| Cruisin' the Past |
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| Cruisin’ the Past by Ed Dooley |
A Season of Giving
As we enter this season of giving at the end of 2008, it is appropriate that we recall the
generous giving of time and effort in community service projects by so many of our
classmates a half century ago. It is popular these days to praise high school and college
students for their commitment to volunteerism, and rightly so, but we must not lose sight of
the fact that students in our time, and many at Catalina High School, were also committed
to community service activities. The difference, perhaps, between then and now is that
most of our efforts were devoted to raising funds for worthy causes, usually in the battle
against disease, while today’s students are more likely to be found building Habitat for
Humanity houses, teaching, and mentoring disadvantaged children.
In today’s high schools, spending some time as a volunteer is often one of the
requirements for graduation, and such service is considered important by college
admissions officers and prospective employers. At CHS, there was no school requirement
for community service, but many of the clubs – generally known as extracurricular activities
– included in their statements of purpose some mention of public service activity, and some
clubs had public service as a central purpose. Catalina’s Service Council, for example, not
only assisted with CHS school activities, but also volunteered for community service
projects, including sponsoring Christmas parties at the Tucson Community Kindergarten
and at the Southside Day Nursery. The Junior Red Cross handed out pamphlets at El
Rancho Market for the Easter Blood Bank Drive, collected gifts for overseas boxes, and
donated Christmas gifts for a day nursery, among many other projects. Other clubs, not as
directly public-service oriented, also did their part. The Catalina Lettermans Club, for
example, donated their time to such projects as the “Peanuts for Polio Drive” and, with
about 90 other CHS students, to the Cystic Fibrosis Drive, known as the “Chip in for C-F”
drive because students sold potato chips around town for the cause. The El Club Cid,
Catalina’s Spanish Club, collected clothes for poor children of Sasabe, Arizona.
Two clubs considered themselves primarily “service organizations” – the Tri-Hi-Y for girls
and the Hi-Y for boys. The girls’ organization sponsored an orphan overseas, went Trick-
or-Treating for UNICEF, sold tickets for YMCA Christmas trees, and collected clothes and
toys for the Papago Hospital on the nearby Indian Reservation. The main project of the
boys’ organization was to participate in “Peanuts for Polio,” an annual city-wide effort that
involved over 2000 teenagers from Tucson high schools placed at 200 posts throughout
the city’s shopping centers. Sponsored by the Pima County Chapter of the Arizona March
of Dimes, the annual drive was called TAP (Teenagers Against Polio) and it sold
approximately 50,000 bags of Toms Toasted Peanuts for this cause each year. The CHS
Honor Society also participated in the Peanuts for Polio Drive, as well as collecting canned
food for the needy and helping to collect Toys for Tots. Over 250 CHS students joined the
“peanuts drive.” The school that sold the most peanuts was honored with a trophy and its
candidate reigned as “Peanut Queen” at a “Victory Dance” held in the Student Union
Ballroom at the University of Arizona. Also related to polio, members of Catalina’s Future
Nurses and Medical Teammates Association (a title that says much about the late 1950s
and early 1960s) painted fifty posters for placement in elementary schools around town
urging immunization against polio. “Have you had your polio shots? Let’s all fight polio!”
was the message back in those days when polio was still to be feared. Most of us, of
course, avoided having polio shots by taking the serum on little sugar cubes.
The Future Nurses and Medical Teammates Association also gave their services to various
hospitals and sponsored several parties for patients at the Marshall Home for Men, a
United Community Campaign home for elderly, unemployable men. In those simpler days,
one often saw examples of service for “old folks.” Members of the Catalina Christian Youth
sang at hospitals and “old folks’ homes.” At the end of the 1959-60 school year, the
Catalina C Y-Teens reported that “A candy sale to raise money for the Inter-Club Council
and providing entertainment for old people were this year’s projects…” The term “senior
citizens” had not yet become the preferred description. CHS students also volunteered at
the Tucson Medical Center, working as Junior Gray Men or as Candy Stripers. There were
also a number of food drives for “needy Tucson families.”
Christmas was a time for increased activity among Catalina’s volunteers. In addition to the
Service Council’s Christmas parties for children, there were the annual “Christmas Baskets
for the Needy” drive and the annual “Catalina Christmas Can Drive,” for which cartons were
placed in the front hall to receive donations of canned and packaged foods. The cartons
were labeled for the four different classes, and a competition was held to see which class
would collect the most donations. As it was Christmas, the Trumpeteer reported, “Mrs.
Myrtle Brown, dean of girls, suggests that cake or cookie mixes be included among the
other foods. These would give the recipient a greater feeling of Christmas, she said.”
There were probably many more group and individual examples of generosity and
voluntarism in those years that have escaped the historical record, but this brief account
suggests that the students of Catalina High School were as committed to community
service and charity as today’s students. It is good to remember this aspect of life at CHS
as we enter this season of giving.
