Until 1919, yearbook name changed annually

When I read the Dear John article where Dave Thomas had questions about the Wahoo, I found out it was 1919 that it became the Wahoo. I thought it was 1916, so I was wrong.

In my vast collection of old DHS school books I have one 1901. It was called “About Us,” edited by the class of ’01. It had pictures of five faculty members and also pictures of 16 graduates. There were no names of anyone in either picture.

But in my 1907 yearbook, called “The Pow Wow,” there is a list of all the DHS grads and faculty from 1864 up to 1907.

W.E. Conkling was superintendent and George Green was principal.

J. Brosnan, Olive Gard and Alice Hawks were three familiar names of the 16 grads.

My 1910 was called the “Chinaman.” The 1909 was “The Billiken.” The 1913 was “The Tattler.” The 1914 “The Advance.” The 1915 was the “Chieftain.”

My 1919 was the Wahoo. The 1907 class colors were pink and white; class flower, pink rose. Class motto was “out of the life of school into the school of life.”

The 1909 class colors, purple and white; flower, violet; motto, “Not at the top, but climbing.”

The 1910 colors, green and gold; flower, yellow rose; motto, “Hitch your wagon to a star.”

The 1913 colors, red and white; flower, red and white carnations; motto, “Deeds, not dreams.”

The 1914 colors, orange and white; flower, white carnations; motto, “Why.”

In 1915, I found it interesting that there was no motto, colors or flowers anywhere in the book. Also, no motto, colors or flowers in my 1919 Wahoo.

So I now wonder when DHS became orange and black.

Another thing I wrote about years back was a book that was given to me to read. It was called the “Chatterbox” Graduation DHS and there was a four-line poem on the cover.

It was a small, old-looking book of only four pages, eight inches by 12 inches, with no date on the cover.

I’ve determined this book was for the eighth graders’ class who would have graduated in 1930.

I dug out my old 1934 Wahoo and the ones listed as eighth graders in it were pictured as seniors in the 1934 Wahoo.

Kenny Bailey, my old neighbor in the 1930s and Agness Kneller, Robert Paxson, Jack Pinette and Lawrence Poleyfeyt were some of the names familiar to me in my 1934 Wahoo.

The Chatterbox was dedicated to the junior high and the book listed the names of students who were elected to the Peridean Society. Out of 270 students, 31 were part of this Peridean Society.

The book had a story titled the “8ths” in 1945 written by Robert Paxson. The story predicted what his eighth grade classmates would be doing in 1945, which was 15 years later.

Familiar names he used were Crystal Goodrich, Lenord Hall, Kenny Bailey, Josephine Krziza, Wayne Angle, Elmer Brown, Capitola Myers, Hubert Langley, Martha Mosier, John Vylonis and Lee Zelner, all 1934 grads.