Well, I certainly haven’t posted here in awhile. I was just so fed up with the saga of trying to get my dad’s service record that I just had to put aside the genealogy until I could work on it without getting PO’d all over again. Sigh. Days like today (Pearl Harbor attack anniversary) keep reminding me.
Cousin Sal gave me our aunt’s 1937 yearbook from Joliet, IL. Oh my! Where to begin? The end papers are aluminum foil, very shiny. And weird. Most of the book is taken up by group photos of every club you can imagine, from National Honor Society to sports teams. And in between, the weird and the strange. Some of the most amusing ones are:
- The Mineralorists – sponsored by the physiography department (ok, that explains it).
- The Bookettes – library volunteers, girls only (well yeah, with a name like Bookettes).
- Girls’ Rifle Corps – wow, that would SO not be a club today! They are all wearing bib overalls (their “uniforms”) and several are posing with rifles.
- Future Craftsmen of America – no women members, I guess they have to join Knitting Club.
- Knitting Club – a high school knitting club “so they might make things they desired”.
- Hikadettes – a girls’ hiking club (who thought up that name?!).
- Ushers’ Club – boys only, at school programs they help people “to find seats with the least possible confusion.” Kids back then got confused trying to find a seat in the auditorium?
- Lunchroom Club – the kids (a coed club, wow) who serve lunch in the cafeteria, “selected for their alertness, courtesy, and their serving ability.” Aunt Elda is the Vice President!
- Boys’ Riding Club – pictured on horseback! What did you think, bikes?
- Safety Council – they have “made rapid progress in the Safety problem of our shops” (yikes, I wonder what THAT means?)
But really, in all the accompanying group photos the heads are about 1/4 inch in size, and with the poor printing quality you can hardly even tell they are people. Should have put less text and more (or bigger) photos.
The funniest part of the yearbook is the senior section, which at least gets individual
photos about 1 inch by 1 and a half. In addition to the student name, and their major course of study and clubs, most of them also have a nickname and a quote, they don’t do that in yearbooks any more that I know of. Aunt Mary and aunt Elda are both seniors, so they get a pretty good photo. Aunt Mary has the best nickname of anyone in the school, “Sugar”, awwww how sweet! And aunt Elda has the best quote of anyone, “Art is power”, you rock aunt Elda! She was a talented artist in many mediums, especially painting, ceramics, and needlework.
Most of the nicknames are the standard “Dick” for Richard, or “Art” for Arthur. But some make you wonder.
Some have to do with food, maybe their favorites? Like:
- June is “Peanut”
- Geneva is “Shrimp” (or maybe she’s short?)
- Bill is “Lamb Chop”
- George is “Do-Nut”
- Louise is “Soda”
- Donald is “Eggs”
- Gerald is “Milk Shake”
Some of them don’t sound very flattering:
- Mary is “Pud”
- John is “Bump”
- Maria is “Toots”
- Everett is “Poots”
- Mary is “Squeaky”
- Robert is “Skinny”
Some go together, like:
- Neal is “Flash” and Theodore is “Click” (two photographers?)
- William is “Gabby” and Don is “Silent”
Some seem more at home in Las Vegas, several “Ace” and:
- George is “Jigger” (what was the age limit for booze then?)
- Dan is “Speed” (on horseback? or cars? surely not drugs back then!)
- Noel is “Speed” too
- Arthur is “Smoky”
- Andrew is “Slick” (I don’t want to know)
- Luther is “Lucky”
And then there are the I-don’t-get-it ones:
- Mary is “Step’n a Half” (huh?)
- Don is “Farmer” (no, not his last name, and his field of study is Business)
- Earl is “J.R.” (but his initials are E.E.D.)
- Helen is “Billy” (what?)
- Marvin is “Oscar” (not sure if I would prefer Marvin or Oscar)
- John is “Slugger” (must be on the softball team)
- Robert is “Zites” (a typo maybe?)
- Evan is “Perky” (imagine a guy today being called perky)
- Jeanette is “Mokie” (no clue)
- Vince is “Sta’s” (again, huh?)
