The Owl – June, 1908 – Society

I took a detour for a bit but am now back to documenting The Owl, Fresno High School’s yearbook.  I last wrote about The Commencement Number from June, 1908 here.  There are so many photos from this edition that I’m breaking it down into small pieces. 

Next up – Society



I love reading old newspapers – typically no horrible events were listed but if you wanted to know who was visiting who, newspapers were THE source of information!  And, apparently, the Society section of The Owl followed in those footsteps.

I love the first paragraph, but that might because my grandfather’s older brother, Leon Levy, was mentioned. 



I’ll bet that dance was fun, especially since when you were tired of dancing you could go out on a boat.  I’d never heard the term terpsichorean before so I looked it up – found in Greek mythology, Terpsichore (“delight in dancing”) was one of the nine Muses and goddess of dance and chorus.

Photo from Wikipedia

It amazes me at times when I’m blogging or researching something and the facts I come up with are today’s date and this was no exception.


 
It’s fun to see what the students had planned after high school – I sure wish we’d done that at our high school as there were so many of us who left school never to be heard from again.  Although Facebook has changed that!





And a small section of The Owl was this.



I now officially know where my dad’s brother, Robert Levy, got his corny jokes.  He always had a joke to tell and more often than not, they were really groaners just like these.




Next up is Athletics with lots of team photos!

The Owl – June, 1908 – Fraternities

I took a detour for a bit but am now back to documenting The Owl, Fresno High School’s yearbook.  I last wrote about The Commencement Number from June, 1908 here.  There are so many photos from this edition that I’m breaking it down into small pieces. 

Next up – Fraternities



Fresno High School students were very involved in activities and as I learn more about their organizations, the more it sounds like a college.  There were even fraternities represented on campus!

Delta Iota Chi was represented, although there isn’t too much information about them.


The names are hard to read so in order to make it easier, they are:  Dorothy Noble, Ann Collins, Bernice Pierce, Lynette Morgan, Marguerite McLane, Elise Hall, Doris Zieske, Leora Schaeffer, Verna Aldrich, Hazel Fisher, Eleanoro Webster, Isabel Hoover, Mila Cearley, Edith Noble, Anna Tupper, Elizabeth Hawes, Bernice Olney, Hazel Beall, Marfreda Danks, Elsie Worswick, Helen Miller, Alice Miller

Every one of them has their hair pulled back and look at the bows!

And then came Gamma Eta Kappa.  Many districts of this fraternity and the Fresno chapter (Lambda) was included in the Alpha District along with San Francisco, Stockton, Oakland, San Jose (my hometown), Santa Cruz, and Sacramento.  There were also representatives from Southern California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and New York.


Albert Becker, Hugh McNulty, Carol Liseby, Blaine Rogers, Floyd W. Cowan, Alfred Becker, Seaborn Phillips, Louis B. McWhirter, Robert Collins, James Beveridge, Chester Minard, George Beveridge, Cuyler Leonard, Penn Cummings, Dick Crawford, John Morgan, Clarence McKay, Ben R. Walker, Ralph Rehorn, Bertrand W. Gearhart, John Phillips, Niel McNulty, Edward Waterman, Will Tupper, Clinton Collins.

Another women’s fraternity on campus was Lambda Theta Phi.


Marcia Edwards, Fredo Olufs, Ietta Wills, Elka Wormser, Margaret Cory, Jeannie Beveridge, Lewella Swift, Hazel Cartwright, Blanche Moore, Margherita Beveridge, Gertrude Swift, Violet Hodgkin, Beaulah Miller, Margaret Kenyon, Marguerite Vogel, Leota Marshall, Dorothea Burdick.


I’m starting to see some of thee same surnames in different organizations – siblings or cousins, I suppose.

And finally Pi Delta Koppa.


Frank Short, Russell Hall, Perry Pierson, James Spratt, Harry B. Paulden, Gus Hoover, Edwin Einstein, Ronald Harris, Kenneth Elmore, George Spratt, Hollis Pierson, Everett Hickman, Alec Robb

What I found particularly interesting about this fraternity entry in The Owl was the Pi Delta Koppa Chapter Roll.



It is so interesting to see all of the schools represented, especially San Jose High School since it was in my hometown.  Our high school, which was fairly new in my day, played sports against San Jose High School and while I realized then it was an older school, I had no idea it was in existence in 1908 (or before).  So I googled it and learned that it is the second oldest public high school in California and was founded in 1863.  Who knew?

