Central High School Archives

March 17, 2011

1931 Central High School Band

Dad, Central High School Class of 1934, was in the Kodak Club. He had a scrapbook with a photo of the 1931 Central High School Band in it. [Click on any image to make it larger. I saved these in higher resolution than usual so you can blow them up larger to see the names and detail.]

Band in The Girardot

The same picture shows up on the bottom of Page 113 in the 1931 Girardot. I don’t know if he took it or if he just had access to it. Since several other photos in the scrapbook are also in The Girardot, I’m going to guess that he took the photos.

His 1931 book doesn’t list him in the Kodak Club, but he has written on the page that he was a member of the Kodak Club 1931-1932. “In 1932 I was elected president, took great interest in the club.”

I don’t have a copy of HIS senior yearbook – 1934 – but I found one that had belonged to Carlston Bohnsack in a Cape antique shop. Dad, known as Junior Steinhoff back then, was listed as president of the Kodak Club in that one, too.

Familiar names in band

The 1931 yearbook had a nautical theme. It said, “Under the command of their new captain, Mr. William Shivelbine, the band had enjoyed one of its most successful years. it has played for a total of twenty-two events this year, which proves its popularity.”

Milton Ueleke, who went on to teach our generation science at CHS, played the cornet and served as band librarian.

Central High School Today

Central High School, which was later named Schultz School, has been renovated and turned into Schultz Senior Apartments.

I featured the exterior of the building Dec. 7, 2010, and the interior on Dec. 8. The lobby and public areas of the building are decorated with murals of photos from the yearbooks and displays of objects that might have been used by the school’s clubs.

March 11, 2011April 10, 2016

Central Snaps II

In the same negative sleeve marked Central Snaps with the pep rally photos from the other day were these random photos.

Some of the film was in pretty bad shape and some of the exposures were marginal, so I apologize for the dust spots, blurs and scratches. Even though some of them are technically not great, they contain photos of some of the teachers I remember best. And, they did a pretty good job of capturing some of their favorite gestures and body language.

Miss Kathryn Sackman, American History teacher, had a way of leaning forward, cocking her head and peering at you through her glasses just like above. I recognize Joan Earley and Yvonne Askew.

Irene Wright

English and drama teacher Irene Wright, shown here in what must have been the auditorium, taught with a flair and a lot of enthusiasm.

Ruby Davis

Ruby Davis, in the background, taught art, speech, debate and sponsored the school publications. She also cut me no slack. I still have some of her critiques of my speeches. “There is no such word as ‘warsh.'” “Sarcastic may feel good, but it doesn’t win debates.” She despaired of ever ridding me of my Swampeast Missouri nasal twang.

I can’t tell how many times I’ve seen her with that hand on the neck contemplative look. When it was directed at me, I always had the feeling she was holding on to her neck to keep from grabbing me around mine.

Yearbook work

These ladies appear to be working on The Girardot. That’s Vicki Miller on the right. I must have been taking lessons from One-Shot Frony, because I shot just one frame of each situation. In most cases, it was one shot per classroom. I don’t recall ever printing these, so it must have been done as some kind of finger exercise.

Hallway photo

I don’t know if this was in a hallway, the Tiger Den or the cafeteria. That’s Vicky Roth beaming at the camera. I know she was beaming at the camera because she was always more likely to bean me than beam AT me.

Is that Carol Rawlings?

Is the girl in the middle of this picture in the library Carol Rawlings? Wife Lila says “no;” I say “maybe.” Anyone want to weigh in?

Sally Wright in library

That’s Sally Wright, right foreground, cracking the books in the library. It’s a fairly studious-looking group.

Central High School library

I had forgotten how crowded the library was. I see one person reading a newspaper, but the majority of students have books open and pencils in hand. That might be Bill East in the white shirt on the right, but I wouldn’t swear to it.

Is there talking going on?

It’s sort of hard to tell, but it looks like the couple on the right may be breaking the rules by talking in the library.

March 9, 2011

“Central Snaps” Pep Rally

The negative sleeve just says, “Central Snaps.” It looks like a pep rally of some kind.

Class of 65-66 cheerleaders

I recognize some of the cheerleaders as being in the Class of 65 and 66.

Robert Frank

A photographer named Robert Frank crisscrossed the country in 1955-56 to produce a photo book, The Americans. This photo reminds me a little bit of his style. It has lots of elements that appear to be disjointed, but are still tied together. Everyone in the picture is looking in a different direction, but they are all connected somehow.

It’s a photo I can appreciate now, but probably didn’t look at twice when I originally edited the film. Did I know what I was shooting or was it just a random shutter click?

Classes of 65 and 66 represented

Looks like majorettes Linda Maddux and Vicky Berry at the left and Mike Seabaugh and Don Sander in the convertible.

Stripes and polka dots

That’s an interesting contrast in clothing. I see some of the cars have CHS decals on them. I don’t recall having one stuck to the window of my family’s 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon.

February 25, 2011February 25, 2011

Central High Safety Week

I wasn’t going to bother doing anything with this because the negative was scratched up and it was just another bulletin board shot.

When I looked more closely, however, I saw that the Safety Week display Joanne Bone was putting up a collection of spot news photos I had taken of overturned trucks and cars, fires and other Bad Things. What the heck, I always like to show off my work, even it it’s too small to see.

Remember the gory movie?

Did you have to sit through the gory traffic safety movie assembly, too? I was probably the only kid who watched it thinking, “Wow, that would have been a lot better if the guy had stepped over there a couple of feet,” or “a second light would really have improved that.”

Check out the ring

When I enlarged the photo on the screen to touch up some scratches and dust, I got a gander at the size of the ring on Joanne’s left hand. Either she bought her class ring super-sized, thinking she might grow into it some day or she was going steady with some big guy. (Clicking on the photo will make the it slightly larger.)