Tillamook Catholic High School - Academic Yearbook (Tillamook, OR)

Page 25 text:

I IPI lf' OC POF D011 PWC DOJC JOICDOKPOJC JMC DOKDQK 1004 DOJC DOJC Dtncbc the whistle and the trarlrnq smoke all appealed to the rmaarnatrve mind of the boy lt drd not occur to hrm that the trarn was to plag a part rn hrs own lrfe Perhaps this attachment was due larqely to the close frrendshrp of a railroad enarneer The enqr neer Clary had been a family rrrend for years and rt was from hrm that Tommy had heard the s orres of trarnrnen and now they rode the qreat Limited cars After the narration of one of these tales Tommy would inquire Clary do you think l could be an engineer? The bra man would look at the small frarl boy and pat hrs shoulder Laddte l do not doubt but what you wrll' lt was the evenrna of November 94th rust two days before Thank qrvrna Hrs fa ther was comrna home to spend Thanlfsarfrna day Tommy was anxiously avxartrna the day Though he had enroyed the company of hrs fa her only infrequently he was satisfied to accept the circumstances as they were He failed o ee the parents w ak nesses but rather saw the pleasant qualities of qood humor and the Jolly happy ao lucky nature was hrs custom ordinarily He reached tor hrs bundle and beaan shou rna the news boy s fable Papers' Get your Evenrna Paper' Read the news of the day' Papers were sellrna very raprdly that evenrnq and the rad was plea ed As he hobbled up and down the block he would sop at rnrervals to oblrqe a prospectrxe customer with a copy of the news At the corner of the block he slipped and dropped several sheets from hrs bundle He sooped to prcc up the shees and befo e hrs eyes flashed the bra black headlines GRAND CENTRAL CRASHES HEAD ON WlTH BELATED FREIGHT Tommy was tremblrnq Hrs heart seemed to Jump into hrs tnroat and he could not swallow Then he read Engineer Kelly Killed rn Fa al Crash He knew that was comma but rt made hrm staqaer and the sen ence seemed ro pierce hrs heart lrke a sharp cutting daqqer point Daddy' Daddy' he shrieked as tears gushed forth rn a stream lt rs not true' lt cant be true' You cant leave moth The last syllable was cut short for he had reeled and fell farntrnq to the paxemenr When he awoke he was lyrna rn hrs own bed Hrs mother was besrde hrm s rok ma the curly red hair Tommy could see that she had been cryrnq for her eyes were red and her face was very whrte and drawn He fouqht hard to keep back the tears but to no avarl After that Tommy was not the same little smrlrna lrrsh lad The chrldren at school notrced a change lt seemed that a lrnk of hrs life had been cu' away and for days he wandered about rn a dazed manner A severe freezrnq spell had wrapped the small city rn a blanket of snow Few people minded the weather but Tommy found rt difficult to sell nrs papers Customers were indifferent about comrnq out into the cold on days lrke these lt was four days before Christmas Tommy had finished hrs work at school and had started up the railroad tracks for a short walk He had qone perhaps a rnrle when suddenly the brq concrete rarlroad brrdqe across Bear Creek loomed up rn a stranae manner He approached closer and knew there was somethrnq wrona with the struf- T ll , A f- U I 2 71 1' 1- Page 'llNYUlll. nf- ' . ' u , ' 's ' ' . ' r - A x 41 ' J ' -uv. v' y ' ' ' ' ' . ' f 1 s ' e '- That eveninq in the excrement of anticipation he failed to read the headlines as ' ' ' ' s . . f ' ' ' ' . A ' l 1 T A ' . , ' ' ' l , . I ' A I 4 ' . I . . . . . . , I I I ' ' l' T I f

Page 24 text:

