Westfield High School - Weather Vane Yearbook (Westfield, NJ)

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TRIBUTE To Gaston B. C-esner, as tangible evi- dence of our esteem for his earnest assistance and his distinguished record as a teacher, this seventeenth issue of the WEATHER VANE ANNUAL is dedicated.

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CON Foreword . Dedication Faculty . . Classes . . Organizations Ath!e-tics . Features . E

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Mr. Gesner, the head of our High School French Depart- ment, was born in the French industrial town of Tour- coing, which is the last town in France on the Paris- Brussels railroad. There he attended, as a boy and young man, L'lnstitut Colbert, a preparatory school. On November 28, l9l3, he was called for service in the French army. While he was serving his three year period of enlistment, war was declared and Mr. Gesner was in one of the first French regiments at the front. ln the first battle of the Marne he was seriously injured and received the Croix de Cuerre for bravery in action. While recup- erating in Marseille, Mr. Cesner attended the Uni- versity which conferred the degree of Bachelier-es-Sciences upon him. Also while at Marseille Mr. Cesner studied singing under Professor Edouard Choppin, formerly first baritone of the Paris Opera. in April l9l8 Mr. C-esner came to America to study mining engi- neering at Columbia University. He changed his course, however, and became a teacher of French. He taught in a variety of places,'including Havana, Cuba, but since i925 he has taught in West- field, where he has been unusually successful. Mr. Cesner, whose main ambition was to become an actor and singer, was deflected from his course by friends and relatives. His advice to young people is, Set a goal for yourselves, strive toward it, and never let others turn you from it.