Westerly High School - Westlyan Yearbook (Westerly, RI)

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The Senior Year Book — 1950 It’s June 13th, 1963, and Tish Woodworth and Angela Cozzolino, loyal members of Westerly High’s Class of ’50, are attending an open-air vaudeville show and sitting in our atom-mobile. It is our pleasure to find many of our old classmates taking part in the review. Even the ticket sellers are old pals . . . Angie Ventry and Helen Edwards. The ticket collectors are Evelyn Tar-box and Shirley Dionne. We notice Priscilla Sampson, the tax collector for South County, keeping tabs on the sales. Mark Sullivan has finally found himself a job as master of ceremonies. It looks as if he is having trouble with his stage managers, Tony Giordano and Dick Hilton. They don’t agree on the appropriateness of the scenery designed very ably by Butch Geyer and Betty Priore. They favor the set prepared by Cecile Nardone and Bill Reynolds. We notice a slight delay in the curtain call. Bill Urso seems to be tangled up in the ropes. This makes little difference to Ronnie Gardiner and his Jumpin’ Jivers who begin the evening with a Prelude written by the famed maestro, Richard Bryant. Upon hearing a strange noise, we turn to find Lou Gaccione pulling up in his jet-propelled motorbike and if it isn’t Eileen Spino sitting placidly in the side car! Here comes our M. C. announcing the arrival of the prominent Lawrence Bailey, president of International Uranium Co., then he announces the first group of performers. Looking at the program put out by the renowned Jursa Publishing Company (successors to The Utter Co.) we find that Bob Toscano, Eddie Liguori, and John Fusaro will harmonize in “We’re Marching Down the Field.” During the hearty applause we see Norma Woodward arriving on her musical horse, and upon hearing a muffled argument we turn to notice Carolyn Ca-palbo and Renata Ruisi debating on Bop vs. Beethoven. And look, there’s our old head cheerleader, Nancy Capalbo, with Ellen Lamb and Eleanor Pucci, jumping up and down and applauding the arrival of members of the All-American football team ... Pat Cimalore, Billy Gingerella, Ernie Sposato, Frank Urso, and Joe Morrone. Mark calms the girls and announces the next performance to be a number by the famed quartet with Gillette Kenyon, Lowell Hawkins, Steve Cheilis, and Mickey Lynch, accompanying John Kenyon who will sing “Blues of the Bulldogs.” After John’s solo we see Margie James, Adelaide Crandall, Dot Brown, and Glenna Dixon, nurses from the Kenneth Strong Central Hospital, rushing around trying to revive the swooning girls in the audience. From our seats we see Ann Marie Brucker, Barbara Ann Lallo, Claire Carey, and Barbara DeSimone receiving first aid treatment. Next on the agenda is to be the “One and Only Bill Ironside” and his sax playing “Sneezing My Way Back Home.” During the intermission we notice the ushers - 1

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Tin-: Senior Year Book — 1950 Four junior girls stepped into cheerleading roles and did a fine job in their new posts. A good length of film is devoted to the junior prom, depicting the committee meetings, the decorating, and finally the big night. It certainly is one of the highlights of the entire production, and a tribute to the people who were responsible for the prom’s success. The action continues fast and furious, and among other scenes there can be seen Rosalind Murray being awarded third prize in the Martha C. Babcock Essay Contest; Kenyon, Strong, and Jursa trying to annoy the school by emitting strange noises and odors from the chemistry laboratory; Joe Silvestri being critically injured in an automobile crash; and the juniors reviving the “Barker” by publishing a June issue. Such was the junior year with all its joys and thrills, and thus ends the second portion of “The Fleeting Years.” It’s the homestretch, as some people would say, and our film turns to the final year in Ward High for the Class of '50. Larry Bailey plays a leading role in this section of the film as he is elected class president after two years of service as class treasurer. Captain Pat Cimalore, Joe Morrone, Butch” Geyer, Ernie Sposato, and Frank Urso appear as the core of the football team which conquers Stonington twice for the first time in many years. Crowding (that’s putting it mildly) the boys for honors is the new coach, John DiGangi, whom the class can never forget. Still in the midst of the football season, the senior prom takes the screen. What a spectacular scene with the largest crowd ever to attend a school prom in attendance! The camera then shifts to basketball and we see Captain Sal Reale, Ed Morenzoni, and Lev Andrews doing their part in bringing about another class B championship to Westerly. As the second semester rolls around, we near the climax of the film which now presents the yearbook staff engrossed in their publication, the baseball, track, and golf teams in action, the announcement of awards and prizes, and the final hectic week before graduation. In baseball. Captain Bill Gingerella, “Butch” Geyer, and Ronnie Gardiner are the standouts, while in golf Vic Grasso and Ed Morenzoni were the senior participants. The D. A. R. good citizenship award was won by Nancy Capalbo. The highly successful senior play, “Dear Ruth,” is featured at this time also. Following this we see those wonderful times at the class picnic, the banquet, and the senior reception. And then the grand finale, the night of graduation. Thus ends “The Fleeting Years,” the story of the Class of 1950. It is not an exceptional film, it will not win any outstanding awards, but it is an interesting, entertaining production, and there is an undercurrent of class spirit and pride which the viewer cannot fail to discover. While only the highlights of the class history are shown, it is not difficult to imagine the joys, experiences, and memories which the class will never forget. Whether any of the cast go on to fame and great success only time can tell. The true worth of the actors as a group is hidden in the future. The minor, unnoticed acts which they shall perform in the hazy future will be the result of the experience they gained in “The Fleeting Years.” In closing, may I suggest that the undergraduates of Ward High take time to study “The Fleeting Years.” Where the Class of '50 has succeeded, may you follow in its footsteps; where it has failed, may you profit from its mistakes, and from the Class of 1950, “Ave atque Vale!” RONALD JURSA RONALD JURSA Valedictorian — 1— ROBERTA WILCOX Salutatorian

