Westerly High School - Westlyan Yearbook (Westerly, RI)

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The Senior Year Book — 1947 Class Will We, the executors of this last will and testament, do, after twelve Ion years of careful planning and deliberation, take it upon ourselves with heavy heart and solemn burden of duty to bequeath the following: 1. I, Trudy Stevens, leave my headaches and fun as Editor of the Barker to Joan Meyer, my worthy successor. 2. I, Ernie Crowther, do will my big blue-green eyes and dark wavy hair to any boy who can cause all the girls’ hearts to flutter as I do. 3. We, the cheerleaders, bequeath our lung power to any of the girls who can stand the strain. 4. I. Hiram Kendall, confer my precision timing on arriving at 8:20 sharp to anyone who has a watch as accurate as mine is. 5. We, Marion Burdick and Marjorie Wetzel, leave our mental capacities and abilities to the sophs who belong to the “Flunk Club. 6. I, Roger Panciera, do will my beautiful Model A to my cousin, Floyd. 7. 1, Cynthia Bennett, leave my towering stature to Isabelle Anderson, who could use a few extra inches. 8. We. Pris Holliday, Mary Cawley, and Barbara Clarke, leave the “honor” of being called Red to Loretta Weston and Robert Leeds. 9. I, Ira Murphy, bestow my position “Mayor of Ashaway” on Roland Austin. 10. We, Helen DePerry and Laura Finizio, leave our daily letter writing to no one, as we are quite capable of doing the job. 11. I, Nat Brown, confer my muscles from beating the bass drum to anyone who would like to take a Charles Atlas Course for nothing. 12. I, A1 Siciliano, do leave my faculty to irritate Coach Federico to Walt Nigrelli, who seems to be doing a competent job of it already. 13. We, Andy DeRocco and Russell Holland, leave our dirty equipment from our experiments in the lab to Bernard Mathews, who, we hope, is good at washing dishes and cleaning up. 14. We, Esther Ricci and Jane Ashworth, bestow our efficiency in athletics on Elly Heyder and Doris Simpson. 15. I, Carl Greene, leave my reckless driv- ing habits to Charlie Cunliffe, who, incidentally, has a few of his own. 16. I, Tom Fanning, leave my ability to put over a point very dramatically (and humorously) to Eugene Wright, whose noisy chatter is com monly heard along the corridors. (Are we kidding?) 17. I, Eddie Crandall, leave my idiomatic speech (“that there!”) to anyone not minding the scoldings from the English teachers. 18. I, Joe Bookataub, bestow my athletic ability in all sports on any boy who doesn’t mind Charley horses and broken bones. 19. We, Phyllis Scott and Jean Breen, leave our hangout,” the art room, to Owen Scott and Ted Tamer. 20. I. John Biswurm, leave my curly locks to Jimmy Lamb, who could use a little more hair. 21. I, Ray Bressette, leave my loquacity (ahem!) with Miss Kingsley in English class to anyone who can talk with her as long as I can. 22. We, Mary Pellegrino, Barbara Slattery, and Claire Quinlan, leave our giggling and foolish behavior to three chums who have had as much fun in school as we have had. 23. I, Erastus Benn, leave my bashfulness amongst girls to that coy junior, Eddie Murphy. 24. We, Walter Barrus, John Crandall, and Dick Palmer, bequeath our racket with Mr. Sherman to John Fraser, Mike Gardella, and Gordon Burrell, those up and coming farm-hands. 25. I, A1 Comolli, do hereby bequeath my bulging biceps to Jackie Harrison, the aspiring junior. 26. We, the Salesmanship Class, confer our frequent “business” trips down street to future commercial girls, hoping they rush right back to school as we always did! 27. We, Ted Cercena and David Greene, leave our hard (?) jobs in the auditorium to Russell Avery, who seems to have caught on already. 28. I, Les Grinnell, do will my talents with a pen to Richard Heinhold, who is taking after his brother in the mechanical drawing room. 29. I, Bill Mearns, leave my wise answers in English Class to Ian St. Clair, that wise young fellow of ’48.

