Friday Family Photo--Graduation Announcements

Thanks to someone in Europe who e-mailed me a genealogy question about an Anna Schürch (web page is in French but the ancestor I think is Swiss Mennonite), I pulled out a file and found the high school graduation announcements of both my mother (Franklin Grove, 1930) and my grandmother (Ashton, 1893), from high schools in Lee County, Illinois, just about 6 miles apart. I didn't remember I had these paper memorabilia.


The Ashton graduating class of 1893 class members were: Fannie A. Smith, Mary L. George, Alice B. Taylor, Lulu I. Canfield, Dollie E. Roat, Ethel E. Reid, Mary E. Wisman, Eva M. Ling, Henry H. Vauple, W. Cabot Hodges, and Louis C. Pollock. The class motto was "One step towards the goal." The Principal was H.V. Baldwin, the grammar department was Wm. Feldkirchner, the Intermediate department was Ida Thompson, and Blanche Vanness was the primary department.

The graduation program for Ashton was quite ambitious with lots of music and speeches by the students. It began with an invocation and music by the orchestra. The Salutatorian address was given by Fannie Smith, and Alice Taylor gave the mission speech. That was followed by a duet by Miss Smith and Mrs. F. Richardson. Then Henry Vauple gave "Earth's Battlefields"* and Lulu Canfield presented "A good cause makes a stour heart." The the school orchestra performed. The class retrospection was given by Mary Wisman, and "Chicago our pride"** was presented by Dollie Roat. Then the Glee Club and Quartette sang. W. Cabot Hodges, one of the 3 graduating men of the class of 1893, spoke on "Education, what it was, is and is to be," followed by Eva Ling's "select reading," which may mean she hadn't selected it in time to let the printer know the title. That was followed by a trio. Mary George read the class prophecy and Ethel Reid gave another "select reading." Then the orchestra played again. Louis Pollock, the class Valedictorian, gave the final speech after which they all sang the "class song." Then the diplomas were presented.

My mother's commencement in 1930 was on May 27 at the Methodist Church. Class members were Frances Genet Hussey, Olive Inez Weybright, Hazel Elizabeth Bill, Merrill C. Morgan, Clair R. Hood, Jack Johnston, Gordon Clark Phillips, Lucile Irene Buck, Norma Arlene Beachley, Ethel Catherine Nass, James Elwin Patch, Dallas B. Stultz, Charles J. Hepfer, Leslie Kenneth Mielke, and Arland Stanley Butler.

The class motto of the 1930 class was "Rowing, not drifting," their colors were blue and gold, and their flower was a rose.

*I looked up "Earth's Battlefields" in Google, and couldn't determine if it were poem or essay, but did find it listed for other turn of the last century graduation programs.

**The Columbian Exposition of 1893 opened in Chicago that year, and I'm sure all of Illinois took great pride in the recognition this brought their state. My grandmother attended the fair with her parents. One could catch a passenger train in Ashton or Franklin several times a day and be in downtown Chicago faster than one could drive there today.