L Xl I OCDOJC DODC DOKDOKDONCDODCDOK DOK DOPCDOJC DOOC DOKDOKDOKDO THE CCURAGE CF AN lRlSH LADDY The sharp clang of a bell rang clearly through the halls of the small tovxn school at Brundenburg sendrng a message of good cheer to many of the puprls Scarcely had the last e ho s dred away when the halls were frlled wrth norsy laughrng chrld ren They were happy because another tedrous day of lessons had been brought to a close lt may have been the end of a burdensome day for some but for small Tommy Kelly the day was only begrnnrng Smrlrng Tommy as he was known to hrs class ma es was the only chrld of Thomas B Kelly a trarn engrneer who was employed by the Grand Central Parlroad Company Tommy was twelve but small for hrs aae Hrs lrttle round nose was set off wrth a croo of freckles but hrs crownrng glory was a mass of curly red harr whrch brought to mrnd the realrsrrc lrkeness of Dante s lnferno A parr of beautrful deep blue eyes beamed and twrnkled when the lad was pleased or happy Tommy pos essed two characterrstrcs whrch tended to focus upon hrm the attentron of many people One an allurrng lrrsh smrle Unhapprly the other was the sad drsfrgurement left rn the wake of a serrous rllrress When a small chrld he had contracted the drsease of rnfantrle paralysrs whrch had resulted rn a paralytrc condr tron of hrs rrght hand ana leg lt took four v ars before he was able to walk at all Then as he hobbled along rt was aurte evrdent that he suffered greatly Yet rn sprte of thrs tryrng afflrctron hrs humor seldom farled and at all trmes the lrrsh smrle rergned supreme Tommy lfed wrth hrs mother rn a lrttle whrte cottage styled house about four blocks from school Here they enroyed few of the luxurres of lrfe Had Mr Kelly been a provrdrng husband and parent rt all mrght have been very drfferent However the happy go lucky man was addrcted to lrquor and spent most of hrs lersure trme and hrs mon hly salary rn the pursurt of drrnkrng and gamblrng The prtrfully small sum whrch he marled horne to hrs wrfe and son hardly pard the rent and lrvrng necessrtres To ard hrs mother rn defrayrng the costs of hrs educatron the boy worked at odd robs after school hours A few fnrnutes after the bell had rung found Tommy busrly engaged attendrng to the ranrtorrar work of three large class rooms Usually about 'rve o clock the task was completed and Tommy would emerge from the srde entrance wrrh some books under hrs arm and whrstlrng a popular rrngle At home he assrsted hrs mother wrth her house work He left home about seven each evenrng for the Unron Stage Depot where he earned an allowance by sellrng the Evenrng Gazette At trmes a newsboy s lrfe was very tryrng People drd not always respond to the anx rous lrttle fellow and sometrmes the madly rushrng crowd hardly pard heed to hrs arnest plea of Paper Mrster7 At trmes the rarn and cold seemed unbearable Vtfhen he came home thoroughly drenched and partrally numbed the parn rn hrs log be ame very se lere Some day he told hrs mother l wrll earn a lot of money Then the doctors wrll ure thrs bum leg and l wrll be able to do all the thrngs that the fellows at school can do Mrs Kelly hopefullw assured her son that he would some aay be well and strong Asrde from enroyrng the health of nrs school companrons Tommy entertarned the secret ambrtron of becomrna an engrneer Whenever rt was possrble he would frnd trme to go to the depot to watch the great lumberrng Grand Central express trams f s they rolled by en route to Chrcago Trarns held a fascrnatron for hrm the engrne Pug- 'I' rr -my T 11 ' A 1' ll cl 4' nr 1 1' Y 7 . c e ' A ' ' ' , ' , I ' I I A ' , ' ' X r v - f 1 ' . . , - C, . A V ' It A - 1 - ' ' ' 1' ' ' , , S. I A . A , , . - , . e . , , V . , r - - r 1 - - ' - - . . - , - - - - 1 Ll , ' fx V . , . . , . , . . ,C l , , c , . C , , . ,, , , . 4 , . , , ,

Page 26 text:

