Senior Year 1952-1953

Forty-three of us returned to school, seniors at last. Our sponsors were Harry and Edith Linn. Four of our classmates chose to get married and did not finish school with us; five moved away; and we gained two new classmates.

My classes were English IV with Mrs. Linn, Typing II and shorthand with Miss Brungardt, and American History with Mr. Linn. We were required to take Phys Ed all four years. Classes were interesting and took a certain amount of effort to do all that was required. I liked school and was a good student.

Acitivites including band, clarinet quartet, mixed chorus, glee club, Y-Teens, yearbook staff selling advertising and cheerleading kept me busy. I continued working at Rexall Drugstore after school and on weekends.

The WKEA conference massed concert band clinic was held in Ness City and the WKEA massed chorus vocal clinic was held in Scott City. These were always fun because all the schools in the conference participated. The directors came to us from some of the Kansas colleges and universities.

I had a bit part in the senior play - the bratty tomboy little sister, of course. I always had stage fright. Eight of us presented a radio drama at speech contest; seven were seniors and one junior were in the cast. It was fun.

Freshman initiation was fun since we were the "distinguished" seniors. The boys had to dress like girls. I'm not sure what we forced upon the girls. It was a fun day for us.

The 1952 football team was undefeated in WKEA play. Only Dodge City defeated them. In ten games the team scored 320 points vs. 49 points for their opponents.

The basketball team took 3rd place in the WKEA tournament. The track team placed 2nd in the WKEA league meet. Dean Lyon, a senior, was undefeated in the 440.

The principal of 20% of the people do 80% of the "work" is very true in small schools. The guys who played football were also the ones on the basketball team, the baseball team and/or the track team. Many of the same guys and gals were involved in vocal and instrumental music, sports and drama. Some were more active than others and did it all. Others participated in a few things.

We sold our cow and what we made on the cow helped pay for our senior sneak trip to Rockaway Beach, Missouri. We chartered a bus and were gone about a week. Rockaway Beach was a fun place. Many schools went there for their senior trips. We swan, sunned, toured, danced and had a great time from the moment we set out until we returned home.

Graduation was held after we returned home. All in all, high school in that little town was a great experience. Many of my classmates are life-long friends.

The photo above was taken that spring in Dodge City. It is not the photo in our yearbook but Mom and I considered this my "senior" picture.