The N£W BERN Ml H IS 1S®IS c. :»v> VOLUME 2 NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1959 NUMBER 13 To us it has always been a thrill ing sight to see a teen-ager grad uate from high school. Thrilling and a little sad. Few moments are more dramatic, and because there’s * so much drama involved you get a wistful blending of joy and path os. Most dramatic of all graduations for this writer, however, was the awarding of a New Bern High school diploma to Peggy Waters a few weeks ago. It wasn’t what was happening that tugged at our heart, but the vivid memory of a tragedy that occurred years before. Peggy was just three at the time —and as cute a little blonde as you could possibly imagine. It was a sunny afternoon in Sunnyside— a perfect day for childhood. Little did this newspaper man dream, as he happened along a peaceful and dreserted street, that a story fraught with horror would unfold before his very eyes in a matter of seconds. Then it happened. A child’s ^ scream pierced the air, and the next instant a little girl with her clothing ablaze raced across the ^ street in front of us, and darted in to a drive way. She fell to the ground just before we teached her, and in some mirac ulous way the fall mercifully ex tinguished flames that were envel oping her tiny body. With the help of others we bun dled a blanket about her as gently as possible, and minutes later she was receiving emergency attention from Dr. Charles H. Ashford. „ ^•'Oke'the writer, he too had a lit-' tie girl of his own about the same age. Standing there, and marvelling at the bravery of Peggy as the phy sician did the things that had to be done, we could almost read his mind. The public is inclined to feel at times that a newspaperman who works hard at his trade relishes his coverage of the grimmer aspects of life. Actually, most reporters are tender-hearted jerks who are sickened by the necessity of view ing human misery. And, when it comes to accidents involving children, we often re member long after readers have forgotten the stories that tumbled from our typewriters. We remem ber like the writer has remember ed Peggy all these years. We’ve watched her grow up, nev er quite sure that she herself was remembering a man who happened along on a sunny afternoon. Then a year of two ago she stopped us on Middle street, and smiled a bit un certainly. “Do you know who I am?’’ she asked softly. We nodded, and she smiled again and went on her way. Nothing else had to be said. Watch ing her, we breathed a tittle prayer of thankfulness to God foi^ sparing her to know the joy of being a teen-ager. It wasn’t until after Peggy’s mis fortune that we found out how brave a little girl she really was, and how the tragedy occurred. We didn’t print the story behind the' story at that time, but having been assured by her Dad that she won’t object to the column you’re now reading, we’ll recount it now. The little blonde, with play mates, had made a mud-cake. They wanted it to be a birthday cake— although we’re not sure that it was somebody’s birthday in the group. A birthday cake should certainly have a candle, and they found one and a match. Peggy struck the match. The head popped off and fell inside the outing shirt she was wearing. And we found out later why she fell to the ground, on purpose. “Me knew me was going to burn up,’’ she told her parents, “but me didn’t want to burn up the house." So you see why, to the writer, Peggy Waters is an exti-a special person. GIVING IN A BIG WAY—There’s nothing about the generosity of the Onslow Shrine Club when it comes to con tributing to Shrine hospitals for crippled children. This giant check, mailed to New Bern’s Sudan Temple, is 13 feet, 4 inches, long and 4 feet, 10 inches wide. Handling it here, at New Bern’s First Citizens Bank & Trust Company are Jerry Thomas, a teller; W. D. Ferebee, vice-president- J. E. Boswell, assistant vice-president; and John Connolly’ assistant cashier.—Photo by Billy Benners. How Many Changes in You Since Your High School Days How much ‘do New Bernians change in 30 years? How many of them live up to the usually glow ing phrases that describe them in their high school annual? We asked those questions last year about New Bern’s class of 1928, and the feature story that stemmed from this curiosity stirred tremendous interest. So much so that we’ve been requested to do another such feature on the class of 1929. Our present mayor, Robert L. Stallings, Jr., was a member of that class, and even then he had dem onstrated leadership of a high ord er. Here’s what the annual said: "If the senior class wants a president who can give it a smooth and suc cessful year; if the football, bas ketball and baseball teams want a manager to bring them a paying season; if the producers of plays want a real business man with ideas which increase their box re ceipts; a fellow who can manage these things