'ltxrrrtxt I OC DOKDOKDOK DMC 504 DOK DOKDOK DOKDOK D001 D074 DOCK BOKDO ture for part of rt seemed to be mrssrng He drew nearer and suddenly stopped short Hrs face turned a whrtrsh grey as though he mrght have seen hrs fathers ghost The frrst sectron of the brg brrdge had grven way under the freezrng spell There rt lay at the bottom of the canyon a mass of twrsted steel How long he gazed at thrs prt of death he could not say but the unexpec ed bellowrng of the evenrng passenger trarn came to hrm from far down the tracks He shuddered at the thought of the happy people who were rrdrng rn the Flyer at that moment Then at once he remembered Clary was workrng that schedule and rn all probabrlrty was dorng duty on thrs rll fated trarn lt was only a matter of mrnutes and the Flyer would be gorng down that canyon to destructron N N l must save them and Clary too he screamed desperately They wont dre the way Dad drd lll save them or dre rn the attempt' When the foundatron part of the rarlroad brrdge gave way one of the sectrons had pulled loose and was left hangrng rn mrd arr lt made a perfect U shape as rt pro ected from one srde to the other The only way he could hope to stop the trarn was to cross on thrs metal bar lt was an extremely hazardous task for a man phys rcallv frt but for Tommy wrth hrs crrppled leg rt was a treacherous undertakrng U daunted by the knowledge of hrs own perrl he serzed the cold rron bar and sarted down As he pulled hrmself over the edge and slrd down the rarl hrs body prcked up countless steel splrnters whrch felt as though needles were prrckrng on every srde All the whrle the bar swayed relentlessly from srde to srde and rt seemed the boy would surely be hurled rnto space He clutched trghtly at the bar as he started up the other srde to safety Gorng down was comparatrvely easy but now came the real test Could he reach the top before the trarn rolled to the srte of destructron'9 He had reached the mrddle of the slrppery bar when agarn the bellowrng echoes resounded rn hrs ears The trarn was comrng much nearer Thrs sudden realrzatron almost caused the boy to lose hrs grrp but wrth frgrrtrng de ermrnatron he contrnued desperately to reach the top The moments seemed hours as he fought hrs way upward ln anotr r arm s length he would make rt but hrs strength was raprdly farlrng ln a frnal effort he pulled hrmself up The Flyer was roundrng the turn some drstance down the track He trred to prck hrmself up only to fall back cryrng rn agony That strenuous clrmb had been too much for hrs rrght leg would not respond Gatherrng the remarnder of hrs farlrng strength he started crawlrng as fast as possrble rn the drrectron of the on comrng trarn After coverrng about three hundred yards he could go no farther H must work raprdly or farl rn thrs last attempt Qurckly he pulled off what rernarned of a shredded shrrt and began wavrng rt frantrcally back and forth rn the arr If rt was Clary surely he would see the srgnal whrch meant safety for hrmself and hrs pas sengers Tommy prayed fervently and contrnued movrng the flag of salvatron before hrm Suddenly he was rewarded by a hrrll whrstle the arr brakes Thank God they have seen me' he moaned and then feebly sank to the hard frozen ground Clary was the frrst to reach the unconscrous curly harred frgure Only one word fr caped hrs tremblrng lrps Laddre Then he stooped to gather the srlent form rn hrs strong sun tanned arms Tornrnys engrneer frrend narrated few rarlroad storres afterward but when he drd they always concerned a herorc red harred lad who had made the suprerne sac rrfrce of hrs own lrfe and who rn Clary s own words Mrght one day have been the greatest engrneer of them all Alfrt d 'Sands r YQ PUMP W0 T11 I A f' rt cl 0 m 1 rr Q Q Q A Q Q , Q ' Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q I . , I . , o- o- , . , Q . A , . . : , . I1- . T I L . . , - ' - I 1 - r - - r r I r . . ' . he , . I . ' ' . ' . e KJ , l I 4 ' ' . s ' ' -- ' . -S , i. ' V 4 L 1 4 I ' 3 , I X I - 4 . , .5 , . ., , , . r , W ,, , 2 . 1, ..