It started with a telephone call on Tuesday morning.
The inquiry:
“Does the historical society have a copy of the 1939 edition of the Academy of the Sacred Hearts Yearbook?”
The answer:
“No, unfortunately we do not have that edition.”
And the conversation started.
In short, the woman making the inquiry was the daughter of Dolores “Dede” (Falvey) McGreavy, a 1939 S.H.A. graduate – recently deceased at the age of 97 – and was hoping to locate a photograph of her mother, taken during her high school years.
The yearbook, by the way, was aptly called Ianua, signifying one’s passage in life.
The next step:
How could the FRHS help? Perhaps a plea via social media, specifically using the FRHS Facebook page. This has often proved a successful route of inquiry regarding requests for Fall River high school yearbooks in the past, so it was well worth a query.
Fingers crossed.
It finished with a telephone call on Wednesday morning:
The message:
“Hi, Michael … I have two copies of the 1939 S.H.A. yearbook … my mother [Mary Elizabeth “Bette” (Eagan) Donnelly] was in that class.”
Just a few hours later, one of those two copies of the yearbook in question was sitting on my desk, donated to the FRHS collection by Bette’s family, and delivered by her son.
The Class of 1939:
The dedication at the beginning of the 1939 Ianua is replete with the wonderfully heady optimism – the naiveté – of youth:
For the time being our brief hour upon this stage of school life is at an end. We have had our entrances and exits. The scenes and the players have all grown dearly familiar to us. The acts, entr’ actes, and off-stage business, each have special significance for us. Before the curtain falls, we would record for all time this little drama of our high school days, the wholesome comedy, schoolgirl tragedy and youthful romance, all of which will grow dearer to us as we strut upon the stage of life, in other scenes, with other players. To you, our audience readers, we offer this record and invite you to share with us the joys contained therein.
How little they could have known, those thirty-two young ladies in the Class of 1939, that their words would prove prophetic: The tumultuous political events brewing on the world stage would all too soon irrevocably impact their lives. Within a few months Europe would be torn apart by war; for the United States, December 7, 1941, was fast approaching on the horizon.
“School life” was, undoubtedly, at an end.
The thirty-two of 1939 would all feel the affects of conflict and become “players” in a world at war.
And for some, “Youthful romance” was destined to become heart-wrenching “tragedy.”
All too soon they were destined to “strut upon … the stage of life, in other scenes,” far more dramatic than they could have ever realized.
But they would persevere.
They were members of The Greatest Generation.
The irony of the story:
And what of classmates Dede – “the tiniest little Miss” – and Bette – a “class beauty”?
Were they chums, I wonder?
High school yearbooks are most often arranged alphabetically, as was the case with the 1939 Ianua; the pages for Bette and Dede appear opposite each other, their photographs – both formal and candid – displayed side-by-side.
And so it came to pass that they did live out their lives “with other players”; after both made their last “curtain” call – Bette in 1991 and Dede in 2018 – the daughter of the latter would seek the “record [of the] little drama of [their] high school days,” a request fulfilled by the family of the former.
Indeed, this act has “special significance.”
I like to think the two old classmates would be pleased with the outcome.
The motives of the story:
Oftentimes, one only need ask.
The FRHS is one of the city’s most important resources and a network to Fall River history.
And as loathe as I am to admit it, social media – specifically Facebook – can be a powerful thing when utilized to good purpose.
