My great uncle's yearbooks -1939

Remember ages back (July) when I posted the first one?  No?  Here's a link.

The observant might note that the last yearbook was 1937.  What happened to 1938?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Either he just didn't buy one that year or it got misplaced.  I do have 1940 and will get around to posting it.  Probably six months from now.

This year the theme was "Then and Now." 

Each section begins with an illustration of "Then" on the left page . . .

. . . and a photo of "Now" in the right.

This year my great uncle played varsity - he's in the front, number 70.

Being a junior, this year he also got a solo photo.  He looks very cool.

Continuing with the theme of "Then and Now" are photos of teachers and staff "Then"  I made this extra large so you could see all the details.

This is the Junior Safety Council - who have awesome coats. 

Male cheerleaders, just because.

I'd love to meet the new Nash.

This particular yearbook was ephemera heavy.

The back of the Jinx dance ticket.  In case you can't read it, it says "Whopee, I finally danced"

I'm assuming this "arrest notice" was a way of "collecting" one's date to the dance.  The address on it is in a residential area.  Bonus, the dark haired young lady in the white sweater is the one whose name appears on the arrest notice.

But what of Peggy Landis mentioned in the last year book post? A Margaret Landis is standing behind the brunette looking left.  Mystery solved?  Anyway I love Peggy's hairdo. 

My Great Uncle's Yearbooks -1937

Remember how I said I would share my great uncle's  high school yearbooks?  Well I have three and I'm going to give each one a separate post.  Because the books are not in the best shape and may scanner is weird, I decided not to scan them.

 The first book is from 1937.  My great uncle attended Waukegan High School - which is the same school my mother attended many years later.  It is still open today.   Jack Benny went there but that was before my great uncle so sorry - no pics of a teen aged Jack Benny.

The Cover, the theme for 1937 was Western Ranch

Signatures!  Anyone know when people started writing notes instead of just signing their names?

My great uncle was a freshman - freshmen only got group photos.  He is second from the left, third row up.  It's hard to tell but he wrote "me" and a little arrow pointing to his head.

My great uncle also played football - complete surprise as athletics are so not a family trait these days.  He is the rightmost one, kneeling.

A sampling of the junior class photos.  Everyone looks so spiffy.

One of the things I love to look at is the teaching staff.  It's always interesting to see what classes were offered - along with Math, Home Ec, Latin, Bookkeeping, Office Skills, English, etc . . . was a class called "Clothing" - they even had two teachers who taught it.  I would take that class today.  I bet it taught lots of useful skills - no, I'm not being sarcastic.  I really mean it.

Photos of students goofing around.

Like modern yearbooks the back is full of ads.  Insert obligatory comment about how prices have changed here.

Ephemera! I found what I think is a clipping from the school newspaper.  "Jeep" was apparently my great uncle's nickname.  I have no idea why.  The note seems to indicate he worked for the school paper - but not in 1937 - according to the yearbook.  I tried to hunt down  a photo with Ms. Landis but no luck.  Perhaps we shall find out more in the next two yearbooks.  Or not.  Stay tuned to find out.

Because I can't say it in person . . .

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day.  I'm not going to get into a history lesson here because if you don't know what I'm talking about then you can look it up and get much better background than I can probably give you.

Both my grandfathers and my great uncles on my mother's side fought in WWII.  My one great uncle lost his life in the Pacific: PFC Thomas F. Vasta.  I actually have his high school yearbooks and will someday do a post on them.

But back to D-Day.  My paternal grandfather was there and badly wounded.  As my dad said the other day - "The most important thing to me about D-Day is my dad survived."   Because if he hadn't, my dad wouldn't have been born.  So I'm pretty grateful too.

I never got to know my grandfather.  He died before I was born.  Because the universe loves irony, the career army man who was declared KIA and MIA so many times my grandmother just ignored the telegrams after awhile, lost his life in a car accident.

I know.

So to one 21 year old man who would someday have son who would grow up to be my father: Thank You.  I wish I'd known you from more than stories.  I don't smoke but I will have a beer in your honor today.

As opposed to yesterday when I just had a beer because I wanted one.

I'm definitely your granddaughter.