As we enter this season of giving at the end of 2008, it is appropriate that we recall the
generous giving of time and effort in community service projects by so many of our
classmates a half century ago. It is popular these days to praise high school and college
students for their commitment to volunteerism, and rightly so, but we must not lose sight of
the fact that students in our time, and many at Catalina High School, were also committed
to community service activities. The difference, perhaps, between then and now is that
most of our efforts were devoted to raising funds for worthy causes, usually in the battle
against disease, while today’s students are more likely to be found building Habitat for
Humanity houses, teaching, and mentoring disadvantaged children.
In today’s high schools, spending some time as a volunteer is often one of the
requirements for graduation, and such service is considered important by college
admissions officers and prospective employers. At CHS, there was no school requirement
for community service, but many of the clubs – generally known as extracurricular activities
– included in their statements of purpose some mention of public service activity, and some
clubs had public service as a central purpose. Catalina’s Service Council, for example, not
only assisted with CHS school activities, but also volunteered for community service
projects, including sponsoring Christmas parties at the Tucson Community Kindergarten
and at the Southside Day Nursery. The Junior Red Cross handed out pamphlets at El
Rancho Market for the Easter Blood Bank Drive, collected gifts for overseas boxes, and
donated Christmas gifts for a day nursery, among many other projects. Other clubs, not as
directly public-service oriented, also did their part. The Catalina Lettermans Club, for
example, donated their time to such projects as the “Peanuts for Polio Drive” and, with
about 90 other CHS students, to the Cystic Fibrosis Drive, known as the “Chip in for C-F”
drive because students sold potato chips around town for the cause. The El Club Cid,
Catalina’s Spanish Club, collected clothes for poor children of Sasabe, Arizona.
Two clubs considered themselves primarily “service organizations” – the Tri-Hi-Y for girls
and the Hi-Y for boys. The girls’ organization sponsored an orphan overseas, went Trick-
or-Treating for UNICEF, sold tickets for YMCA Christmas trees, and collected clothes and
toys for the Papago Hospital on the nearby Indian Reservation. The main project of the
boys’ organization was to participate in “Peanuts for Polio,” an annual city-wide effort that
involved over 2000 teenagers from Tucson high schools placed at 200 posts throughout
the city’s shopping centers. Sponsored by the Pima County Chapter of the Arizona March
of Dimes, the annual drive was called TAP (Teenagers Against Polio) and it sold
approximately 50,000 bags of Toms Toasted Peanuts for this cause each year. The CHS
Honor Society also participated in the Peanuts for Polio Drive, as well as collecting canned
food for the needy and helping to collect Toys for Tots. Over 250 CHS students joined the
“peanuts drive.” The school that sold the most peanuts was honored with a trophy and its
candidate reigned as “Peanut Queen” at a “Victory Dance” held in the Student Union
Ballroom at the University of Arizona. Also related to polio, members of Catalina’s Future
Nurses and Medical Teammates Association (a title that says much about the late 1950s
and early 1960s) painted fifty posters for placement in elementary schools around town
urging immunization against polio. “Have you had your polio shots? Let’s all fight polio!”
was the message back in those days when polio was still to be feared. Most of us, of
course, avoided having polio shots by taking the serum on little sugar cubes.
The Future Nurses and Medical Teammates Association also gave their services to various
hospitals and sponsored several parties for patients at the Marshall Home for Men, a
United Community Campaign home for elderly, unemployable men. In those simpler days,
one often saw examples of service for “old folks.” Members of the Catalina Christian Youth
sang at hospitals and “old folks’ homes.” At the end of the 1959-60 school year, the
Catalina C Y-Teens reported that “A candy sale to raise money for the Inter-Club Council
and providing entertainment for old people were this year’s projects…” The term “senior
citizens” had not yet become the preferred description. CHS students also volunteered at
the Tucson Medical Center, working as Junior Gray Men or as Candy Stripers. There were
also a number of food drives for “needy Tucson families.”
Christmas was a time for increased activity among Catalina’s volunteers. In addition to the
Service Council’s Christmas parties for children, there were the annual “Christmas Baskets
for the Needy” drive and the annual “Catalina Christmas Can Drive,” for which cartons were
placed in the front hall to receive donations of canned and packaged foods. The cartons
were labeled for the four different classes, and a competition was held to see which class
would collect the most donations. As it was Christmas, the Trumpeteer reported, “Mrs.
Myrtle Brown, dean of girls, suggests that cake or cookie mixes be included among the
other foods. These would give the recipient a greater feeling of Christmas, she said.”
There were probably many more group and individual examples of generosity and
voluntarism in those years that have escaped the historical record, but this brief account
suggests that the students of Catalina High School were as committed to community
service and charity as today’s students. It is good to remember this aspect of life at CHS
as we enter this season of giving.