Westerly High School - Westlyan Yearbook (Westerly, RI)

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The Senior Year Book — 1940 tions of cornstalks and pumpkins could not have been better arranged if they had been designed by Hollywood experts. Carolyn Browning and her committee composed of Richard Brindle, Larry Panciera, William Clarke, Henry Nar-done, Grace Harwick, Phyllis Langworthy, Ada Tourtellotte, Adelaide Sanders, Ann Pengelley, Ernest Nardone, Vernon Bell, and Miriam Anderson deserve much commendation for their efforts. Early in 1940, Mrs. Van Horn began to search for talent for the 1940 Senior play, “The Late Christopher Bean.” She chose a brilliant cast, including Philip Greene as the undistinguished rural doctor; Phyllis Langworthy as the nineteen-year-old daughter; Everett Willis as the village painter and paperhanger; William Clarke as the elderly and distinguished gentleman from New York; Emilia Lera as the wife of the country doctor; Eiammetta Donati as the famous “Abby;” Russell Brown as the smooth, youngish New Yorker; Roland Berardo as the oily, affable, middle aged man from the city, and Delphine Arnone as the daughter with the babylike manner. The comedy proved to be a true dramatic triumph. The business section of the play was extremely well handled by Rita Servideo, Eleanor Urso, William Kaskewsky, Angeline Gencarella, and their many assistants. Class night, the reception, the banquet, and graduation followed one another rapidly. Sometimes when we look back at those many hours we have spent in school, we see things that we regret, but, oh, so many more for which we are deeply thankful. THE HISTORIANS, Sheila Breckenridge, Virginia Kenney, Arthur Nelson. (Ulaas Jjnrnt THE CLASS OF 1940 “Wisdom is like a dawn that rises slowly Out of an unknown ocean,” so we say. Classmates of nineteen-forty may its beauty Brighten the dawn of this, our glorious day. Our day of graduation which is ending Three years of fine companionship with you, And gracious Westerly, to you we promise That we will make our prophecy come true. We hope that all the pathways that divide us May come together every little while. And when we meet and pass along the highway Friend will greet friend with a familiar smile. Daylight is here, and life begins with sowing; We’ll tend the seeds of knowledge here begun That they may grow to splendid heights and show us A perfect flowering with the setting sun. —Fiammetta Donati —•§{ 20 J -

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The Senior Year Book — 1940 (ClaaH ffitBtnrij Three years ago, we were just beginning our Sophomore year. Thus there were many hours of study and hard work before we would be leaving Westerly High School. Yet how rapidly those hours have passed. Presently, many of us will be looking for positions, while others will be thinking of further advancement in their education. Now the day has arrived when we must depart from our classmates and seek for ourselves a place in the world. Before we take leave of all of these cherished days, let us, in retrospect, review' the events which have occurred during our high school career; we find many humorous and many serious incidents. Early in the fall of ’37, the class chose Philip Greene to wield the gavel. Supporting him w'ere Miriam Anderson, vice president; Joseph Mahfood, secretary; and Gloria Ruisi, treasurer. As we were quite susceptible to the pranks of the seniors, w'e had to rely upon our class officers to protect us. Now, we are wondering if they did. From our sophomore class, came many of Westerly’s outstanding athletes; among these are George Mearns, Joseph Mahfood, Clarence DiPaola, Larry Panciera, and Nat Federico. Upon our return to study after the summer vacation, classes w'ere upset by the unforgettable Hurricane of September 21, 1938. After a short unscheduled acation, we eagerly returned to school and elected our junior class officers who were Philip Greene, president; Gerard Nardone, vice president; Mary Morrone, secretary, and John Matarese, treasurer. The Pirates of Penzance,” directed by Mr. Robert Valentine, was presented to the public on February 9th and 10th. and received due recognition from Westerly music lovers. The cast included two soloists from the Class of ’40, Russell Brow'n and Fiammetta Donati, supported by Clarence DiPaola, Joseph Mah- food, Ernest Nardone, and Gerard Nardone, as Pirates. Among the members of the girls’ chorus were the following from the Class of 1940: Madeline Ca-palbo, Ida Cataldo, Elizabeth Langworthy, Cecelia Mathieu, Mary Cozzolino, Marjory Kenyon, Dorothy Nichols, and Mary Ferendo. Through the untiring efforts of John Matarese, we finally obtained enough money to stage a Junior Prom (even though the seniors were doubtful that we could). Much of the success of the prom w'as due to Carolyn Browning and her decorating committee. The appearance of our make-believe ball room was that of an orchard in spring and certainly gave many spring-fever,” as was evident the following Monday. Other steps in making this an eventful year were the winning of the prize speaking contest and the Hi-Y cup by Philip Greene; and of the Martha C. Babcock essay contest by William Clarke. When we returned in the fall of ’39, we were entering upon that highest golden flight of stairs—that flight which meant that we, the Class of 1940, had but one more year of labor in which to complete our high school education. This being our last year, we were prompted to make it unforgettable and to cause it to go down in the records as the greatest year in the history of the Westerly Senior High School. (We hope.) Our first step toward making these few months most outstanding was the election of our class officers. Without any fuss we gave Philip Greene the third term; Gerard Nardone, vice president; Mary Morrone, secretary, and Edgar Freeman, treasurer. The next noteworthy accomplishment was the publication, under Ann Pengelley’s editorship, of the “Senior,” w'hich proved to be both a literary and financial success. The Senior Prom was the third great feather in our cap. The harvest decora- -“•${ ‘9

