Vergennes Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Vergennes, VT)

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YERGENNES HIGH SCHOOL 2S its mind, its feelings, and its locomotion. It is in mankind’s power to decide whether this vast new field of knowledge is to he used to destroy himself and the civilization he has built and is building or is to be utilized into channels of worthwhile research. You. as a part of mankind, must pledge yourself to do your utmost to see that our world is directed in the right direction. By continuing to study and learn, by constantly keeping yourself well-informed on important issues, by following your deep inclinations and desires to ultimate fulfillment, and by never abandoning those proved ideals based on the inherent worth of every individual, you can do your bit in this direction. Each one of you is an atom of good or evil in a world that has ever had to struggle with the two. It is up to you to decide now that you are going to be an atom of good. In closing, let me extend my very best wishes to an unusually gifted group of young people who have often helped me relive my own senior days. At this time I give to you the hope for humanity you have helped me retain when at times this past year the world has seemed a wee bit cloudy to me. Clasp this hope close to your hearts, and keep it there to be withdrawn only when the road of life you are about to embark upon is especially rockv. W hatever path you choose as the one best suited to you as an individual, I sincerely hope at its pinnacle you will find the real goal of life—the oiie we all seek—HAPPINESS. Mrs. Edna E. Rappaport. FACULTY VOTE Most Poular Girl.........Nancy Partch Most Ambitious Girl.....Jeanne Guyett Best Looking Girl.......Esther Bristol Cutest Girl..............Jean LeBeau Biggest Wolfess.........Gloria Merrill Most likely to Succeed....Nancy Partch Best Sport...............Nancy Partch Quietest Girl .......Marjorie Wagner Most Cooperative Girl....Nancy Partch Most Intelligent Girl......Janet Abare Best Disposition.................Janet Abare STUDENT VOTE Most Poular Girl........Nancy Partch Most Ambitious Girl.....Nancy Partch Cutest Girls...........Esther Bristol .......... Kay Looby Best Looking Girl......Esther Bristol Biggest Wolfess........Gloria Merrill Best Sport..............Nancy Partch Quietest Girl .......Edith Lawrence Most Cooperative Girl..Nancy Partch Best Dressed Girl..Lorraine Poquette Best Personality........Nancy Partch Best Dancer .........Lorraine Poquette Wittiest Girl ............Kay Looby Most Studious Girl......Edith Griffith Least Studious Girl.......Kay Looby Best Disposition........Nancy Partch Most Likely to Succeed ...Nancy Partch I,east Conceited........Nancy Partch FACULTY VOTE Most Popular Boy.....Ernest Chapman Most Ambitious Boy.. .Donald Spooner Best Looking Boy.....Donald Spooner Biggest Wolf...........George Bibeau Most Likely to Succeed Ernest Chapman Best Sport...........Ernest Chapman Quietest Boy...........August Jerger Most Cooperative Boy. Donald Spooner Most Intelligent Boy, Ernest Chapman Best Disposition......Frank Bradley STUDENT VOTE Most Popular Boy.....Ernest Chapman Most Ambitious Boy.... Ernest Chapman Best Looking Boy.....Donald Spooner Biggest Wolf.........George Bibeau Best Sport...........Ernest Chapman Quietest Boy...........August Jerger Most Cooperative Boy. Donald Spooner Most Intelligent Bov, Ernest Chapman Best Dressed Boy.....Donald Spooner Wittiest Boy.........George Bibeau Best Personality.....Ernest Chapman Best Dancer..........George Bibeau Most Studious........Ernest Chapman Least Studious.......George Bibeau Best Disposition.....Donald Spooner Ernest Chapman Most Likely to Succeed. Ernest Chapman Least Conceited......August Jerger Biggest Flirt........George Bibeau

