Majorettes and Others

Central High School students and teachers c 1964-65Here’s a fact of Internet life: you get a lot more search engine traffic if you have the word “Majorettes” in the headline than if you say “Boring Guys in Suits.”

You’re going to get a mixed bag today. All the negative sleeve says is Jaycee Golf Awards – CHS majorettes, teachers 64-65.” I’m going to guess they were shot for The Girardot rather than The Tiger.

Your homework assignment

I know that school is out soon, but you have one more assignment before the final bell rings: identify these people and what they are doing. I could root through the old Girardots, but that’s what I have you folks for.

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the sides to move through the gallery. OK, you may pick up your pencils.

1956 SEMO Homecoming Parade

I’m dipping into Steve McKeown’s stash of photos taken by his dad, James D. McKeown III, to show the 1956 Southeast Missouri State College (now University) Homecoming parade headed down Broadway between Pacific and North West End Blvd.

I’m sure car buffs will enjoy seeing the fancy wheels. Old truck enthusiasts will like the red pickup in the church parking lot.

Trucks supplied by local companies

I see trucks from E.C. Robinson Lumber Co. and Wiethrop Trucking.

Pictures of other Homecoming Parades

1956 Homecoming Parade photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery. Give a round of applause to Steve for providing the photos and to his dad for taking them.

Central Majorettes 1964-65

I may have run one or more of these photos before – it’s getting harder and harder to remember what’s run and what hasn’t. Well, if I WAS going to repeat something, I can’t think of anything better than this. Click on the photos to make them larger.

This is the photo that ran in the 1964 Girardot.

Kneeling: Pam Parks, Ann Seabaugh.

Standing: Becky McGinty, Linda Maddux, Susan Seabaugh, Robin Kratz, Vicki Berry, Della Heise.

Alternate shot of the 1964 Majorettes

The order is slightly different, but you should be able to figure out who is who.

1965 Girardot majorette photo

This is one of those groupings that make it difficult to write a caption. Do you list them by row, by clockwise or do you do what the editor did and punt and just list the names.

Jane McKeown; Gwen Petty; Della Heise, drum major; Phyllis Metzger; Ruth Ann Seabaugh, head majorette; Toni Grose, Nancy Swan.

1965 majorettes in gym

We must have wanted to hedge our bets by taking a second shot inside the gym. Note: don’t shoot flash directly at a shiny ceramic brick wall. The light will bounce right back at you. Somebody must have helped line up this shot. I could have gotten them lined up, but I wouldn’t have come up with that toe-point thing.

Leading band down Broadway

Ruth Ann Seabaugh is in the lead. It must have been a day that warmed up. I see lots of folks in the crowd holding their coats and jackets. The boy second from the left seems to be checking out Toni’s ankles pretty closely.

Other majorette photos

Cape Central Turns 100 in 2012

Cape Central High School, in all its forms, will be 100 years old in 2012. Despite what some people may think, I was NOT in the inaugural class.

Several of the high school newsletters had mentioned that Central’s librarian, Julia Howes Jogensen, had put together a book, Cape Central High School Centennial to celebrate the occasion. One of my first stops when I got to Cape this fall was the CHS library to see if they had sold out of the books. Fortunately, they hadn’t.

It’s a very nice, yearbook-style book with 120 pages of photos and stories about Central High School, from the very first days right up to the present time. The 1950-1960s eras are well-documented. In fact, I saw three or four of my yearbook shots in it.

How do I get a Centennial book?

How can you get a copy of the book? Go to the merchandise website.

Or, send a check for $50 made out to Cape Central High School (memo line: Centennial book)

 Cape Central High School

1000 South Silver Springs Road

Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63703

Attn: Julia Jorgensen

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking through my copy. I noticed on the merchandise webpage that limited numbers of old high school yearbooks were available. I’m not sure if there are any left.

Photo gallery from the book

This is just a sample of some of the photos that are in the Centennial book. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery. I’ll be bringing you current pictures of Julia’s new Central High School library in the next day or so. It’s nothing like the sterile, shushing study hall we remember.