But the quotes, oh my, the quotes are what really crack me up. Who came up with these? I’m guessing the stuffy school administrators gave the kids a list of quotes and the kids had to pick one from that list. Surely teenagers could not have made up these on their own!
The quotes seem to fall into a few distinct categories.
The shy, introverted students (seems like the vast majority of them):
- “Quiet and sedate is she always.”
- “Quiet, thoughtful, and sedate.” (sedate again, dull classes maybe?)
- “Silence is a true friend that never betrays.”
- “A silent, manly fellow.” (they had manly men back then too)
- “She was a quiet little lady.”
- “Silence is her one great art of conversation.”
- “He wears a cloak of bashfulness.”
- “I don’t talk much, but I think a lot.” (one of my favorites)
- “Often seen but seldom heard.”
- “Has wont to be as still as a mouse.”
- “Quietude is his greatest virtue.”
- “A word that is not spoken never does any mischief.”
- “I’m not one who loveth many words.”
And the opposite, the extroverted (maybe they should have studied more):
- “Forever present in the ranks of fun.” (almost makes it sound like duty)
- “Forever foremost in the ranks of fun.” (and apparently he’s the ringleader)
- “The lad who puts the pep into things.”
- “She was best friend with gaiety.”
- “A spirit of jollity within him gleams.” (jollity? gleams??)
- “Why work when you are happy without it?” (still living in parents’ basement at 30, I bet)
- “When joy and duty clash, let duty go.”
- “Where mischief prevailed, he was always there.”
- “There is a lot of deviltry beneath his mild exterior.”
There are ones who seem to have a very high opinion of themselves:
- “He is witty and he is handsome.”
- “Doing easily what others find hard is talent.”
- “Gifted with ambition that elevates him high.”
- “He attains whatever he attempts.”
- “What a man should have, this one does not lack.” (but is he a manly man?)
- “Life for him will be an easy walk.”
- “A daughter of the gods, divinely fair.” (daughter of the gods?!?)
- “A good man who does good merely by living.” (no effort required?)
- “There is none better than he.”
- “Born to excel.”
And some who just seem to do the best they can, which doesn’t seem to be much:
- “She knows how to smile a happy smile.”
- “A student and a thinker.”
- “His destiny is that of a man.”
- “Usually doing what he ought.”
- “Glad that I live am I.”
- “My way is to begin at the beginning.”
- “Of all good fellows, here is one.”
- “A truly modest fellow.”
- “What a man does, that he is.”
- “Neither seeking pleasure nor avoiding toil.”
- “I do profess to be no more than I seem.”
And some you just gotta scratch your head over:
- “His smile is sweetened by his gravity.”
- “An active student with manly ideals.” (at least he is not sedate)
- “There buds the promise of celestial worth.”
- “Your heart hangeth on a jolly pin.”
- “He is winding the watch of his wit, by and by it will strike.”
- “Dynamite comes in small parcels.”
- “She is herself of best things the collection.”
- “The most quiet brook will sometimes ripple.”
- “Cultured and capable of sober thought.”
- “Fearless minds climb soonest into crowns.”
- “My last days fly on with full career.”
- “Virtue is like a rich stone–best plain set.”
- “I find nonsense singularly refreshing.”
- “I chatter, chatter as I go.”
- “Good breeding is the blossom of good sense.”
- “Blessed be agriculture–if one has not too much of it.”
- “Mild spirit which is moving everywhere.”
- “Be ignorance thy choice when knowledge leads to woe.”
- “I courted fame but as a spur to brave and honest deeds.”
- “Thrice noble is the man who of himself is king.”
- “An artist in more ways than one.”
- “The combined qualities of man and an athlete.”
And thus we come to the end papers, those shiny aluminum foil book linings that are really cool and seem to be so ahead of their time. I hope you enjoyed this stroll through a 1937 midwest high school yearbook. I shudder to think how much people will laugh at my high school yearbook 75 years later!