Wapakoneta High School - Retrospect Yearbook (Wapakoneta, OH)

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OUT OF THIS WORLD Let us climb into our supersonic rocket ship in this year, 1973, and make a visit to some of the graduates of the class of 1953. Progress has been rapid in the past twenty years, and most of the class now live on the nearby planets. First we will visit Venus which is nearest the earth, and continue on our way to Mercury. As you would expect, Venus is known for her pretty girls and most of these are secretaries. As we descend our rocket ship which is piloted by Warren Musser, Anna Schroer and Ruth Roediger assist us. They are what is known as spaceship stewardesses. At the hotel we check our bags and chat with Shirley Kuck who is a secretary here. Our first trip of course will be to the F.arth Consulate, where we find Dick Veit, Ambassador to Venus. His private secretary is Sharon Hoegner. Dick offers to take us on a tour of the capital city, Venisia. At the high school we are surprised to find Mert Copeland is principal and Bob Schilling is superintendent. While we are chatting over old times with Bob and Mert, Nancy Headapohl and Emma Jane Abe appear and inform us that they are secretaries here. As we are leaving we meet Roberta Brackney and Marilyn Elsass on their way to work. They also play in the Venus all-girl orchestra. Dick says this is his favorite. It is getting late now and we must leave Venus. Ruth and Anna strap our safety belts, and we are off for Mercury. Mercury is a very hot planet, being only 36,000,000 miles from the sun. Because of this, she has seasons which last only three weeks. It happens that we arrive in winter. Winter here is much like that in Florida, and we find quite a few businessmen vacationing. Earth Consul on Mercury is Dan Brown, who used to be class president. His secretary is Nancy Metzger. Nancy advises us to go to the beach where we find Jon Anspaugh, a big business executive, sunning on the sand. With him are Tom Schnell and Carl Schumann who are partners in a mechanical engineering project. Bill Benz-ing and Earl Bowersock come out of the water to greet us. They are both successful chemical engineers. Mercury Beach is a lovely resort, but we must leave now as we promised to stop and visit with Gene Tippie, another mechanical engineer, at the Hotel Solar. Then Ruth informs us that we must get back to our space ship if we want to make Mars by spring on that planet. Mars w’as the first planet to be settled by earthlings, and so many of our classmates have been here quite awhile. Since Mars is very light, and an athlete here can easily leap a twelve foot wall, it is not surprising that this planet serves as sort of a training camp for sportsmen. Of coure the Earth Consul is Charles Brading and he tells us all about his favorite baseball team, the Marsian Reds. In Marshville, as the capital city is named, it seems there are two rival football teams playing this day. One, the Comets, is coached by Deane Agner. The other, the Meteors, has Vernon Brentlinger as its coach. Head cheerleader for the Comets is Miriam Prieser, and since Mim is an old classmate, too, we decide to root for that team. The game ends in a tie, however. Marshville has a new roller rink which is owned and operated by Mary Jane Behm. Across the street is Bob Wallace’s “School of Football Techniques.” We have to stop and chat with Bob and we find that his secretary is another classmate, Dorothy Barth. We’d certainly like to stay longer on this Sportsman’s Paradise, but Anna tells us that we must be leaving for Jupiter. Jupiter is 1200 timec as large as our home planet, Earth, and therefore has a lot of surface. Jupiter’s seasons are three years long and so for a span of about seven years her climate is ideal for farming. When we arrive, she has just finished three years of summer and her farmers are very prosperous. Earth Consul here is Jack Selover, whose secretary is Dolores Fisher. Because of the vastness of the planet, in order to visit our classmates, we must charter a private air rocket. The first plantation at which we stop is Melvin Werling’s. He calls his place MELabar Farm. As we make our tour of the beautiful countryside, we come upon an estate which is partially farmed and partially covered with basketball courts. Jack explains that this is the home of Leroy McFarland, retired professional basketball star. He used to live on Mars, where he now spends his winters. The next farm at which we stop is Ken Orchard's. Ken specializes in growing straw for hay rides. On our way back, we stop and chat with F rank Rostorfer. He is head of FFA on Jupiter. We thank Jack for the nice trip and again ascend our rocket ship. As we near the next planet which we are to visit in our travels, we find ourselves in a deep and mysterious fog. Of course we are nearing Saturn, which is noted for its ‘halo’. On Saturn there is a new solar clinic and medical practicioners come here from all parts of the universe. Earth Con- 33

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3. The Queen Speaks 5. The Queen’s Court HOMECOMING 1 2 Sitting on “Top of the World” 4. Approaching the Throne 6. The Grand Entrance 22