* Looks like Lowell High School in San Francisco, founded in 1856, is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi. 

The Owl – June, 1908 – Organizations

I took a detour for a bit (again) but am now back to documenting The Owl, Fresno High School’s yearbook.  I last wrote about The Commencement Number from June, 1908 here and here.  There are so many photos from this edition that I’ll break it down into small pieces. 

Next up – Organizations



The Student Body was an important organization at Fresno High School.

Top (L to R): Rainey La Rue, Carl Lisenby, John Kenney Middle:  Victoria Cutten, Lynette Morgan Bottom: Bertrand W. Gearhart, Robert Collins, John Morgan

First term officers were:  Robert Collins (President), Carl Lisenby (Vice President), Lynette Morgan (Secretary), Bertrand W. Gearhart (Treasurer)

Second term officers:  John Kenney (President), Rainey La Rue (Vice President), Victoria Cutten (Secretary), John Morgan (Treasurer)

And then the Senate.  I’ve read a lot about the Senate at Fresno High School as two generations of Levy men were involved in this organization.  And here is proof that my grandfather’s younger brother, Ben Levy (third row, far right), carried on the tradition from his older brothers and nearly 40 years later, my Dad followed in his footsteps.

Top (L to R):  Everett Hickman, Ben Johnson, Ernest Haggerty, Rex Carter, Robert Collins, Shirley Summers 2nd row:  Floyd Laning, Nelson Daniel, Ray Ingels, Henry Hopkins, Floyd Harkness, Lee Duncan 3rd row:  Carl Lisenby, James Moore, Hon. Geo. W. Cartwright, Joseph Reiss, Benj. Levy 4th row:  John Drenth, Wm. McFarland, Lester Brownell, Edwin Stiles, Joseph Bracker, Fred Reiss 5th row:  Charles Adair, Wm. Hunter, James Lochead, Geo. Hume, John Kenney, Arthur Douglas

Each member represented a state (Ben Levy represented Michigan) and the President of the United States was Senator Geo. W. Cartwright.

And the House of Representatives was all women.  The Owl described this organization: 

“Talk of your Twentieth Century Girl!  The Fresno High School girls are coming to the front and have organized a debating society under the name of House of Representatives.  The organization is fashioned after the lower house in Congress, and its purposed is to give the girls a chance to become acquainted with the general law making of our country, and to gain a better knowledge of the parliamentary rules and usages in debate. 

The girls do not intend that the boys shall in the 20th century be the wise and mighty ones, and there is not a doubt but that the Senate boys will have to do their work exceedingly well to keep ahead of the girls.

The House of Representatives was organized November 19th, 1907, by eight of the girls under the direction of Mr. Olney.”

GO GIRLS!

Left column:  Elmina Gardner, Esther Jorgenson, Bertha Douglas, Harriet Tuft, Ruby Reyes 2nd column:  Rinnie Connor, Pearl Edgerly, Lucy McGarry, Lottie Grounds 3rd column:  Ada Shirley, Ora Traves, Louise Alder, Daisy Wheeler 4th column:  Inez Turner, Christina Ellithorpe, Edith Keyes, Vida Heitzig, Eva Dougherty

Mr. Olney served as President of the United States and each of the women represented a state.  I sure hope it wasn’t long before a woman could serve as President!

And there was an Orchestra and Girls’ Glee Club, too!



I’m not exactly sure who is who as the caption underneath just goes left to right:  Charles Shaw, Mattie Ronsel, Albert Becker, Lewella Swift, Ray Duncan, Harold McCourt, Alfred Becker, Robert Prather, Gertrude Swift.  I just love how they are dressed – what a difference from the high schoolers of today.

There is no picture for the Girls’ Glee Club but the members were:  Mayme Hodge, Mila Cearley, Allien Doyle, Olive De Yo, Ruth Cason, Nell Summers, Estelle Gray, Susie Cooper, Ruth Shelton, Gladys Carmichael, Geneva LaRue, Dorothea Burdick, Elsie Peterson, Lucy Walker, Hazel Lyons, Dolly Vogel.

It sure sounds Fresno High School was filled with talented and energetic young adults in 1908. 

