West Orange High School - Ranger Yearbook (West Orange, NJ)

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Foreword As this year’s West-O-Rangcr goes to press, we arc well into our third year of war. Although gasoline, rubber, and food are less plentiful on the home front, victories are more plentiful cn the war fronts. It is natural that thoughts of war are uppermost in all our minds, and so we have made the theme of our book that most powerful part of our forces, the airplane. As we read the newspapers or listen to the radio, we hear of the attacks that our planes have made cn the Fortress Europe and on the Japanese Island bases; and we wish that we could actively join the fight. Though our spirit is behind the man behind the motor and the gun, we must first complete our present job, which is here at home. In the following pages we shall show the boys and girls of the graduating class of 1944 finishing their passive duties and preparing to step into the active life of a citizen of a nation at war. Many of our boys have left this class to join the armed forces; and many more of us, both boys and girls, will enter the services soon after being graduated. The rest of us must work to supply the fighters with equip- ment or study to be better able to do the job awaiting us. Our care-free high school days are over. Upon leafing through this book in future years, we may laugh at our young selves; but we shall be glad to have a souvenir of these happy times which soon are gone, but never leave our memories.

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IN MEMORIAM The class of 1944 dedicates this yearbook to the memory of Frederick Reimherr, who has served this community for twenty-six years as the prin- cipal of West Orange High School. A native of Waterford, N. Y., he was graduated from Water- ford High School in 1902, taught in a rural one- room schcolhousc for a year, and was graduated from Colgate University in 1907. He was princi- pal of Waterbury High School in Vermont from 1907 until he came to West Orange in 1918. From Columbia, Mr. Reimherr won his M.A. degree, and the Columbia Lion, a citation given an- nually to an outstanding citizen of New Jersey who has brought honor to the University. He was a member of the New Jersey School Masters Club and of the New Jersey Council of Education. Be- cause of his interest in collecting histories and biographies, he became an authority on American Colonial History. A member of the Congregational Church, Mr. Rcimherr's favorite passages of Scrip- ture were Paul’s Ode to Charity (I Cor. 13), and the Nineteenth Psalm: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be ac- ceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Mr. Reimherr’s first six years as principal of West Orange High School were spent in the Gas- ton Street Building with only two hundred stu- dents in grades eight to twelve inclusive. Then the eighth graders had the advantage of becoming accustomed to the tempo and environment of senior high school life before taking on its scholas- tic responsibilities. The period of growth and in- dustrial expansion in West Orange after World War I was accompanied by a rise in population which necessitated the building of the present high school in 1924. This year, in the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Classes, there arc nearly a thou- sand students. During his entire educational ca- reer, Mr. Reimherr has had to contend with crowded building accommodations and war-time conditions. Although some new subjects have been added and athletics have increased in importance, the curriculum of West Orange High School has changed only slightly since 1918. For twenty-six years Mr. Reimherr has empha- sized these fundamental precepts in regard to the school: that school is a job to be taken seriously; that a school should be conservative and sound both in subjects offered and methods adopted; and that the student is of prime importance. He has striven tirelessly to keep this high school an educa- tional institution—a policy which has borne fruit in the fact that more and more West Orange stu- dents have continued their education. Because of the number of college questionnaires in 1922, it be- came necessary to rate the succeeding senior classes. Under Mr. Reimherr’s restraining influence, West Orange High School has not rushed into untried educaticnal experiments. Each student has been given a well-coordinated schedule according to his ability, promise, and need, as well as the best pos- sible guidance in courses and aptitudes. Mr. Reim- herr was so highly respected 'by college officials throughout the country that his recommendation was regarded as final for any prospective student. Never wanting to be what he termed an of- fice principal, Mr. Reimherr kept in close con- tact with the student body. He did not believe in being aloof, and was always easily accessible to any student who wanted to come to him for advice or guidance. He was a stern disciplinarian—always friendly, but never familiar. Every high school boy or girl in the graduating class of 1944 bows his head in reverence before the memory of Fred- erick Reimherr—a great, altruistic educator. Page 7