Thatcher School - El Archivero Yearbook (Ojai, CA)

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EL ARCHIVERO 61 trip. In the late evening Bailey, Barnes, Baum, Dole, Ferrer, Kristofferson, Parker, T. Walden, and Pinkham became members after the appropriate rit- uals. These were administered by Mr. Lavender fChief Initiatorj and Messers. Lamb and Whitehead. Richard Walden was elected next year's President, and Bill Boyd was chosen Secretary-Treasurer. EPICUREAN SOCIETY qANDER the guidance of Messers. Ignon, Lavender, Ehrhardt and Head- master Chase, the Epicurean Society was born into the Thacher School and organized into a unique club which devotes itself to the enjoyment and appreciation of the arts through informal discussion. The founding fathers decided that the sole qualification for member- ship would be the contribution by each candidate of a masterpiece in any one of the three fields-art, music, or literature. The result of this idea proved very fruitful, for the Society has been presented with performances on the piano and the clarinet by Bolduan and Henze, and imaginative interpretation of a negro spiritual from John Beall, an essay on religion by Rob Gallaway, and a fantastic poem composed by Mrs. Thacher. Pantings and sculptures were presented by L. Acquista- pace, Anderson, Bell, R. Boyd, J. Case, Pleasants, Zellerbach, H. Chickering, Eggers, and Holmes. lVIrs. Morse, one of the most recent members, created a molded gastro- nomic delicacy in ice cream which quickly satisfied the connoisseurs of cuisine. Her membership was granted on the spot. The Society does not elect a permanent President, but rotates the office among the Senior members each month. The Head Epicurean maintains order during the discussions in the Alumni Room or in Mr. Ignon's studio. These glorified bull sessions provoke thought and often trigger philosophical arguments. No formal pattern is followed in the conversations, and ideas are brought up and expressed as they come to mind. Among the guests who have attended and enriched the discussions are Mr. Huyler, Mr. MacDougall, Mr. Chesley, and Mr. Vosburg. Mr. De Jesu, the traveling scientist, provided stimulating topics for all and a lively debate for Mr. Ignon. The other speaker, Dr. Lynn White, gave the fascinated members an insight into medieval history. An organized outlet for creative ideas and discussion of digering morals and philosophies has long been lacking at the Thacher School. The Epicurean Society has been established this year to fill that need.

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60 EL ARCHIVERO PACK AND SADDLE HE Hrst item on the Pack and Saddle's agenda for 1958-1959 was the New Boys' Camping Trip. Good fall weather allowed the Club to split its charges into eight parties and send them out on two successive weekends. This division made the trip far more camp-like than had been possible in the mob exodus of previous years. The annual Treasure Hunt to encourage trail riding sent many members of the School into the hills searching for tongue depressors. Ignon, Kristofferson, and Ward won the three pieces of horse equipment which were prizes. On March 21 Callander, Kulli, Stewart, Smith and Work were initiated into the Pack and Saddle in a ceremony at Patton's Cabin. The chef-d'oeuvre of the expedition was the first-known camp-made Baked Alaska, produced by Dave Williams and Lloyd DuBois. During the course of the year, the Club had devoted much time to trail building, maintenance, and measurement. The new William S. McCaskey Trail was constructed between the Rhodes-Metcalf and the Grech. Members of the PTS did extensive brush and mattock work on the Phelps, Twin Peaks, Bird Baths, Marshall, Huntington, Rhodes-Metcalf, and Hoyt-Isaacson Trails. Bonebakker obtained a Forest Service od'ometer and measured many trails. At the gymkhana banquet Porter received the Pack and Saddle Cup as High-Point Lower Schooler, and at the Spanish Banquet, the Cup for the best horseman in the Lower School was awarded to David Van Horne. Chris Rose and Henry Eggers replace John Case and Lynn White as President and Secretary-Treasurer. BIT AND SPUR O begin club activities this Fall, the Bit and Spur organized a new boy's picnic at Sarazotti Park. After the steak dinner the boys rode back to school in the moonlight along Shelf Road. The next club project was to put water back into the Pines' water trough. Led by President Bell, a few members horsebackedf to the Pines with tools and spare fittings and managed to clear out the clogged piping system, making it possible to refill the trough. During the winter term the Bit and Spur turned out to whitewash the outdoor ring and renovate the Kahle Trail in preparation for the Trail Horse Class in the Yale-Thacher Gymkhana. Work also has been started recently on the job of measuring the trails around the school more accurately in a concerted effort with the Pack and Saddle to revise the mileage chart. The initiation ceremonies climaxed the year's activities when the entire club pushed over the ridge to Middle Lion Canyon Camp for a camping

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62 EL ARCHIVERO THE RADIO CLUB S those faculty members who have tried to tune in Channel Two at strategic moments will readily attest, Thacher, for the first time, is the possessor of an Amateur Radio Station, WA6ESM. Organized by Mr. Ches- ley fW6LLKj and led by President Behnke fK6MVPj with Secretary-Trea- surer Freeman Ford fWA6DFFj, the Radio Club has taken over the old mechanical drawing room as a project lab, and its transmitter is located in the Radio Shack on Beetleville. Any hour of the day or night members may be found hunched over equipment in the shack. Despite the somewhat haphazard array of antennas and the even more outlandish display of equipment, the club has been able to make some very interesting contacts. The most spectacular of these was the successful completion of a schedule with an amateur in Palmerston North, New Zealand, which enabled Russell Callender to talk with his parents for over an hour. Similar arrangements have been made for other boys to Minne- sota, New York, and Hawaii. It is hoped that next year the club will gain more licensed hams and will be able to operate even more extensively. ON FRIENDSHIP By Kahlil Gibran And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship. And he answered, saying: Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the nay in your own mind, nor do you withhold the Hay . And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart. For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve notg For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the moun- tain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught, And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there he laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.