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sul here is Jim Schumann. Jim is president of the Pharmacists’ Association, and a successful druggist besides. Jim’s secretary is Carol Rurgoon, who directs us to the Stellar Clinic. This is a beautiful modern building built entirely of unbreakable glass and plastic. On the first floor we meet Head Nurse Mary Ann Fledderjohann who offers to show us around the hospital. The first door to the right opens into Doctor Margaret Frame's office where Peggy is looking over an X-ray of a patient. Her nurse is Kay Myers. We chat for a while with Kay and Peg and then Mary Ann shows us down the corridor to Doctor Roger Haman’s office. Roger is a specialist in pediatrics. His nurse is Marlene Shaw. In the hall we meet Idalou Earl who is floor nurse here. Now Mary Ann conducts us up the elevator to the twelfth floor psycho ward. Here we enter the office of Doctor Roberta Berry, who is a psychiatrist. From her office we can see a great distance over Saturn’s lovely countryside. We also see our stewardesses waving for us to return to our ship and so we reluctantly leave this beautiful hospital. We are excited to learn that the next planet we will visit is the entertainment center of the solar world. It is the planet Uranus, whose capital city is Ureno. At the space port we are met by Byron Schumaker who snaps our picture and offers to conduct us on a tour of ‘Reno’. Byron is Earth Consul here and his secretary is Electa Botkin. It is late afternoon and the nightclubs are just opening. We meet Wanda Bice who invites us to dine and dance at the Eagles Club, which she owns. We accept the invitation and are surprised to find Valery Glaser is top vocalist here. Across the street in neon lights we see the name of another classmate, Jean McDonald. Jean is the star of a musical comedy called “Skys and Dolls”. Leaving Jean’s dressing room, we hear two familiar voices sounding forth in a beautiful duet. Turning the corner, we find that the music is coming from the opera house where Dean Armstrong and Jeannine Naus are singing their tenth encore. Dean also owns a dancing studio where he gives private professional lessons. In the opera house we encounter Phyllis Schaub who is an accountant, and helps keep Ureno’s accounts in order. We couldn’t leave Uranus without stopping at Norma Zwiebel’s Bingo Club for a game or two. Then, post haste, we board our rocket ship once more, and are off to Neptune. Neptune was named for the Roman god of the sea, and so naturally we would expect to find the Navy on this planet. Bruce Neidemire is the Earth Consul here and a great naval commander besides. His secretary is Barbara Knoch, a lieutenant in the WAVES. Bruce shows us around the docks where we meet mechanics, John Marker, Jim DcLong and John Lunz. They inform us that they get their tools from the McCormick Tool and Dye Co., which is owned by another classmate, Dick McCormick. Of course, we must take a tour of one of the ships and so we pick the U. S. Luna, which has made fifteen trips to different moons. The admiral on this ship is Bert Webb. His chief gunner’s mate is Bud Webb. After stopping in to see Dick McCormick, we again return to our space ship and put flight for Pluto. Pluto is the farthest planet from the sun and has only recently been inhabited by earthlings. The pacemakers to the planet have been missionaries, as in most new and foreign lands. We arrive in the early morning on a stretch of lantl which has been cleared into a forest. We are cordially met by Shirley Shelmadine and several of her Plutan friends. As yet there is no Earth Consulate on Pluto, so Shirley shows us around the exotic village where she lives. They are about to begin their church service and we are invited. Phyllis Luther is chaplain and Elnora Brenneman is the evangelist who leads the singing. Deaconess for the parish is another old friend, Mary Wrigley. After church, we chat with these classmates awhile and then leave for home. Sailing back through space, we feel we have had a pretty enjoyable vacation reviewing old friendships from the class of 1953. But something seems to be lacking. In our travels we have overlooked a very important planet, Earth! Since Earth is frequently referred to as the “Mother Planet”, it is there that children and students are educated for their work in the universe. Naturally, then, we find here most of the schools of the solar system, The children of classmates, Joan Stahler and Jeanne Webb, who were first to marry, and Sue Koch, who has musical ideas for her offspring, are privileged to have a number of excellent schools and teachers. Two of the best elementary teachers which these children might have are Miss Sandra Freeman and Miss Martha Ruck. In high school, Miss Nancy Stroh is a capable music teacher, and home economics are taught to future homemakers by Misses Barbara Wolfe and Barbara Ott. Joanne and Evelyn now operate the Lunz Business College. Car- 24 Continued On Page 80