Installment #10: Graduating from high school

Claudell purchased this yellow dress for $55. She wore it to her senior prom, class night, and graduation. 

When Claudell was 16 years old and a junior in high school, her mother Lucille and family decided to move back to California to live. Claudell was determined to finish school and chose not to follow her family to California. After all, she had raised herself so far, so another year or two more wouldn't make much difference.

Claudell started out as a below-average high school student. Her grades during her sophomore year were no higher than "C-" leaving her in the bottom fourth of her class. She buckled down, however, and by the time she graduated from high school she was in the top fourth of her graduating class.

For four years she "played" the clarinet in the band. Surprisingly Glenn and Lucille purchased her a clarinet to play. She never learned to play the instrument, only learning to play only scales. She must have mastered those because she was even raised up a chair! She went all four years to practice, never learning to play. According to her, she "had no musical knowledge or musical aptitude." She bluffed her way through.

During her sophomore year, she was also a member of the Drum Corps, where she played the snare drum - an instrument she was apparently good at. The girls wore white skirts, blue military-looking jackets, hat and tennis shoes. She marched twice a year: the Joplin Fiesta and Joplin Christmas parade, which was 26 blocks long. She loved every minute of it.

She was a loner throughout high school but liked to make people laugh. She wasn't good at parties, even though she loved to dance.

Claudell worked hard to save up the money to purchase a gown to wear to her senior prom, class night and graduation. She and friend, Betty Rooney, each had $60 to spend so they went to Kassab's department store in Joplin. Claudell's dress was yellow with black accents and Betty's was flowered. Each dress cost $55 on sale.

For prom, she was given a rose-gold watch with three diamonds and a ruby, for class night she was given a corsage made from 12 yellow tea roses and for graduation, she had a corsage of seven red roses and was given a necklace and earrings. The gifts came from friends and relatives, not from her mother and step-father.

1945 graduating class, Galena High School, Galena, Kansas

She accomplished what she set out to do: graduate from high school.  She was the first in her family. Her grandfather was a miner, her grandmother and mother were housewives and her uncles had gone off to war.