Who’s Who or Who’s That?

Memory is a funny thing. I looked at this Central High School auditorium assembly and immediately started assigning names to folks I hadn’t thought of in years, but then I looked at faces that were very familiar and couldn’t dredge up a name to save my soul.

I don’t know if this is a photographic Who’s Who of Central’s finest or if they cause a flicker because I’ve seen them on the wall of the Post Office. Click on the photos to make them larger.

I see, in no particular order, Shari Stiver, Claudia Modder, Chuck Dockins, Gail Tibbles, Marilyn Maevers, Craig Brinkman, Stephen Crowe, Don Call, Lee Dehringer, Yvonne Askew, Joan Amlingmeyer, Janey Crites, John David Finch, Jay Fred Waltz and David Stovall. I don’t see Pat Sommers, but he’ll be pleased to know that there is at least one student in the photo shooting me the bird. Maybe Pat sent in a substitute.

Packed hallways

Whatever was happening in the assembly must have been good. The hallways are packed with students headed to the auditorium. That looks like Randy Morse in the striped shirt on the right.

No hallway rage here

There is plenty of congestion, but nobody seems to be particularly put out at the gridlock.

Wayne Goddard has eye on Jim Feldmeier

Assistant Principal Wayne Goddard, left, has his eye on Jim Feldmeier, student body president. He’s sure Jim is cooking up something behind that cherubic expression. I don’t know who the girl next to him is, but she’s eyeing the podium with a look of fright. She and Jim appear to be the only ones clutching notes.

I can’t tell from the mix of teachers what might have been going on. I recognize art teacher Edna Glenn. Third from the right is English teacher Cecile Busch and, to the right of her is Latin teacher Susan May. I can’t place the man on the end. Principal Fred Wilferth is at the podium.

Take it from someone who has stood behind that podium, it was both a massive wooden structure and a tiny splinter that never felt big enough to hide behind when you were facing a packed auditorium of your peers.

Journalism, music, sports

The right side of the stage has an even more eclectic mix. Henry Crites, left, taught journalism; Ken Webster, physics; Gene Bryant, vocal music; Coach Robert Goodwin is staring intently at Mr. Wilferth. He’s thinking, “As soon as the principal clears the stage, I’m gonna have that scrawny photographer running around the track until his wheels fall off.” I don’t know the two on the right.

 

 

Languages and Art

I shot the Language Department for the 1965 Girardot. The teachers are Dan Moore, Spanish; Charlotte Malahy, Latin; Susan May and Mary Sivia, French. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

With the demographic shifts we’re seeing, it’s interesting that Central had two French teachers, but only one Spanish teacher. I guess French might have helped me communicate with the Haitian Creole speakers who have migrated to Florida and some of the Louisiana backwoods Cajuns I ran across covering hurricanes, but parts of South Florida speak more Spanish than English.

Other language stories

Senior Moore and Spanish class

Miss Krueger’s retirement party and other CHS teachers who were there when Dad was in school.

Edna Glenn, Art instructor

I managed to dodge art class until I got to Ohio University. All photo majors had to take Art 101. Here’s an account of the experience.

I knew I was in trouble from the first day when the instructor said we were to fill a sketchbook with renderings of common objects we encountered  every day.

The first problem was that we weren’t on the same page when it came to defining “rendering.” He was thinking, “picture: show in, or as in, a picture; “This scene depicts country life”; ‘the face of the child is rendered with much tenderness in this painting’.”

My work came closer to “melt (fat or lard) in order to separate out impurities; ‘render the yak butter’; ‘render fat in a casserole.’”

There WERE some Central High School students who did Mrs. Glenn proud.