Blooming Grove High School
1932 Commencement
Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas


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PAT NEFF SPEAKER

AT BLOOMING GROVE

SCHOOL EXERCISES

SEVEN GIRLS AND THREE

BOYS RECEIVED THEIR

DIPLOMAS THURSDAY

   BLOOMING GROVE, May 27.—

(Staff Special)—Seven girls and

three boys received diplomas at the

annual commencement exercises of

the Blooming Grove High school

Thursday evening. Pat M. Neff,

member of the Texas Railroad

commission and president-elect of

Baylor University, was the principal

speaker.

   The exercises were held in the

auditorium of the modern high

school completed last summer, and

the place was filled to capacity

with a number of visitors from

nearby communities present.

   As Miss Kitty Ruth Matthews

played the processional, the ten

seniors clad in gray caps and

gowns marched to the seats of

honor reserved for them. The invocation

was pronounced by Rev.

Forrest B. Williams, Baptist minister.

   Others seated on the platform

included Rev. P, L. Schuler,

superintendent G. H. Brown of the

Blooming Grove school system; C.

C. Isbell, high school principal; Pat

M. Neff, Mrs. Finis Farr, Mrs.

Edens Hyndman.

   Walton Huffstutler, second honor

student, extended greetings to

those who had led the class in

their work, to those who had made

education possible, and to other

classmates in his salutatory address.

   He said that the class realized

that in completing high school

it had only received the fundamentals

and were poised before

the open door of the world; pessimists

painted a black picture of

the future but the class looked forward

with pleasure to the challenge

of the world, realizing that

service is the only highway to suc-

cess.

Mrs. Finis Farr, accompanied

by Mrs. Edens Hyndman, both of

Corsicana, was presented in a

violin selection that brought prolonged

applause and a beautiful

bouquet of flowers.

Honor Student Speaks.

   Miss Mavis Griffin, first honor

student, said in her valedictory

that the class realized that they

had abundant cause for gratitude

for the many privileges and opportunities

afforded them in their

eleven years in the public schools,

and that on the eve of their departure

from the school-room their

memories of hundreds of events

were unusually vivid and would be

carried throughout life.

   The valedictorian, boasting one

of the highest averages in the

history of the Blooming Grove

high school, declared that the commencement

occasion was one well

worth remembering, and acknowledged

for the class the debt of

gratitude for the moral and intellectual

training which had been

given them. She expressed the

sincere thanks of the class for

the continued interest and sustained

assistance of the many

friends of the class and school.

Brown Introduced Neff.

   Superintendent G. H. Brown then

introduced Ex-Governor Neff, as

one of the greatest governors the

state had ever commanded and a

true believer in education. Before

he delivered his address the railroad

commissioner was presented

with a large bouquet of flowers.

   "Personality" was the subject of

the speaker's address, and in his

introduction he declared that the

term "personality" was new, and

was unknown to the sacred writ-

ers or to Shakespeare, Dante, Milton

and others; in recent years it

has been heard everywhere until

its meaning has been fixed. He

declared that personality was as

much a part of the individual as

his hands or feet, it is invisible

but can be felt by its effect, and

is intangible yet real.

   Mr. Neff termed personality as

"that we are stripped of camouflage"

or the atmosphere which is

generated within and radiated

without; the outer interpretation

of inner worth developed by every

thought and deed. The speaker

said there was no truer axiom

than "As a man thinketh in his

heart so is he."

Personality Important.

   Personality was termed important

because the thoughts of today

are the dreams of tonight, the

plans of tomorrow and the destiny

of the future. It was asserted

that each force generated and attracted

its kind, and people are

actually known by the radiations

of their personality, and the difference

in reactions to people was

caused by the reactions to the inner

forces.

   He told the seniors that they

would have to make the world in

which they were to live and then

live in the world which they had

made, that each was the determiner

of his own destiny. "Gold or

power cannot change what we are

within. We are just what we are,"

the former governor declared.

  Worth and wealth he declared

were shifting shadows that made

no contributions to character, and

sinews and blood were mere veils

of lace to cover character as revealed

through personality. He told

the seniors that they could not

build pewter lives and have golden

personalities.

   He emphasized the necessity of

proper rations for the mind and

soul just as proper food was required

for a physical body. He

declared that environment and

training could take a common-place

being and develop a really

beautiful character.

   The railroad commissioner then

presented brief episodes from the

lives of several personages which

explained the force of their personality

that determined their

greatness, mentioning Abraham

Lincoln, George Washington, Jenny

Lind, Will Rogers, Paderewski.

Marshall Ferdinand Foch, Sydney

Smith, creator of "Andy Gump.'

Gives Good Advice.

   He told the seniors that if their

lives resulted in mediocrity it

would be because they were unwilling

to pay the price of success,

and assured his listeners that if

any person prepared himself to do

a single task better than any other

person that the world would

seek them out. He advised them

to laugh heartily, live wholesomely,

and love devotedly.

   The railroad commissioner was

given a rousing ovation at the conclusion

of his address, and Superintendent

Brown told the seniors

that one of the best things they

had gotten from high school was

the commencement address.

   Diplomas were then presented

by the superintendent to Misses

Mavis Griffin, Magdalene Barton,

Ruth Adkins, Lucille McCormick,

Mildred Phillips, Maicel Robinson,

Mare Turner, and to Carroll Butler,

Walton Huffstutler, and Curtis

Moody.

The benediction was pronounced

by Rev. P. L. Shuler, pastor

of the Methodist church.

 

The Corsicana Daily Sun  -  Friday, May 27, 1932
Submitted by Diane Richards

 


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