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The Senior Year Book — 1940 ®hr Junior (Hlaas CLASS OFFICERS Normand Andrews . . President Joseph Capalbo . . Vice President Kenneth Astill was burning. The strange part of it was that he made no attempt to extinguish the flames which swept over his body, but instead proceeded to give his startled audience a demonstration of his uncanny ability to emit very funny remarks absolutely ad libitum (which is Latin for extemporaneously). He was bringing to an end the program which had been so successfully begun by the tap-dancing of Stanley Gould, whose clever and precise imitation of Fred Astaire brought down the house. In going back to Kenneth, we find that he does not confine his wit and imagination to the legitimate (?) stage, but is a writer of no mean ability, and his contributions to that widely read magazine, THE SENIOR, are frequent and well received. Eleanor Neville and Phyllis Brown are other juniors who have had many of their stories printed in the Senior. In addition to this, Eleanor has written a play which may be produced in the auditorium before the end of the year. Speaking of sports (pray, tell us who was?), it is interesting to note that the juniors dominated. Johnny Stellitano, Benny Servideo, Ike Smith, Tom and Joe Capalbo, Stan Russell, Frank Gen-carelli, and more were all members of the squad which is determined to rout Stonington next year, to avenge the two football defeats suffered last fall. Those defeats have already been partly avenged by our basketball team, which went over to Stonington one night and won by a margin which we cannot print because of lack of space. The juniors on our Richard Donati .... Treasurer Hannah Clapham . . . Secretary team were Walt Bressette, Hal Miner, and again, John Stellitano. All of which shows that we are not lacking in enthusiasm for sports. But don’t think we are lacking in school spirit, either. For there was a time, early in the year, when the treasury contained the staggering sum of one dollar. As you may know, with one dollar, a class can’t give a prom, not a very good one, anyway. About all we could do was hire a piano player and hope for the best. As it was, the junior class, realizing that not having a prom would break the hearts of those sturdy alumni who think it a sin to break a tradition, decided to do something about it. So within two days after their minds were made up, the treasury was overflowing with funds, enough to give a promenade so gorgeous as to bring tears to the eyes of the most conservative alumnus. Of course, all this required a little campaigning and persuading on the part of the treasurer, Dick Donati, but it proved that the Class of ’41 has the spirit which is needed to make a class successful. We have attempted to give you a summary of the activities of the junior class of 1941. In doing so, we realize that many well deserving juniors received no mention. To those juniors we extend our humblest apologies. Though some of us succeeded in sports, others in music, literature, dancing, scholarship, dramatics, and art, we all have one thing in common and of that we are proud. We are all members of one of the finest jun-:or classes ever to decorate Westerly High. -•• !( 21