Alma Mater September 6, 2018

Copyright © 2018                               John F. Oyler 

September 6, 2018

Alma Mater 

Three recent deaths and the donation of a collection of valuable artifacts to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society have influenced me to focus on Bridgeville High School in the late 1940s, a subject we have discussed recently in our series of “Second Tuesday” workshops.

Incidentally we should report that the Historical Society has cancelled the September “Second Tuesday’ workshop because of a conflict with the annual 9/11 memorial service at Holy Child Church. We will be back on October 9 with our review of the 1954 and 1955 BHS classes.

Arlene Scola Ellenberger recently donated an envelope full of photographs of BHS students in the years 1946 through 1949 which is a valuable addition to our archives. Arlene was an enthusiastic member of our 1949 class. 

She had the lead in our class play when we were juniors and hosted a cast party at her parents’ home after the final performance. I have a vivid memory of her mother rinsing a huge quantity of spaghetti noodles in their laundry.

In the summer of 1948 Arlene, Bob Baldwin, and I were the soda jerk staff at McMillen’s Drug Store. It was an interesting job, as the drug store served as the unofficial terminal for the Bigi Bus Line; consequently we got a lot of business from bus customers. 

Arlene was also an outstanding athlete, arguably the best basketball player in our class. Unfortunately this was long before Title X and she never had the opportunity for organized competition. One wonders what she and Kay Banks and Mary Margaret Maioli, and dozens more might have accomplished in an environment like we enjoy today.

Most of the photographs are posed; there is a nice one of Arlene with her close friends Vivian Kirkpatrick and Loraine Andrews. Another pair of photos includes Florene Cherry, Sally Russell, Emma Cortazzo, Eleanor Aleski, Pauline Calabro, and Dolores Meassick.

I was especially pleased to see a picture of five of my favorite 49er girls – Mary Fryer, Patsy Winnechuke, Dolores Kovach, Bonnie Engel, and Ethol Snyder – each holding a single rose.  I wonder what the occasion was; I would have been happy to present a rose to each of them.

Ethol was a special person for me. A “catty-corner” next door neighbor, she was the closest thing to a sister that I ever had. By the time I became interested in her as more than a friend, she was already happily involved with one of my best buddies.  

There are, of course, pictures of boys in the set as well – a neat one of the Batch twins, Emil Codol, and Emory Barzan; one with Don Emma and Ron Lesko; a pairing of Al Bigi and Joe Stalma; and solo shots of Dick Rothermund and Fred Donelli.

Particularly sad for me is a photograph of bosom buddies Dick Johnson and Tullio DiMarco, both of whom passed away much too soon. 

Arlene has identified some of the people in the photos; John Rosa and I added a few more names. Next time you’re at the History Center, ask for the album and see if you can identify anyone else.

Our “Second Tuesday” workshop for July featured the graduating classes of 1952 and 1953. In the short time since then three of the students we featured have passed away. We are reminded of the old superstition that “bad things happen in threes”.

Arthur “Buzzy” Fryer and Armella Colussy Dozzo were stalwart members of the 1952 class; Ron Rothermund, of the 1953 class. I knew each of them when they were small children; Buzzy and Ron grew up in our neighborhood.   

Although I had no contact with Buzzy as an adult, I was privileged to know Mell and Ron well in recent years, primarily through the Historical Society. Mell was a major influence in the development of the Society, full of positive suggestions; her glass was always half full. She projected an air of dignity that infused everything she did.

I was closer to Ron than to Buzzy and Mell. When we were in high school his brother Dick and I were best friends; I got to know Ron well. The kids in the neighborhood regularly congregated to Rothermunds’ porch in the summer to play board games. 

One year (1948?) we replicated the American League on the classic Cadaco-Ellis All Star Baseball board game, hand making cards for all two hundred players from Nabisco Shredded Wheat box dividers. The game still exists – one can download patterns for current players from the Internet today.

Ron was the board game champion; he had a remarkable capability of processing data. Another favorite game was Foto-Electric Football. It utilized a light table to shine through two plates – one showing the offensive play graphically; the other, the defensive formations. There were hundreds of possible combinations. As soon as the light table showed which play and which defense had been matched, Ron would exclaim “Six-yard gain!” and invariably would be correct.

He was also the best all-around player in pickup games regardless of the sport – street basketball, touch football, softball, etc. When I saw Ben Rupnik at the funeral home, he shook his head and commented “Ron was a fine basketball player”, an impressive tribute from a legitimate expert.

In recent years Ron became a fixture at our Octogenarian brunches and our friendship was renewed. I hesitate to suggest that old friendships are the most precious, but I certainly cherished this one. I am blessed to have so many wonderful “old friends”; it is particularly sad to lose this one.

As our group of Bridgeville High School alumni continues to dwindle it is more important than ever that we do everything we can to archive our memories. The collection of snapshots that Arlene donated is a perfect example of this – it is a nostalgic reminder of high school life seventy years ago.