Villa Maria Academy - Trumpet Yearbook (Erie, PA)

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Star Gazing 0-30 .g -One silent night, as the heavenly joy of sleep seemed to descend upon the world at large, looking out of our window we began counting the stars. We reached the great number of fifty-two when the idea of finding out the secrets of these fifty-two stars seized us. They clung and filled our thoughts with fantastic rev- eries. Suddenly they changed from stars of the nighlt to women of the world. As we gazed upon these heaven-like people, recognition suddenly dawned upon us and we realized that we were looking into the future, rather than the present. Look at that beautiful buildingl Why, it's a girl's school and who do you think is at the head of it? None other than Grace Anshutz and she has for her assistant Isabelle Mullen.. We always knew that Grace and Isabelle were headed for that sort of a vocation. Let us look around the building for a while. There is Mlle. Cantrambone teaching French to a group of intelligent students. Our pre- diction has been fulfilled. And there is Esther Keim trying to get the knowledge of triangles and rectangles through the heads of her pupils. And look! There is Madeline Eisert, a chemist l-We shall have to shift our gaze. Vlfhy, there's the new hospital. VVe had better go in there a while. We might accidentally see someone we know. Sure emough. There's Catherine Shee- han. the head of all the nurses and there are Anna Winoski, Ann Harkins and Roberta Heald, looking for all the world like professionals in their positions as nurses. Goodness! How we wish' we could keep our eyes in the same direction longer, but no such luck. There they go wandering again. That star looks familiar, and it is familiar. Ttis Helen Cunningham coach- ing some young basketball enthusiasts. And there's Mary Catherine Peebles swim- ming teacher. By the looks of it, Helen and Mary Catherine have accomplished our prophesy. QPerched on her star and looking serenly around was Elsie Kauhfold. Elsie plays the lead in one of Broadway's favorite productions. And talking about stars. Tsn't that Martha Kennedy? Tt is, and look at that girl dance. Her li-eight of fame has been reached just as we thought. Farther on we beheld Betty Kinney. She is now editor of one of the news- papers and she has for her assistants, Rita Greulich and Mary Alyce Regan. These three young women have been very successful with the task they have undertaken. We can now see Lucille Klick. She is manager of her father's store, which has grown to be Erie's leading furniture store, presenting some of the best furni- ture displays ixn the city. And Lucille Diotallevi has taken over the Diotallevi furrier shop. The Lucilles seem to be very successful in that sort of profession. Mary Hedlund next appeared, seated behind a desk with Private Secre- tary marked in huge white letters at the side, and there are Gertrude Firch, Paul- ine Eiswerth, and Anna Lovas busily typing some letters. It must be wonderful to be so accomplished in secretarial work. In that same office is Helen Brutcher. We wonder what she is doing now. lVe shall have to transfer our gaze a little. Why she is the Genenal Bookkeeper and Filing Manager in this great office of acquaintances. so