successfully, and still maintain his popularity among those with whom and for whom he works— page Robert Stalling.” After 30 years, in which His Hon or has grown considerably plumper than the wisp of a teen-ager he once was, the prophetic analysis carried in his high school yearbook still applies to a remarkable de gree. At that, Stallings wasn’t vale dictorian of the 1929 class. Joseph Ramon Salem, our city electrical engineer, copped that honor with a scholastic average of 95.2. “Don’t worry about Joe. he’ll make his mark,” the annual predicted. Describing him as “one of the most outstanding boys that ever graduated from our high school,” the class added; “A foreigner by birth, he came into our school and made better grades and showed a better spirit of loyalty and pride for his adopted country than many of his native borfi classmates.” Incidentally, Stallings—with El sie Cook—was picked as “most at tractive” in the senior statistics. Bill Wheeler and Ann Church were the “best all ’round”; Francis Fere bee and Amy Williams were “most athletic”; Roy Miller and Elizabeth Duffy, “best looking”; Billy Minich and Eleanor Jones, “most depend able”; and Lawrence Patten and Elizabeth Heritage, “wittiest. Senior class officers, along with President Stallings, were Lawrence Patten, vice-president; James Ketcham, secretary; and Helen Jackson, treasurer. Amy Williams was editor-in-chief of the annual. Serving with her were Milded Ham ilton, business manager; Mary Ma- dara, assistant editor; Edith Car penter, assistant bus’iness manager; Durward Hancock, joke editor; and Ruth Miller, art editor.. Jimmy Cason was “always ready to help a friend, or do a favor for anyone.” Grace Deppe had “a gen ial happy disposition. Neither very quiet nor loud—just a happy medi um.” As for Sara Julia Foscue, “loyalty, cheerfulness and pep” were her outstanding characteris tics. Sadie Mae Gaskins was “full to the brim of life and fun” while Ernest Johnson was “studious, but not too studious.” Buzz Mitchell, a pitcher on the baseball team, was “sure death to batters and geome try.” Nina Basnight Lupton “will have a good time wherever she is,” the yearbook predicted. Gladys Mallard was “blessed with a disposition that everyone envies.” Martha Williams you “will never see walking” while Corinne Taylor “was able to be one of the most popular girls in her class and still keep up on her studies.” Bessie Mae Taylor had “a merry laugh all through the corridors”; Grace Swinson had “an enormous vocabulary” and was “always” talk ing. Dudley Suter was “one of the most talented” girls, while Mildred Stallings displayed “kind ness toward all. and malice toward none.” Wallace Smith was “good natur- ed and easy going,” while Rosalie Smith was “a talent pianist.” Leo Smith had “ready wit” and the re maining Smith in the class, Katie Belle, “never let her studies inter fere with her social life.” Charles Seifert was “a star pupil, good sport and real friend.” Earl Peterson was a “cute boy” while Sallie Mae Rhodes “charmed a great many young hearts around town.” Lula Jessie Potter, the an nual said, was “jolly and capable.” Winifred Parker was “not too stu dious—not too quiet— just right.” Roy Miller was “a thing with the ladies,” and Mary Madara was al ways riding “on the main drag.” Ralph Lockey, it says, was “a lively companion,” and Isabel Lawrence full of good sense and humor.” Elizabeth Lancaster rated a “good sport” classification, and James no Ketcham was a “student of mean ability.” You could “depend” on Eleanor Jones, and Helen Jackson was “true to a purpose in life.” Mary Elizabeth Hughes was known by her “cheerful smile” while Evelyn Hodges was “popular with teachers and pupils alike.” As for Elizabeth Heritage ,she was “never serious.” William Har ris had a way of “saying the unex pected” while Earl Harper was a “modest young man.” Naomi Hardi son had a “jolly and lovable na ture” and Durward Hancock “add ed lots of life to the class.” Robert Gray was always “making us laugh” and Len Gibbs a “good actor.” Francis Ferebee showed “splendid sportsmanship” while Elizabeth Duffy “takes things as they come.” Tom Davis was “al ways willing to do something mis- chievious, and Elsie Cook was the “snappiest, sportiest female that ever struck New Bern high school.” Ann Church had “a combination of attractiveness, popularity and basketball ability.” Edith Carpen ter was one of the “most lovable” members of the class. Sarah Brandt was “a spirit kind and bright” and you could “take your troubles” to Annie Boyd. Mildred Boyd despite her “modest talk” was “one of our best and most dependable stu dents.” As for Ruth Anderson, she had a “sweet disposition, quick thinking brain and staunch perse verance.” Ruby Lee Hall “never hurries, but when she finishes anything you may be sure it is O.K.” Mil- (Continued on bock pag«)

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view