52 Ancestors: Groups - Fresno Grammar School

Several years ago I ran across this photo.

It was an abnormal size and not in great condition so I put it aside for later.  I recognized the little guy second from left in the bottom row as my grandfather, Sigmund Levy, so I knew it had to be a group of school children.  And then, of course, later never arrived and there it sat.

Sig Levy

Recently I looked at it and thought again "hey, I wonder what the occasion was".  And as I went through more things, I realized I had this.

Sadly, I only have the clipping above and don't know which newspaper it was in.  But I DO know now that my picture is that of the 1902 Fresno Grammar School graduating class.  My guess is that Sig gave the newspaper a copy of the photo and they used it in their "Remember When" article.

I looked for a little for more information about Fresno Grammar School and found some interesting photos.

Study Hall at Fresno Grammar School, c. 1900

Fresno County Historical Society

I wonder if Sig is in there somewhere?

Fresno Grammar School, c. 1916

Calisphere.org

And look at this - a list of the 1902 Fresno Grammar School midyear graduates.

Fresno Bee, Fresno, California, 24 February 1952, page 32

Not a familiar name in the group except for one very important one.  

So I pulled out the The Owl, Commencement Number (Fresno High School yearbook) from June, 1906 to see how many of the students were still together.  Looks like quite a few - what a group!

Sadly, Sig isn't pictured since he graduated in February but I do have a photo of him from about that time - I wonder if either of the other two young men were listed above.

Sig Levy (right) rockin' the swimsuit!

Scrapbook #3 – Fifty Years Ago (plus one more)

The next ‘clippings’ in the scrapbook tell us about life in Fresno in the very early 1900’s.  My grandfather, Sig Levy, was a young lad at that time but 50 years later, he found a way to get himself mentioned in the newspaper.  And as he loved to do, he saved all of these clippings and put them in a scrapbook (thanks, Sig).



Thankfully Sig pointed out where he was mentioned in the Fresno Bee – I might have missed it otherwise.  So there he is in high school and it seems he’d already perfected the art of getting involved.  None of the other names look familiar to me although I’m not sure any of his school mates’ names would be.

Speaking of school, look at this article that mentions the mid year graduates of Fresno Grammar School.  I don’t know the grade levels of this school and I couldn’t find anything to tell me the date – he graduated from high school in 1906 so would that have been when he graduated from 8th grade?  So 1902?



I was able to locate a photo of the grammar school from about 1916.  As my dad was so fond of saying, now I can visualize Sig walking through the front doors.

While I know now that Sig was an avid tennis player, it’s fun to see mention of it again in the newspaper.  Sorry to read that the home team lost, though.



An interesting story at the end about the death of two horses at the “death gap” crossing.

I realize I’ve shared this photo before but I’ll use any excuse to share it again.  How ‘bout them shoes?



And then I remembered that I have Sig’s tennis racquets hanging on my wall!  I remember back in the early 80’s after Loraine died and we were cleaning out her house.  I asked my dad if I could have the tennis racquets and he looked at me strangely and said “um, sure”.  I’m certain that he, along with my siblings, thought I’d lost a brain cell or two and honestly, there were times I might have agreed with them.  But now after hanging on our wall for nearly 35 years, I’ve grown quite attached to them.  I wonder if one of these is the one Sig is holding in the photo?



And more news about tennis.



The other stories are sure interesting – arrested for allowing freight cars to block the street for more than five minutes?

And then a random article from 1937.  I know that the Sig Levy family went on a road trip in 1940 – I wrote about the scrapbook someone kept of the trip HERE.  But now I learn they went on a month long tour of the East!



I don’t remember my dad talking about this trip but I guess since he was just 10 years old, he might not have had many memories of it.  I can’t imagine being gone for a month!