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REEK and white 27 “TO MY FIRST SENIOR CLASS’’ Not too many years ago I graduated from high school. On the threshold before me stood the world, a world not too unlike the one you face— uneasiness and war clouds hung upon the horizon. My classmates and I wondered where to turn, what paths would best lead us to the culmination of our goals, just as we yesterday, you today, and vour brothers and sisters tomorrow. we went off in many directions, some to halls of higher academic learning, some to factories, some to offices, some here, some there. War, which had been so imminent when we graduated from high school, became a reality my sophomore year in college. ! watched friends one by one leave for the service and for various types of war work; 1 had a difficult time remaining behind, continuing to pursue the path 1 had chosen. During that period and the years that followed, I learned something—something 1, at this time, would like to pass on to you. The more financially lucrative road of today is a real challenge to a young person whose area of experience is necessarily limited. How much more desirable seem the weekly returns of today, be they what they may, than a hard-sought path taking many years of untiring, diligent, unswerving effort beset with manifold trials. hat we can see, the tangible, is always so much more appealing and so much more interesting than the hard-to-picture intangible end. Yet, there are those people who have been willing to travel the latter path. At times they have floundered in bogs along the way, and some have sunk out of sight, vet others have managed to go on and on. What more have they who achieved their desires than those who never started out or got bogged downs? Again it is something intangible, something that cannot be placed on the scales and weighed monetarily. These fortunate people are the ones whose lives are usually full and rich and satisfying; they are the ones who seldom have gnawing at their hearts, unfulfilled wishes and frustrated desires. It is hard for you, just starting out. to realize what the consequences can eventually be of not doing what you now most wish to do. It is true that we are often kept from our objective by elements beyond our control. What then? That is the time another all important factor in life must be recognized. If we have tried in every way conceivable and are still deterred from attaining what we have set out to gain, we must seek an equivalent compensation. That is why it is so vitally important to have wide horizons and varied interests, to be able to adjust and adapt ourselves to situations as they arise. It is perhaps the hardest thing in life to have our plans riddled with the holes of unfulfillment. Yet. it is the truly great man. the really “big” man who can make “the best of it“ seem “even better.” So to you. my first senior class. I. who am close enough to your generation to feel its misgivings about this world, beg you to go on. strive toward that goal. This old sad world of ours will go on and eventually straighten itself out. It. like you, is compartively young; it has a hard rocky path to pass over before it captures the light of real understanding; it, too, has feelings of trepidation about whether it will be able to surmount what now appears to it as almost unsurmountable obstacles. You are not only like the world—you are a sector of that world—an infinitesimal part of it, it is true, but such a significant part. Youth always is. Hold fast to those important ideals of truth and justice that seem to be slipping away from so many of us today. It is so easy to fall into the state of lethargy that has befallen many of our fellow men. What difference does it make? The Atom Bomb with all its terrible repercussions will soon destroy us! One thing we must retain, not only in our minds but in our hearts. i the realization that Atom Bombs possess no minds, no feelings, no. not even means of initial self propulsion. Man is

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BLUE AND WHITE 29 LITERARY I’VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU (A Short Story) As I came home from the studio, I found a letter addressed to me—Richard Freeman. I could tell from the handwriting that it was from my mother in Vermont. As I read hurriedly, these words came into view—Kathy’s a graduate nurse now and has gone to New York City. I’ve heard that she wants to find you and ask forgiveness—.” 1 stopped there and slumped into the nearest chair thinking, “Now she is here in NYC. I wonder if she is the same Kathy I remember.” Kathy and my story began back in our high school days. Because of family troubles I had changed schools in the early part of my Senior year and attended a nearby one. It was there I met Kathy Walker who was also a Senior. Somehow I knew she was the girl for me. How clearly 1 remember her first words when we were introduced. They were, “I have been very anxious to meet you. Dick!” For the first time in my life I was speechless. Kathy, being everything I had thought her to be, saved the day for me by suggesting we have a coke at the local drugstore. 'There we talked about each other and I felt as if 1 had known her all mv life. “Kathy,” I said just before we parted, “I’ve had lots of fun being with you. Would you go to a movie some time with me?” From then on my life seemed to be complete. After being out with her several times and having met her folks, I moved in with them. They wished me to work for my board and room. Mr. Walker owned a garage and was short of help. 1 liked the work even though it meant getting up early to work before school and working late after school. 1 didn’t mind doing anything as long as I was near Kathv. Days flew by and we were always together. One December night just before Christmas we went window shopping. As we browsed along we came upon the display window of a jewelry store. A diamond there caught Kathy’s eye at once. Loving her as I did, I insisted we go in and get it. It was a perfect fit and I made a down payment on it and promised to pay the rest later. Months passed and we were still as happy. But one April day something happened—there was another man in Kathy’s life. She began to completely ignore me, even at the supper table. Ye never spoke unless forced to do so. Finally one night I went to her and said: “Kathy, I’ve decided to leave. If von want the other fellow then I won’t stand in your way.” “Where will you go?” she asked in surprise. “Oh, probably to New York and stay with my brother Charley. I can finish school somewhere there and find something to do.” As I said goodbv and turned away, tears came to my eyes. That was over three years ago, and 1 did come to New York. 1 finished high school and have become a part-time commercial radio announcer. Should I go to see her? Would she want to see me? Unable to account for my foregoing actions I sprang from that chair and hurried to dress. If I was to phone every YWCA in the city before dark, I’d have to act quickly. As I had thought she had, maybe bv chance, taken a room near my apartment. She had probably gotten my address from my mother. Dropping the phone quickly, I ran for all 1 was worth to the doors of that YW CA Building. The desk clerk made known my presence and not long afterward, I saw a familiar face coming slowly towards me—it was my Kathy. She was a little thinner with an older face covered now with tear drops. I ran to her and took her in my arms, and as 1 kissed her, I vowed to myself never to let her get out of my sight again.