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The Senior Year Book — 1947 the sophs were represented by outstanding players like Bressette, Siciliano, Bookataub, Panciera, ami DeRocco. Now it came time for basketball. The sophs couldn’t be kept in the dark. We showed up with Al Siciliano and Ray Bressette doing extra fine jobs on the court. Evidently Mr. Valentine had heard of our many talents, including music. For the operetta Waltz Dream’ he chose Jayne Bradshaw, Tom Abraham, Carl Greene, Andy DeRocco, Margaret Lamb, and Barbara Slattery to play among the leads. Again as sophs we came through on top as our great orators, Thomas Abraham and Clifford Duhamel, won first and second prizes in the annual prize speaking contest. It was quite obvious that we were to become a very sporty class. The baseball team used such sophs as Bookataub, DeRocco, Dave Greene, Murphy, Panciera, and Siciliano for subs. Not only did we have many soph players, but the manager was a sophomore—no other than Frank Petrone. At length, June rolled around, bringing to a close our dearly cherished “green year.” The following September found most of us returning as juniors. At this time we welcomed in many students from Ashaway and Hope Valley. Again, for officers we chose a decidedly capable staff. Al Comolli was President; Peck Panciera, Vice President; Marjory Hill, Secretary; Eddie Crandall, Treasurer. That year we had a champion football team with such outstanding players as Panciera. Bookataub, Bressette, Murphy, Siciliano, and Smith. They were well supported by our peppy cheerleaders, among whom were Elly Tougas, Peggy Baker, Trudy Stevens, Laura Finizio, Irene Spo-sato. Esther Ricci, Dot Pignataro, and Helen DePerry. Before we knew it, the basketball season was here again. Bressette, Siciliano, Bookataub, and Murphy turned in stellar performances. No sooner had we put away our basketballs than baseballs began to fly over the wires. Beau-dreau, Panciera, Russo, Murphy, and Bookataub became pretty good “sluggers” under the management of Petrone.. Marion Burdick, our studious classmate, won third prize in the Martha C. Babcock Essay Contest. The outstanding social event of the year was our Junior Prom. A fine committee decorated the gym in the traditional spring theme and put forth their best efforts to make it a great success. As Caesar warned, “Tempus fugit,” and June was upon us before we realized it. We had struggled through the hardest year and were now prepared to “rule. September ’46 was the time that we as sophs had hoped for. Now w'e were the high and mighty seniors who could march into the auditorium (jaws working vigorously) and not be carried in by the throngs of “inferior beings.” During this year the Westerly High School Band was inaugurated under the direction of Mr. Silverman. Also, a tw’irling corps was established with Florence Priore as instructor and head majorette. Officers to guide us through our most dutiful year ware Ira Murphy, President; Gloria Ca-palbo, Vice President; Stella Trombino, Secretary; Barbara Bailey, Treasurer; and they all did a beautiful job. Of this class, the “Barker” was born. Trudy Stevens was the clever editor, competently assisted by Carol Coduri. In the fall we held our Senior Prom. A very profitable event, it was planned and supported by a truly cooperative committee. The football season again got well under way in a short time. Westerly gained Class B Championship and beat Stonington twice. Our cheering section was kept alive by the untiring efforts of Peggy Baker, Trudy Stevens, Linda Wilson, Laura Finizio, Helen DePerry, Marie Misisco, Irene Sposato, Helen Hannu, Cynthia Bennett, Barbara Gilbert, and Mary Dipollina under the excellent leadership of Elbe Tougas. The basketball team played a very successful year. Class B and State Champs, victorious over Stonington twice, were a few of our many boasts. Honors go to our ever dependable Ray Bressette, Al Siciliano, and Ira Murphy, who were expertly captained by Joe Bookataub (sh-sh . . . we’ll have to admit credit will have to be shared with the juniors . . . for what w’ould we have done without Goose, Walt, Tom, Jimmy, and the others?) . Glancing back over our three memorable years spent in Westerly High and the great traditions wrhich our class has upheld and glorified, wfe, the class of ’47, sadly leave our Alma Mater, with confidence in the underclassmen to carry on and uphold the great traditions of Governor Samuel E. Ward High School. - «e{ 7 )►- ALFRED COMOLLI CLAIRE QUINLAN MARY DIPOLLINA