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The Senior Year Book — 1950 to be Dorrance Hazard, Ronnie Jacobson, Norman Caulfield, and Robert Ralls who give us directions to the food concession owned by Matt Serra and Dick Grills and run by Mary Autry. Seeking our destination, we duck as Eddie Burdick and Don Dion race by in their latest jet jobs. While eating we enjoy the Farm and Home Hour sponsored by Sminkey Haberdashery, on the latest model in T-V styled by Sonny Knowles, Bob Tougas, and Nick Ferrigno. Starring in the Carol Pearson production are Jimmy Fiore, Jean Clarke, Jim Denham, Mary Strawdermann, Ray Bliven, and Lou Luzzi. Suddenly we hear an agonized shriek. June Jackson, the head waitress, has just spilled a pot of Charlie Nardone Super-sip coffee all over Punk Morlen. Nat Vuono and Leo Antonino, who were innocently passing by, are now busy sopping up coffee from their cream-colored pants. Other waitresses rush to their rescue, and we see Eva Clark, Louise Philp, Lillian Bianco, and Pauline Daland trying to work a new device called “Rag Mop” for removing the stains. A, neon sign reading “Ward Bosworth, Proprietors” attracts our eye to a trailer camp in the next lot. We venture over and find a few of our old classmates, Elsie Gordon, Carolyn Krus, Marion Salisbury, and Peggy Bandy, trying to put their home economics course to use. Before returning to our atom-mobile, we are temporarily lost in a cloud of dust—Vic Grasso, the World’s Biggest Little Guy—is racing by to get to Roz Murray’s apple stand, where he is chief polisher, in time to punch the time clock. We are reminded by the M. C. that the second act is about to get underway, of which the first performers are to be “Edith Lloyd and her Magic Violin, Caroline Palmer and her Classy Trumpet, Agnes Patnoad and her Sophisticated Sax, accompanying Virginia Cimalore singing the “Ballad of the Bandits.” We notice a very hearty applause from Marie Castagna, Marie Nardone, Mary Chi-coria, and Annabelle Niles. Following this bit of showmanship. Dot Duprey, Joan Quaratella, Ida Roberts, Lois Wheeler, Ruth Saretzki, and Jeane Durfee, members of the Rollicking Rockettes on Review, dance on to the stage. Suddenly we are blinded by a brilliant crimson light and notice it is the reflection from Denny Cross and Alice Moore, who are blushing like mad because of the girls’ short skirts. Another startling event has just taken place: Patty Clarke has just zoomed by driving her Flying Saucer No. 104 with Helen Whitford, Margaret Wheeler, and Pat Mackay throwing down samples of the latest discovery in bubble gum by Eleanor Urso. We look at our program and find the sweet songstress, Roz Waldron, accompanied by Martha Downie, is next on the agenda. Following this Mark trips onto the stage and looks back reprovingly on seeing Lillian Servidio, Nancy Greene, Marilyn Whitford, Bob Lanphear, Gene Reay, and Billy Kearns, who were playing a mysterious game called “Is That You?” behind the curtain. Our M. C.’s next words are an advertisement for the Reale and Morenzoni Sporting Goods Store in Easterly, the manager of which is John Patton, Esq. The next performance is a skit called “If I Were Dead I Wouldn’t Be Here,” starring Ken Travis, James Barber, John Guidice, Larry Jacobson, Mary Ellen Hirst, Mary Jane Ruisi, Clara Trombino, and Stanley Laing, who are members of the “Lawton and Botka Traveling Show Company.” In the last act we have Roberta Wilcox, the famed magician, sawing mighty Paul Kinnear in half. Then in walks Jimmy Gencarella to pick up the pieces. Ruth Roger comes in with a baseball bat to use on the first person in the audience who dares shriek in horror. Virginia Clemens and Caroline Batty are her first victims. Nancy Rozazza and Georgianna Hoxie, cigarette girls, begin shrieking “Rocketfields” thinking the act is over. Charles Liguori puts a stop to this with his hydrogen hammer. This ends a wonderful and reminiscent evening for us. Yes, we have seen old classmates, And fond memories have returned; To renew beloved high school days Many times we have yearned. From old friends we have drifted— Our lives are far apart; But what is distance, when we hold These memories in our hearts? The gay proms, the games, The exams twice a year; It’s a closed chapter for us, But a chapter most dear. ANGELA COZZOLINI MARK SULLIVAN TISH WOODWORTH