Junior Year

I am not sure why I didn't have my glasses on for this school photo but I didn't. (My current driver's license photo is also without glasses - I haven't figured that out either - the person taking the photo asked me to take off my glasses!)

The sumer before my junior year, I worked full time at the Rexall Drugstore. It helped me earn some money. I always saved half of my wages. This money, along with $12/month check I got as long as I was in school, helped pay for my college expenses. I think the $12 was because Daddy was a WWI veteran and I got this as his survivor. I continued working during the school year also.

The classes I took my junior year were English III, Typing I, bookkeeping, civics and phys ed.

NCHS had a new commerce teacher. She taught typing, shorthand and bookkeeping. Many times when we asked how to do something, she would reply, "Use your ingenuity!" I didn't know for sure what that meant until I looked it up! She was a real stickler who wanted us to do the best we could all the time!

We welcomed four new classmates and one moved away. By the end of the year there were 49 of us.

We were conference football champs. Twelve of my classmates were on the team with nine in the starting lineup. Our classmates were active in academics, basketball, baseball, track, band, glee club, mixed chorus and drama. Four juniors were cheerleaders - one guy and three girls (I was one).

We were excited to order our classrings. When they were delivered, everyone loved showing off our classrings to anyone who wanted to see.

Our Junior play was "Strictly Formal." I always tried out for bit parts like the bratty little sister - and I usually got the part. (Do you suppose this was type casting??) Stage fright kept me from trying out for anything else!

We were hosts for the seniors at the Junior-Senior Prom. We offered the seniors Hawaiian entertainment and decorated the high school gym for the festivities. The girls all dressed up in formals and the guys wore suits. My dress was pale blue and I wore silver brocade heels. I got to sit with my sweetie. :)

Small Town Kansas

Growing up in a small town in the 40s and 50s was very different than growing up in an urban area in the same time period. I'm not sure what the popultion was back then but high school classes in the upper 40s to 50 plus were large classes!

Our small town had 3 grocery stores, a dairy, 2 drugstores, a grain elevator, furniture store, 3 car dealerships, a lumber yard, dry cleaners, a libary,2 dry goods stores, a ladies' dress shop, an appliance store, Ben Franklin (5 and dime), 2 farm machinery dealers, 2 hotels, a local weekly newspaper, several service stations, a doctor or two, a full complement of attorneys, about 6 protestant churchs, a Catholic Church, a couple cafes, a beer joint or two, a poolhall, and the County Courthouse. We had a movie theater, and later, a drive-in theater. A branch of the Santa Fe Railroad went through town. There were wedding dances and dances at the American Legion Hall. A swimming pool was built about 1952.

The larger towns were about 50-60 miles north and south of Ness. The nearest small city was about 125 miles away. We probably went to one of the nearer towns once a month. Then we drove the 125 miles to the small city about once every three or four months. We didn't do as much traveling to distant places back then. We could go by car, bus, or train.

It always amazes me when people here (and now) complain about having nothing to do. There are so many interesting things to do and places to go. There is always something to do in a large city.

I had never seen a black person until I went away to college in 1953. I believe many of the towns had "blue laws" that stated a black person had to leave town before sundown. It was a different time back then. Many people were prejudiced against people who were "different" - i.e. color, belief, etc.

Joe Louis, a black man, was the heavy weight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. As I recall, my family was for his opponent. I was always for the underdog so, while I said nothing, I quietly rooted for Joe Louis.

My Sophomore Year

The classes I took as a sophomore were English II, Latin II, geometry, biology and phys ed.

I was in geometry class when my brother, Bill, came to get me so he, Mom and I could drive to Hutchinson where Daddy was in the hospital. I think I probably did ok in geometry because I got Bs in the class. The trauma of being called out of class and Daddy's death made geometry not my favorite class the rest of the year.

My teachers were Mrs. Linn, Mr. Brown and Mr. Durst. I think Mrs. Linn taught both English II and Latin II. The Latin class had shrunk to five girls - sophomores, junioes and one senior. It was one of my favorite classes.

