Walnut High School - Walnut Tree Yearbook (Walnut, IL)

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The Walnut Trce Tomorrow By Dick C. Ross T was on a warm spring day of May, 1950. School had just been dismissed and the boys and girls were merrily making their way from the building. As I glanced up from the principal’s desk I thought of the years back when I had been a happy school boy instead of the principal in the same Walnut Community High School. Then I remembered what an unusual class mine had been and how talented were some of its members. What had become of all these friends of the past ? In vain I tried to recall where some of my classmates were but it was of no avail. I remembered the carefree times the class used to have and a great feeling of loneliness took possession of me. Little did I realize when at last sleep overtook me that night, how my wishes were to be satisfied on the morrow. 1 I had planned, as a short recreation from my school duties, a trip to the great International Air Races to be held at Chicago. I woke early that morning and soon was ready for the aeroplane which I had hired to call for me at six o’clock to transport me to Chicago. When my winged conveyance arrived, I scarcely noticed anything in my joyful anticipation of the trip but when the pilot stepped out, to my utter dismay it was none other than Melvin Huseman. Melvin told me that he had been in aviation for fifteen years and was one of the contestants in the great air races. 1 As the journey was progressing I happened to notice a huge barn with 1930 written on it in enormous purple ar.d gold figures. Curious to know who had our class colors and year painted on their barn, Melvin and I landed in a nearby field. When we approached the house a familiar looking woman surrounded by a great family of children stood in the yard washing. As we came nearer, we saw it was Imogene Ross, who had eloped with Gorden Norden right after graduation and had not been heard of since. Imogene informed us that Gorden and she had lived on this farm ever since the honeymoon and had a fine family of eight children. I would have liked to have stayed there all day, but as time was precious Melvin and I bade the Norden family farewell and took off once more. Later on, as we were flying over the suburbs of Chicago, Melvin pointed out an immense green house, which belonged to Grace Britt, who was a great horticulturist. She had specialized on “jonquils” and now had a type that bloomed the year around. The trip was not delayed then until Melvin left me safely in the great airport. W 7 7 —1 9 3 0 =r- = Page twenty-one

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RAYMOND ROSS “It’s the wise head that makes the still tongue.” Entered from Greeley High School of Greeley, Colorado, January 19, 1929; Track, 3, 4; Football, 4; Junior Class play, 3. EDITH FORDHAM “It’s nice to be natural when you’re naturally nice.” Girls’ Glee Club, 1, 2, 3, 4; Operetta, 4; Junior Entertainment, 3. DALE EXNER ‘‘Music is the medicine of the mind.” Orchestra, 1, 2, 3, 4; Boys’ Glee Club, 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Agriculture Club, 1, 2, 3, 4; Operetta, 2, 3, 4; Football, 4; National High School Orchestra. 4, ETHEL KRUSE ‘‘She is gentle, she is shy, There is mischief in her eye.” Girls’ Glee Club, 1, 2, 3, 4; Operetta, 2, 4; Home Economics Club, 1, 2; Junior Entertainment, 3. IVAN PEACH ‘‘Whose temper was generous, open, sincere, A stranger to flattery, a stranger to fear.” Football, 2, 3; Basketball, 3; Track, 2; Boys’ Glee Club, 1, 2, 3, 4; Operetta, 1, 2, 3, 4; Dramatic Club, 2, 3, 4; Literary Contest. 1. 2. 3, 4; Agricuture Club, 1, 2, 3, 4; Secretary-Treasurer of Agriculture Club, 2; President of Agriculture Club, 3, 4; F. F. A. Oratorical Contest, 4; Judging Contest, 1, 2, 3, 4; Class President, 3; Vice-President, 4; Junior Class Play. 3; Junior Entertainment, 3; High School Play, 3; Agriculture Play, 4; Senior Class Play, 4; Annual Staff, 4. GRACE BRITT ‘‘To know her is to like her.” Home Economics Club, 1, 2, 3, 4; Secretary-Treasurer of Home Economics Club, 2; Treasurer of Home Economics Club, 3; Vice President of Home Economics Club, 4; Class Secretary, 3; Junior Class Play, 3; Junior Entertainment, 3; Senior Class Plav, 4; Annual Staff, 4. ALICE KEITHAHN “Tired of life and it’s confusion, Waiting to be some man’s illusion.” Orchestra, 1, 2, 3, 4; Home Economics Club, 2; Vice-President of Home Economics Club. 2. Page twenty 1 9 3 0 W

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— Ml 'The Walnut Tree -J01 1 Wishing to look around in the city before going to the races, I looked for a means to get down town. I saw only a huge Rolls-Royce car, so I went to ask its occupant how to get a train down town. The owner, Clarence Tornow, was delighted to see me and offered to take me any place I wished to go. When we were speeding toward the heart of the city in Clarence’s luxurious car, I asked him what his occupation was. Clarence whispered to me that he was a prosperous “bootlegger;” when I asked him where he got his “stuff” he confided to me that it was made in a brewery in Kentucky run by the former Evadell Anderson and her husband, a romantic southerner. Poor Evadell had expected to run a sausage factory north of Walnut, but fate had cast her lot in a Kentucky brewery. This amazed me a great deal but I concealed my astonishment. JJ In a short time my ride was over and I found myself in the midst of busy Chicago. There, standing on the street corner was Mildred Parlier, running a huge newspaper stand. She had been very successful and now owned a half interest in the Chicago Tribune. This morning she was on an inspection trip and was waiting for her husband, Donald Langford, to come for her. Mildred had married him ten years ago and he was still recuperating from the effects of his bachelor life before that. Donald’s spending money was furnished by his dutiful wife. Mildred also told me that Inez Langford, her cousin by marriage, was on a honeymoon in Europe with her fourth husband, a strong man in Ringling Bros, circus. 1 Taking leave of the newspaper stand I wandered up the street into a tiny cafe. Here I met Edna Wallace, an old maid school teacher, who was taking her pupils on an observation tour. We agreed to have lunch together that we might talk over old times; how surprised we were to find the petite waitress to be Edith Fordham, who still was as pretty as in school days. 3 After Edna had gone I went into the street again. There on the corner stood a man whom I recognized to be Arthur Gallentine in his Salvation Army uniform. Arthur was vigorously beating his tambourine and begging people to help his cause. I started to walk toward Arthur but just then a threatening speaker in the street attracted my attention. It was Stanley Sorrenson, a domineering traffic cop, who was “bawling out” a timid little woman for having squeaky brakes; he sounded very fierce and would not listen to her arguments, which made me smile as I thought of his arguments back in school. I then started to do some window shopping and was not a little astounded when I noticed that all of the furs at Marshall Field’s store were guaranteed to be direct from Alice Keithahn’s Fur Farm in the Ozark Mountains. As I was making my way along, I heard some one tapping at me from a store window. Glancing up I per- Paqe twenty-two 9