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Senior Class Ufficers 0i0 President ..... ..., ll 'lary Gannon Vice President . . . . . . Rita C. Alb-erstadt Secretary ...., . .... Vera Mayo Treasurer ..... . .,...... Helen Cuninngham Twelve years ago about thirty little tots entered the first grade room, frightened most of them nearly to tears, at the thoughts of leaving their mother for the first time. What fun those days! Vera's beautiful red hair was visioned in our childish minds to be like that of a princess. Gertls big hair ribbons were never askew and she wore one of a different hue each day. We all envied Eileen's being able to take our wonderful teacher riding in an automobile and we used to be especially kind to Eileen with the hope that she might ask us to accompany them. While Martha was one of our? babies she had the honor of posing for a picture of the Blessed Virgin and Her Child. Whenever I saw that picture, which used to hang in the corridors of Gannon Hall, it brough back memories of those days when Marty was excused from Spelling to pose, Genevieve's big brown eyes used to look out upon the world with a timid glance and we very seldom heard much from Genevieve. Helen Barry and Peggy Donohue were so tiny, hardly able to see up over the desks and always led the lines. Roberta was with us then, too, and always joined in our game of Sidewalks Poison , which we played daily on the way home from school. It usually took us hours to reach our homes for we did not hurry in any way the game we delighted in playing. Oh! and lsabelle's curls-they were lovely. Quite the most beautiful Pd ever seen. Jean sang for our programs in those by-gone days too, dear little songs which I am sure she could not remember now, no matter how hard she tried. I can't forget Mary Gannon. Vile couldn't imagine anything nicer than being the niece of the newly appointed Bishop. Lucille Diotallevi always wore as beautiful coats in those days as she wears now. l was the talker then and I still seem capable of holding that position. Little Sally Saucer and Ring Around the Rosiel' were the games we played daily at recess. I'll never forget the campus in those daysg it was much larger than now leaving so much space for play. Our Christmas Parties were the best ever. Santa Claus certainly found a crowd of enthusiasts when he visited our classrooms. I could go on like this forever, relating so many incidents of those happy days. We have only thirlteen of that old crowd left now but we all agree that if 'we could have but one day of those dear ole days to live again, it would be-- canit you imagine? B. K., '31 st as its

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A flittering and a fluttering on the part of one of our objects of interest revealed the petite figures of Margaret Donahue and Dorothy Flanagan hurrying clown the streets of New York. Let us follow them a short distance. Goodness! They have gone into that large department store. We wonder what for. They must be buyers for some of the stores of Erie. Oh! And there goes a big liner headed for European points. We wonder if there is anybody sailing whom we know? There is no harm in looking anyway. There is Rita Claire Alberstadt. stretched out on a deck chair with a steamer rug draped carefully about her. Pleasure was evidently her object and again we were thrilled at the thought of adventure. Anna Nucerino next appeared surrounded by hats of every description. It was evident that Anna was a milliner. A large sign reading Head Librarian appeared before us. This young woman looks like one of our old acquaintances. This is Alice Jeanin with her uni- form of blue and white. The thirtieth star revealed the face of our school mate, Genevieve Flanagan. She was truly a star in the modern sense, for she had now attained the heighth of her ambition and was enchanting the public with her beautiful voice i11 the guise of Grand Opera. The next bright orb of the heavens quickly changed into a trim little stunt- plane. Let's look and see who its pilot is. It is Helen Barry, the young aviatrix, noted for her clever stunt flying. E Why are these two stars so close together? Letls investigate and find out for ourselves who they are. Of course! They are none other than Cecilia Yeager and Nora Burke, renowned comediennes of the day. They have become famous through their humorous dialogues, and are now looking over the footlights of Broadway. Immediately veering our glances into a further corner of the skies we see a group of stars closely assembled. By close inspection a bridge tea is easily dis- cerned. There sits Jeanne Brinig at the head of the table, beautifully decked in an afternoon frock. Round about her is a group of old school mates-her pals of ten years agof-Martha Angert, lsabelle Flynn, Margaret Regan, Audrey Wittrnan and Gertrude Carson. We wonder if by chance they too may be discussing the happy days of yore which we spent at dear old Villa-our Alma Mater. Again we revert our gazes. This next star seems to be moving swiftly. We cannot imagine what is causing this, we must make a close observation in order to find out. Why--if it isn't a girl on horseback-Helen Beamish, an equestrienne --asftride a snowy white horse, jauntily riding at a rhythmetic trot. The next bright st-ar brings to our eyes the face of a young woman who is neatly clad in the neatest Parisian mode. It is Mabel Wagnen, who has become the owner of a neat modiste Shoppe, in which career she had proven herself a great success. The next heavenly body apparently visible to us is Vera Mayo, a noted harp- ist. This was always meant to be her career, as we prophesied in our high school days. As we continue our dreamy star gazing we encounter Mary Gannon, an in- terior decorator, assisted in her profession by Audrey TVeindorff. They a1'e well- known for their ability to remodel old-fashioned homes into the last minute up-to- date stvlc. rt 40