I was elected class secretary this year. Coach Goldsmith was our class sponsor. I don't remember exactly how it came about but we purchased a heifer to help with financing our week-long senior sneak trip. We started with 47 classmates. We added three new classmates and one moved away. Then in April we were saddened by the death of our classmate, Aldon Debes.

Each school year was a busy time. Our football team was conference champ; the basketball team lost some games and pal Sandy was elected Yearbook Queen.

Biology class was just before lunch. When we were dissecting frogs in class - and I went home for lunch I couldn't eat at all. Ugh! I didn't like that part of biology but I was fascinated with genetics. Besides the dissecting business, Mr. Durst would tease me by making remarkds about "B.Jo and Joe." I didn't think it was appropriate and it probably embarrassed me. More about this in a later post.

The class I forgot for my freshman year was a literature class. We read lots of different books; some Shakespear, Silas Marner, and probably some poetry. Somewhere along the line, I became fascinated with Edgar Allan Poe's writing.

Music continued to be part of the school day with band, glee club and mixed chorus. It seems that music has been part of my life since I was small. I enjoyed playing in band and singing in chorus and glee club.

School Days

My school days began in a two-and-a-half story brick building that held all grades from first through 12th. I think I spent 1st and 2nd grade there. Then we moved to a new elementary building that was really nice.

My high school years were spent in the same brick building where I started. It seemed strange to have a different teacher for each class.

My freshman classes were English I, Latin I, algebra, a science class I cannot remember, and phys ed. You should have seen the bloomers we wore in Phys Ed. Fortunately, none exists, as far as I know. I had the same teacher for English I and Latin I. There were three men teachers and one woman teacher for me that year.

Every year the seniors got to initiate the freshies. We had to dress as comic strip characters for that one day. One boy was Popeye, a girl was a gypsy, two guys were L'il Abner. My good pal and I were Hans and Fritz from the Katzenjammer Kids. One of the boys was the Captain from the same comic strip as Hans and Fritz. My good pal drew pictures of Hans and Fritz and we pinned them on our backs.

Some of the time we wore jeans, oversized (men's) white shirts, a scarf tied at the throat and saddle shoes or penny loafers. We were allowed to wear jeans and slacks to school by our freshman year.

All the activities in a small school like NCHS were done by most of the same people. The old 20/80 principle - 20% of the people did 80% of the work. I played clarinet in the concert band, pep band and in a clarinet quartet. I always played the 4th part (it was nice and low and I really liked that!) I sang alto in girls' glee club and mixed chorus; played 6-girl basketball - not well, however; was active in Y-Teens, a Christian organization; and worked on The Eagle yearbook staff.

I liked school and usually had the assignments done before the school day was over so I didn't have much home work. I really liked my Latin class. There were only nine of us, all girls, in class. It was a mixture of freshmen, sophomores and juniors with no seniors.

I did not take any home ec classes in school. My Mom was my sewing teacher. I made a blouse or two. I didn't really want to sew. I think Mom saw I was just this side of hopeless where sewing was concerned, at that point in time, so she just let it go. We had an old treadle sewing machine that I always treadled backwards and broke the thread. She may have just run out of patience with me!

Not many of us dated in our freshmen year. We would meet the boys at the movies and hold hands. That's about as daring as we got. It was a different time. I was somewhat bashful and very naive.

After my freshman year in school, I went to Ft. Hays State Teachers' College to a band camp that lasted a week. It was my first time away from home. I think I got along ok because I made it through the week. I played in the "A" band which was the most advanced of the three bands. I was thrilled to be chosen to play in the "A" band. We had college band instructors there directing us.

There were 8-10 girls who sort of hung out together at school and after school. Sometimes there were more and sometimes less. We had slumber(less) parties that were sometimes at the principal's home because his daughter was in our class; and sometimes they were at one of the hotels in town because one of the gang's parents owned the hotel. These parties were a real blast!