission and of the commercial school, We welcomed Reverend Father Edward J. Knaebel, the new pastor of St. Mary's, during the annual retreat. The former National Director of the Holy Childhood Association is a sehoolman by calling, and will, no doubt, make still more useful to the city the splendid Commercial School, developed under Father Hoeger and the School Sisters of Notre Dame. His little talks during the retreat were centered around the lkss and its relation to the greet drama that took place on Calvary. Instead of the nend of a perfect dayn we had the end of a perfect retreat by receiving Holy Communion after which we all had a fine breakfast served to us in the dining room. we were so engrossed in developing speed in shorthand that we didn't notice that the end of March was already here and we still had Old Man Winter at our heels. April came and with the belated Spring weather we were apt to have a little nspring fever.n The month of May was ushered in by our annual Mothers' Day party. Although the weather was not perfect the party was one of the most successful ones held in several years. Our Mothers again had a little noonferencen with our teachers and after that enjoyed an afternoon of cards and bunco. Father Time flew swiftly by and before we realized it, the last and busiest week of school was ahead of us. We were