(July 2008)
Alumni ...............
The graduation season is over for another year and many new names have been added to the list of alumni. Whether they want to contact for for a donation or a reunion, there are many folks out there looking for former classmates. Modern technology and the world wide web have added a new dimension to the seach with websites like www.reunion.com www.classmates.com www.OldFriendSearch.com and www.Find-MyFriends.com where the search can begin. check some of these out to get your name listed, if you want to be found!
Reunions.............
Local reunions are much anticipated annual events in our central Illinois area. Here are a couple of note worthy school events from this season.
A group of Lexington High School Alumni recently enjoyed a long planned get together at their Remember the 50's Reunion with at time for visiting, picture taking and even a dinner catered by their former school cafeteria cook! Rather than planning the usual individual class reunions, the committee for this event consisted of a class representative from 1950 to 1959 who combined efforts and held one big part at the Lexington Community Center at the end of June. Class representatives were: 1950 Helen Dodson Leake; 1951: Elizabeth Hallstein Worth; 1952: Betty Alexander; 1953: Sharon Buzzard Payne; 1954: Roselma Fritz Powell; 1955: Marlene Perkins Thompson; 1956: Doris Jones Mitchell; 1957: Barbie Whitman Freed; 1958: Patricia Killian Morrison; 1959: Sandy Gleeson McKinley.
Publicity included weekly "mystery pictures" in the local newspaper asking for identification of date, place and names of those involved in carious school events pictures from years ago. Hundreds attended to renew and remember.
The annual Chenoa High School Alumni Banquet is held each year as the school year ends around Memorial Day and this year was no exception. The Chenoa Elementary School gym was filled for the 95th reunion with a good turnout of graduates, who more fondly remembered the room as the "Chenoa High School gym" where most had received their diplomas. Guests included classmates from as far back as the 1930's! Four years ago the Chenoa High School graduates became the final graduating class as they walked onto the stage, because the next year Chenoa school district became part of Prairie Central Schools based in Fairbury. The Chenoa High School building was remodeled into the present Chenoa Elementary of Prairie Central School District.
The Chenoa High School alumni no longer have any graduates to add to their roster, but the group seems stronger than ever with plans already made for many future reunions. The last class who entered Chenoa High School as freshmen in the fall of 2003 will be allowed to attend the Chenoa High School Alumni Banquet in the future, as they were the last group to attend under the Chenoa High School banner, even though they are official graduates of Prairie Central High School. Check out the pictures of this year's banquet and the plan for future banquets at www.chenoail.org
And a special Yearbook ..........
Technology today has also changed our concept of mementos — such as yearbooks. Pictures set to music and displayed on 10 foot tall screens are more likely at today's graduations than the slick pages of yearbooks most of us have neatly preserved over the years.
One little gem recently remembered and worthy of sharing here is the 1920 Lexington High School "Green and White" Yearbook. Surprise! Lexington's familiar purple was not in vogue in 1920 and there was no mention of the Minutemen! It's heartwarming to look through this 103 page album and realize that these folks who appear so fresh and young in the pictures would new be over 100 years old — most probably born in 1902! Many familiar Lexington names appear — Kemp, Freed, Kauth, Lindsey, Breese, Popejoy, Claggett — prominently noted among some not heard of for years or seldom remembered.
An interesting feature of the old book is a list of alumni by year of graduation beginning with 1879, which had made it a "go to book" for checking names of former graduates within those 40 years before 1920. That most useful feature to us, nearly 100 years later, is usually not part of modern day yearbooks, which restrict classmate lists to a mere 4 years.
Some other features found in the 1920 version are surprisingly similar to the things modern day students put in their yearbooks, too. Dedications to lost classmates, "inside" stories that are only understood fully by those who were there, nicknames for classmates, teasing of teachers, sporting victories and pride, music accomplishments, and the many business ads, which are a study of history all by themselves. It is a wonder to see the 20's era photos trimmed and cut into the shape of L H S as a decorative page. Each section of the book is decorated with a page of art work carefully drawn and signed by one of the students on the yearbook staff.
The book was presented to the student body by the senior class of 17 members with 11 of them listed as the yearbook staff. The class history relates that 48 freshies started together in the fall of 1916 (pre WWI) and had dwindled to 21 by the fall of 1919, with only 17 appearing on the picture pages when the book went to press. Page six lists 40 male names on a Roll of Honor, causing us to wonder if some of the class members were listed there and had left school to participate in World War I. No further explanation is given beyond a picture of and dedication to Elmo Hill, lost from the class of 1917, in whose honor the local Legion Post was named.
A collection of Lexington's Annual Yearbooks can be found a the Lexington School Library, including a copy of the old 1920 Green and White, which is also available at The Fort in Lexington.