If any of these individuals are your ancestor, please let me know and I will send you more information about the club and activities they participated in.

The Owl - June, 1908 – Owl Staff and Dramatics

I took a detour for a bit but am now back to documenting The Owl, Fresno High School’s yearbook.  I last wrote about The Commencement Number from June, 1908 here.  There are so many photos from this edition that I’ll break it down into small pieces. 

Next up – The Owl Staff.



I just love the way they are dressed and the hairstyles – such class.  I think they’d laugh to see high schoolers today – “why are these kids wearing pajama pants to school?  And for that matter, what are pajama pants?”



And then a section about Dramatics.



The art work is beautiful – I wonder if Nelson Daniel or Lucy Walker (Art Staff) drew that?

“The first and one of the most enjoyable of these dramatic affairs of the winter, and one in which a number of the students displayed considerable histronic ability, was ‘BI BI,” which was given at the Barton Opera House on April the 9th, under the auspices of the Young Women’s Christian Association.”

I don’t know who is who in this picture but here is A Chorus from “BI BI”.



Some of the cast included Mrs. Jefferson Graves, Ivan McIndoo (former student), Willard Bates (former student), Grace Osborn (former student), Edwin Einstein, Hazel Beall, Mona Robertson, Edith Niblock, Sadie Burleigh, Dolly Vogel, Leora Schaeffer, Gwendolyn Barton, Ena De Yo, Louis McWhirter, James, Spratt, Howard Fisher, Louis Williams, Bertrand Gearhart, Will Tupper and John Morgan.

Another production was described as “the most ambitious affair in the line of dramatics the school has ever attempted was the Operetta ‘The National Flower’ in which some two hundred and thirty-six students took part”.  Where did they find 236 students?



Who are these lovely ladies?  How I wish they were identified!



At least John Morgan and Leora Schaeffer are identified.



Last up was “Mice and Men”.  The Owl states that this was a romantic comedy so not the John Steinbeck novel that we read growing up.  But since that wasn’t published until 1937, I guess that makes sense. 



This production was the Senior Farce and was under the direction of Mrs. Ina Millward.  The entire Senior Class was included in the farce with the principal actors being Louis McWhirter, Robert Collins, Floyd Cowan, Henry Hopkins, Victor Gaines, Rainey La Rue, Ena L. De Yo, Belle Millward, Pearl Duncan, Victoria Cutten, Olive McFarland. 

What a grand time it must have been to attend high school in 1908!

The Owl–Commencement Number, June 1908

Finally, I’ve made it to a Commencement Number!  As I understand it, the others were more like a school newspaper while the Commencement Numbers are like a yearbook – photos and all!  The June, 1908 edition has lots of photos so in the hopes of a descendant finding this blog, I’ll include most of the photos.



I love that they included a photo of the school – it’s nice to see how it has changed over the last 100+ years.  I don’t remember that any of my high school yearbooks have photos of the school back from my day.



Not a very large faculty in those days.

Left, top to bottom: Maude Schaeffer, E.B. Williams, J.W. Warner 2nd from left, top to bottom:  Helen Louise Sprague, Jeanette Minard, Edna Rowell, Joseph Christensen Center, top to bottom: Hester Pardee Tefft, C.L. McLane, A.C. Olney 2nd from right, top to bottom:  Julia Warren, J.A. Nowell, W.B. Gladfelter, P. Nilsson Right, top to bottom:  Edna Ecker, F.M. Fulstone, A. Clarence Smith

The gentleman in the center, C. L. McLane, was the Superintendent of City Schools.  I found it interesting that every one of the women was listed as “Miss” – I’m guessing that it wasn’t very popular to have married women in the work place.

And then the list of the Class of 1908 students.



About 45 students.  While it would be a record-breaking small class in today’s standards, it seems like that was a fair amount of students in 1908.

Rainey LaRue was quite active in school but I have to wonder what “Senior Farce” meant?



And here are the individual photos of the class.  I’d love to hear from you if you are a descendant of one of these students.

