Valley Yearbook Treasures and More Whittlers' Gazette

 

We locals love our Lucasville, Ohio history. I continue to discover many more amazing links to our past online. Local history, up-close and personal, is simply the best. I encourage you to post your own gems online. Once again, allow me to share some information with you.

Here is a post in the 1950 Valley High School Yearbook titled “The Indian.”

“The Valley Schools in the year of 1950 reached a peak enrollment of 1154. This includes both the high school and our two elementary schools while the greatest increase was shown in the lower grades. The present program of improvement in the Valley Local Schools should in due time pay dividends contributing to better citizenship, and should make it possible for our children to secure a better foundation in scholarship and to participate in extra-curricular activities which will prepare them for the world of tomorrow.”

--Mr. L.T. Comer, Valley Superintendent

I believe Mr. Comer's prediction came true. How fortunate we were to attend a great school with administration, teachers, and support staff who helped mold our character. I know my experience at Valley was incredible. Upholding the heritage of 108 years of Lucasville graduates is important to me. Looking back, I now better understand the impact of education in the area. I am very grateful to have been in the Valley system.

Here are a few poems from the 1959 Yearbook:

The time has come for lunch at last,

I thought the time would never pass.

Into the lunchroom to “Betty Lou,”

“Boney Maroney,” and “Peggy Sue.”

The lunchroom is crowded 'cause what we got?

Hamburger on bun, and beans from the pot.

We hurry and eat while the records play.

This is the middle of a hectic day.

Untitled, Author Unknown

We'll catch our bus and homeward go,

Oh, but these buses are awfully slow.

Another day has come and gone,

But still our teachers linger on.

Study your books and be great scholars,

So that when you grow up, you'll make the dollars,

Help your fellowman when he's in trouble,

Then you'll be sure your joys will double.

Untitled by Judy Lintz

“Memories”

Today we leave behind

The things we love so well,

The skating parties and class plays,

And test papers, as well.

Yesterday found us eager

That we might “try our wings,”

We just wanted to get away,

From our school and different things.

Today we are just sad,

To think that we must go.

We regret each fleeting moment,

To leave what we love so.

And no matter what we find

Down our road of Tomorrow,

We'll always remember school days

We left behind with sorrow.

By Judy Kay Boggs

Speaking of '59 … do you remember a school band that rocked?

The “Juniors” were a group that sprang up from the Valley Junior Class to play the music for their class dances. They played for many other activities and made the whole school very proud of them. There is a photo in the online version of the 1959 Annual.

Group members: Steven Vanhoose, Dick Wolfe, Eddie Miller, Wayne Phfleger, Mike Dobbins.

Click here to discover the link to many Valley Yearbooks: https://www.yourppl.org/history/collections/show/156

And let me close this blog entry with a couple more columns from the Whittlers' Gazette, the Official Publication of the Whittlers' Club, National Headquarters at Brant's Village Store in Lucasville, Ohio. These are from the October 1935 edition:

The Health Col-Yum by Dr. W.T. Marrs of Peoria, Illinois (tongue in cheek)

Question:

Mrs. Roy Trusty of Wakefield, Ohio, writes as follows: “Dear Doctor: (I don't know whether I should address you as 'dear doctor' or not.) Ever since you began writing your so-called col-yum and instigated that crazy play called 'Initiating a Whittler,' which seems to be spreading all over the country, my old man is becoming lazier than ever. What I want to know is whether laziness is a disease or not. If it is, he is a really sick man. He never was much account, but here of late he is more useless than ever. He thinks it's a great honor to be classed as a member of the Whittlers' Club of America.

Answer:

Your “old man,” as you choose to call him, has no disease pathology. He has perhaps only reached the reflective stage of life when he can view the great struggles and ambitions in their true perspective. He is a true Whittler who has come into his own. You should be proud of him. Did you not read the ritualistic quotation: “The Whittler must have no worries”? For a moment reflect upon the Whittlers among the great and the near-great – Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, Mark Twain, Ed Howe, Chauncey M. DePew, O.O. McInyre and the greatest of all, the lamented Will Rogers.

“Keep Calm”

When I hear the fiery speeches

Of the orator who preaches

That our government is old and out of date,

I begin sometimes to wonder

If we're really going under,

And if we should all forsake the Ship of State

Then I stop and think a little

And sit down a while and whittle

And conclude that even if it's out of style,

They can keep their quick solutions

And enjoy their revolutions;

I'll stand by the Constitution for a while.

All the schemes so wild and hazy

Planned by demagogues half crazy

May be good for foreign folks across the sea,

But this land of peace and freedom

Doesn't want and doesn't need 'em;

What we have is good enough for you and me.

They persistently assure us

That their medicine will cure us,

If we take a double dose three times a day,

But they may as well be quiet;

We'll keep on with our plain diet

And pull through in the prescribed old fashioned way.

You may think I am benighted,

But I fail to get excited

When the cranks begin to damn the U.S.A.

This old country will be booming

And Prosperity will be blooming

When the Reds and Bolsheviks have passed away.

--Walt

View many more editions of the wonderful Whittlers' Gazette by clicking here: https://www.yourppl.org/history/collections/show/39