From Chronicle: “Directing Glee club members in preparation for the production of ‘Brigadoon,’ May 29 and 30, is Theodore Piekos accompanied by Carol Horr, pianist. Rita Arsenault, William Gotha, Marilyn Quill, and William Griffin are singing in the play.
The page one article on events coming up for CHS seniors in Class of 1964 began: “Rounding their last bend . . . .” Indeed we were.
In less than seven weeks, we would graduate. During those weeks would be Class Day, Honors Night, the Class Banquet, the senior opera(?), the Senior Prom, and . . . oh, yeah . . . classes, papers, exams . . . as well as dates, parties, trips to the beach, etc. Sometimes, things got pretty hectic.
Among the highlights of the April 24, 1964, Chronicle:
— Brendan Montano and Janice Perry (page 1) get gold medals in the Massachusetts State Speech Festival
— Frank Hurley and Rita Arsenault (page 1) ready for lead roles in the upcoming Glee Club presentation of Brigadoon
— Paul Rieker (page 2) pens a column examining the efficacy of “trial by jury”
— John Dubiel and Bill Devlin (page 3) win superior ratings in the JETS (Junior Engineering Technological Society) Science Fair (“Once you’re a Jet . . . “)
— Richard Joseph (page 4) is a sensation as Satan (right) in the Drama Society’s presentation of the 14th century “The True Mistery (sic) of the Passion.”
— John Collins (page 5) begins his outstanding senior season as Cathedral’s fastest human
— Gene Ryzewicz (page 6) excels on a very different field, as he takes top honors at CHS in the National Prize Math exam.
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You have done such a nice job working with the Chronicles, Bill. Thanks for bringing back all those memories!!
Congrats to you, along with Gene and Pete for those math awards!
One of my fondest memories from Cathedral High involves sharing time with some fellow students in presenting the Passion Play during Senior year. I’m not sure how I “qualified” for the role of Satan, but it may go back to Senior English class with Sister Rose Carmel. She assigned many challenging projects for us. One of them was to present an extemporaneous speech on a topic Sister would provide, moments before we spoke. I recall that my topic was “Interesting people we have met.” I had fun with the topic and apparently impressed Sister. She may have seen a devilish talent in me and passed it on to the Drama coach.
Regarding the South Hadley High School Drama Festival, Cathedral High was invited to present a one-act play in this competition. The Passion Play cast accepted the challenge to compete in this drama festival. We presented scenes depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The judges deemed our performance was inappropriately focused on a religious theme and would not consider our performance in the competition. However, in what may have been an act of conscience, the judges honored one of our cast with the “Most Outstanding Actor” trophy.
So many of our Class of 1964 distinguished themselves during their time at CHS. It was a privilege to add my small contribution as “Satan.” Hmmm!!!
Page 6 math exam results – not the first or last time my name was misspelled as Sheehan, nor since I went into computers after college was it my only experience as lone female in a group. Four years with Sr. Marita Joseph prepared me well though. She was all about “Well why SHOULDN’T women do well in mathematics?”
Thank you Bill for putting all of this together. I’m looking forward to the reunion in October.