Taylor County High School - Sampler Yearbook (Perry, FL)

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CLASS WILL As we set ourselves to the task of preparing a Will for the Class of 1944, we are impressed with the idea that the class has nothing of material nature to will to anyone. On the contrary, our generation has been willed the privilege of liv- ing the free way of life. This freedom has been willed from generation to gen- eration through the eons of time and we are going to pass it on. We are now in the eleventh year since the accession of Adolph Hitler to power as chancellor of Germany. Many have hopes that this will be the last year. There can be no assurance that this power built up during a decade can be broken up within this year, but hope for it is justified. The power of the German dictator went up like a skyrocket. Like a sky- rocket’s brilliant burst came the succession of victories that marked the Nazi military campaigns of 1939 to 1941. A skyrocket goes up with a burst of bril- liance, then the dead, smelling stick falls to the earth. The glow of the star- shells of the German dictator’s power is fading from the sky. Most of the world is now aware that the light it made was not glory but glitter. The only remain- ing question is how long it will take for the dead, smouldering stick of the old rocket to descend to the earth, and what new damage it will cause as it falls. It is worthy of mention as a coincidence that the German dictator ascended to supreme power in Germany on January 30, 1933, the birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who just previously had been chosen for the highest office in the gift of the American people, and that the two men became opponents in the greatest struggle since history began. This is no personal struggle between these two men. President Roosevelt represents mankind’s greatest heritage, a free way of life. All the nations and millions of people who are aligned behind Roosevelt arc those who say it shall not die. Opposed to Roosevelt is Adolph Hitler, who originated no new philosophy. He found a nation in a jumble of mixed up ideas, convinced that a superior peo- ple could do no wrong, and that the Germans were a superior people. Because Prussian militarists had kept their traditions alive from the other World War and because twentieth century science and economics provided such powerful weapons for a new type of total war, Hitler has come terrifyingly near success. He came near but not near enough. He was stopped not by any one man or by any one idea, but by many men and many ideas. The idea which was most prevalent and widespread was that men and groups of men ought to have enough freedom to work out their own forms of government and their own ways of ife. The only thing Roosevelt has had to do with it is that it has been he who made it plain to Americans that the American tradition could have no chance for sur- vival in a world in which Hitlerism was dominant. The conflict is not between men but between ideas and systems of government. Many have died on the battlefields to preserve that principle. From the dead on the battlefield there arises a spirit which is inspiring to all. It is like a ray of light out of the darkness. We, the thousands who graduate today from American high schools are ready to face the situation squarely. We have inherited freedom, it shall not die. Our heritage has been to be born among free people. Our obligation is to preserve that right and pass it on.

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CULLEN THOMPSON Football ’40, ’41, ’42, ’43; Key Club ’42. ALEENE WALKER MARY HELEN WHITFIELD Vice President Sophomore Class ’42; Junior Class Secre- tary ’43; Basketball ’43; An- nual Staff ’43, ’44; Senior Class President ’44; Cheer Leader ’43, ’44. JACKIE TUTEN Captain Basketball ’43, ’44; Annual Staff ’44. MILDRED WALKER 4H Club ’43; Latin Club ’43, ’44. INA RAE WOODS MARY WOOD Glee Club ’41, ’44.

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