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The Senior Year Book — 1947 30. I, Florence Terranova, leave my desire for the wild and wooly West to anyone who appreciates cowboy music as I do. 31. I, John Risico, do will my fiendish laboratory ideas and actions to Ken Prosser, who is running a close second to me already. 32. We, Kathie Hall and Linda Wilson, leave our portrayal of “refined” characters to future actresses who desire to play such difficult roles. 33. I, Jean Moller, leave my helpfulness around the office to anyone who can do the job as well as I did. 34. We, Joycelyn Steadman, Gloria Capalbo, and Barbara Bailey, leave our secretarial positions in the band room to that junior trio of Uzzi, LaMarche, and Brucker—goodbye, free periods! 35. I, Tom Abraham, do confer my Sinatra- Swoon singing upon that able boy, Francis Gen-carelli. 36. I, Frank Petrone, leave my efficiency in history to anyone who likes a Southern atmosphere. 37. We, Irene Sposato, Marie Misisco, and Virginia Pendola, leave our knack for “days out” to any junior who can find out our combination. 38. We, Joan Zanella and Jackie LaMarche, leave our abilities and zeal in locating missing names to Coach Mudge, our honorary club member. We, the Class of ’47, terminate this legal document by bidding adieu to our understanding teachers, to our underclassmen, and to good old “W. H. S.” and it is with heavy heart we betake ourselves and start out on our own way into the strange, new, fascinating world awaiting us. ANDREW DeROCCO MARIE FEDERICO RUSSELL HOLLAND Class Prophecy New York City, June. 1967—The Nobel Prize was awarded last night to Professors Russell Holland, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., and Andrew DeRocco, B.S., M.S.. Ph.D., two of America’s most prominent scientists. Working in collaboration for the past twenty years, these men received the award for their brilliant research work in harnessing the atom. Reading this article in the New York Times brings back to us fond memories of W. H. S. '1 herefore we have decided to hop into a Rocket ship and tour the universe in search of our long-lost classmates of ’47. As we take off from Van Duyne Air Field, named after Richard Van Duyne, the mayor of the city, our stewardess, Jane Ashworth, inform- us that our pilot is none other than “Walla” Smith. After settling down, we turn our attention to our traveling companions and recognize only one, Erastus Benn, who is on his way to Mars to establish a uranium ore transportation unit. Our first stop is Saxet, Mars. Donning our space suits, we make ready to leave the ship. As we alight, we engage as a guide. Bill Church, who directs us to the Cosmic Hotel, owned and managed by Ira Murphy, former mayor of Saxet. Helen DePerry, the head waitress, directs us to a table, and after enjoying a delicious dinner, we settle back to watch the floor show. The first performer, the star of the show, is Jayne Bradshaw, singing “You’ll Always Be the Atom I’ll Split,” accompanied by Art Guarin.i and his allgirl orchestra. Playing in the orchestra are Mary Ellen Tyler, Gladys Roode, Marion Burdick, Katherine Sacco, and Marjory Hill. Next on the program is “Mex” Abraham singing “Give Me Five Atom.-- More,” and as an encore, “My Uranium Is So Refined.” Feeling rather tired from our long trip from the earth, we decide to retire to our rooms. As we leave the dining room, the hotel clerk, George Hill, informs us that our rocket ship must leave for Mercury twelve hours earlier than scheduled - •$( 9 ► -