As I sifted through the box of Searchlights from Evelyn Long’s house, I happened upon one from November 1953. Coincidentally, this would be the senior year of the class of 1954, which will be celebrating its 70-year reunion this upcoming May. In this edition, the class of 1954 had just taken their individual senior pictures by Cubberly Studios of Delaware, Ohio.
The junior class recently sold magazines with Dale Shaffer being the top salesman at $142, and Mills Poorman coming in second place at $118. The representatives to Buckeye Boys and Girls State — Betty Bowman, David Burggraf and Tom Conaway — reported back on their activities, experiences, and offices held during the week away. Coach Dennis Bell came back to coach football at Cardington High School after Edward Wolfe departed for a position with the federal government.
Coming to the stage of the now J. Lowell Patterson Gymnasium was the production of “Tattletale” put on by the students. Members of the play’s cast were Margaret Byrd, Laura Lowther, Dean Curl, Ann Thompson, Richard Koon, Dottie Haycook Joel Shaffer, Jon Sellars, Don Wilson, Janenne Heacock, Norita Fricke, Cecil Shoemaker, Phyllis George, Linda McElroy, Mills Poorman, and LaCreta McClish. Thompson was also selected as November’s Student of the Month by the student council.
A bit of sad news was featured at the bottom of the front page as Winifred Brandum, a freshman, was homebound with jaundice for several weeks, and the writers asked for cards with well wishes to be mailed to her.
The Searchlight staff for this volume of publications was Evelyn Foust, editor; Joyce Underwood, associate editor; Joyce (Lorimer) Landon, business manager; James Corbitt, associate business manager; Ann (Boger) Goodman-Heimlich, circulation manager; Gloria Pine, feature editor; Zanoni Faust, exchange editor; Jane Patterson, junior high editor; Betty Betts, elementary news editor; Tom Fisher, sports editor; Joel Shaffer, photography editor; and Martha Schorr, proofreader.
The most enjoyable piece was the “Who’s Who Now?” section where a list of the most recent graduates was paired with the current plans six months after commencement. Some highlights are Janice (Sparks) Clinger, advertising department at HPM; Geraldine (Maceyko) Fasig, Shelby Depot; Shirley (Fowble) Robinson, waitress in filling station; Jackie (Mason) Winchell, North Electric of Galion; Kathryn (Williams) Halfhill, Cleveland Bible Institute; Bruce Reppart, Mills Feed and Seed Store; and Juanita (Richey) Randall, secretary to County Superintendent T. A. Gantz.
Looking Back:
• 50 years ago, February 1974: John Bennett was appointed village marshall of Cardington. He was the president of the Morrow County Firemen’s and Squadsmen’s Association. Brad Landon rolled a 300-game at Morrow Lanes as a member of the Al’s Restaurant team. His teammates were Leonard Benson, Russell Conant, Don Wilson and Ronnie Carsner. This was the first perfect game bowled at Morrow Lanes.
• 40 years ago, February 1984: Ronnie Babbs, Luann Reed, and Scott Gompf participated in the annual FFA Public Speaking contest. Gompf received a silver rating and placed first in the “prepared” division. Reed moved on to the district competition placing eighth with a silver rating. The following students from Cardington-Lincoln participated in the county spelling bee: Melissa Lee, Mayo Lee, Chris DeVol, Sharon Gayheart, Linda Lee, Matt Hall, Troy Ruehrmund, Tobbi Prince, Ernie Lowe, Bill Lemaster and Audrey Wilson. Dorothy Benson and Pat Flora were the advisors.
• 30 years ago, February 1994: The proficiency winners at the district evaluation contest for FFA were Josh Carroll, Renee Denton, Carrie Prine, Heather Lawyer, Jeremy Kanagy, Jeremy Clark, Matt Clinger, Ellis Gordon, Scott Hardwick and Jake Schuman. The areas tested were wildlife, nursery operation, specialty crop, floriculture, forestry, sales and service, horse, recordkeeping, specialty animal, forage, turf and landscape, diversified crop, area oil crop, and feed grain.
• 20 years ago, February 2004: The groundbreaking for the building project of the Cardington-Lincoln Intermediate School was held. Each grade was represented by one student and their names with the graduation years here; Ron Choina (2004), Matt Ackerman (2005), Chris Brooks (2006), Jaimie Goodman (2007), Dustin Davis (2008), Heather Fluty (2009), Matt Eblin (2010), Ashley Harper (2011), Andrew Johns (2012), Austin Elliott (2013), Jenny Rae Gochenour (2014), Skylar Eastep (2015) and Johnny Levings (2016).