Top to bottom Lucy Walker, Arthur Douglas, Marguerite Vogel, Edwin Einstein	Top to bottom Belle B. Millward, Victor C. Gaines, Pearl Duncan, Lucie Davis

Top to bottom Mary E. Hanner, Ena Lenore De Yo, Jennie S. Macdonald, Henry L. Hopkins	Top to bottomg Victoria Cutten, Lynette Morgan, Maude Cassell, L. Bransford McWhirter

Top to bottom Fred L. Prather, Olive H. McFarland, Elmer Chapman, Georgia Capps	Top to bottom Blance Cummings, Joseph A. Reiss, Mabel Alberts McKnight, Roy Crissman

Top to bottom Alta E. Wiseman, Robert F. Collins, Florence Sharer, Theodore A. Ruschhaupt	Top to bottom Mabel A. Welch, Lottie Elizabeth Downing, Floyd Wellesley Cowan, Harriet W. Tuft

Top to bottom Ora M. Traves, Bunnie L. Wyllie, Bertha Douglas, Lester G. Brownell	Top to bottom Merle Mitchell, Ruby B. Shipp, Edith Keyes, Alfred Carl Becker

Top to bottom Lottie Grounds, Thomas B. Wheaton, Jr., Daisy Wheeler, Ethel Irene Stutzman

Darn, not an ancestor of mine in the bunch.  But maybe a friend of someone!

Lots more to share – be sure to come back!

The Owl–1908 (Part 2)

A new cover design by Nelson Daniel for March, 1908.

 

We finally get some history as to the early days of The Owl – the March, 1908 edition was the 10th anniversary of the publication.  I wonder if any of these very early ‘numbers’ are still in existence.



By October, 1905, my grandfather, Sig Levy, was the editor (see second column, 4th paragraph) and he made a few changes.  While I have many copies of the publication, unfortunately I don’t have that one.  I’ve also wondered exactly when Sig graduated – good to see in print that he graduated in January, 1906.



It must have been sad to realize that after just 10 years, there were already 21 missing numbers of The Owl.  Of course I scoured my ‘collection’ thinking it would be fun to come up with one of these missing copies more than 100 years later but, sadly, they are missing from my collection, as well.  I have the October and December, 1903 edition – wonder if they ever located November?

 

I always like to read about Athletics. 

 

The ads didn’t seem too exciting this time – maybe because I found the history piece so interesting.  However, I did pick one that was cute.  Egg drinks????



These copies have really taken a beating.  The staples in the center have rusted and all but deterioriated so handling them is getting tough.

A new cover design by Nelson Daniel.



One of the first pages showed a picture of the S.J.V.A.A.L. Trophy.  It must have been coveted since they stated Now Ours.


The editorial talked about the trophy by saying:

At last Fresno Hi has permanently won an important athletic cup.  This has been accomplished by winning the track meet of the S.J.V.A.A.L. for three successive years, a feat which has been attempted almost ever since Fresno Hi has had any athletic aspirations whatever.  The winning of the cup, however, has aroused scarcely any enthusiasm, probably because this particular cup has been in our hands ever since it was put up, three years ago, and no fear has been felt for its safety.

Had the recent victory occurred four years ago, the school board probably would have had to declare vacation until the enthusiasm had sufficiently subsided to allow thoughts to return to studies.  Previous to the last few years, almost every student has felt personally interested in the cup.  The old files of “The Owl” are full of editorials urging the enthusiasm and support of everyone toward winning the cup.  The members of the track team are exhorted to strive as they never had before.  Then each time a track meet had been won, and the cup was temporarily Fresno’s, an editorial appeared, joyously proclaiming the happy event, and bubbling over the enthusiastic expectancy of a repetition of the victory at the next meet to come.

But all the editorial hopes and prophesies proved vain.  Try as we would, we were unable to win more than twice in succession, until finally Modesto had the required three successive victories and took permanent possession of the highly prized cup.

The second cup, however, is now ours, and yet there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm.  No one says more than “I’m glad we won it,” and few even say that.  Why is it that the importance of the victory has decreased so considerably in three years?

Interesting.  We’ve already read in previous editions about a lack of participation and enthusiasm at Fresno High School and this seems to carry on with that theme.  I can only guess at the meaning of S.J.V.A.A.L. – San Joaquin Valley Athletic _____ League.

I enjoy reading about the weddings back then but you sure wouldn’t see any publication ‘call out’ that certain girls were the most popular. 




And a few interesting advertisements – suddenly we’re seeing new items being highlighted.  Sure would love to see a photo of one of the talking machines.



And more outdoor gear.

I can just visualize a Sunday afternoon on the lawn playing croquet……