Hopedale History
August 2024
No. 430
Class Helping Others
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Twenty-five years ago – August 1999 – Dagestan incursions: Hundreds of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering the short war.
The 7.6 Mw İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 17,000 dead and around 50,000 injured.
East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia (which had invaded and occupied it since 1975) in a referendum.
Fifty years ago – August 1974 – The leadership of the United States House of Representatives tentatively scheduled debate on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon to run from August 19 to August 31.
A tugboat captain who fell asleep at the wheel rammed four barges into the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, destroying 260 feet (79 m) of roadway. At least two people in vehicles on the bridge were killed.
One-hundred years ago – August 1924 – The American newspaper comic strip Little Orphan Annie, created by Harold Gray and syndicated by New York’s Daily News, made its first appearance.
Con artist Charles Ponzi, known for the “Ponzi scheme“, was released from prison in Plymouth, Massachusetts after serving less than four years of a five year federal sentence. He then reported to the District Attorney in Boston, where he faced 10 indictments by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and was arrested again.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead arrived in American Samoa and began work on her 1928 landmark book, Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation.
President Coolidge made public a letter he wrote to the National Negro Business League, praising the African-American population for “the assumption of a full and honorable part in the economic life of the nation” and his belief in equal rights for all races, though not with any assistance from the federal government.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company announced that a color photograph had been successfully transmitted from Chicago to New York. The process took less than an hour and was done by separating the colors at the point of sending and then reassembling them when received.
News items above are from Wikipedia. 1999 1974 1924 See below this text box for Hopedale news from 25, 50 and 100 years ago.
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This month’s story is about a sixth-grade class at the Dutcher Street School, which would be the class that graduated from Hopedale High School in 1956. At the time they were in elementary school, European countries were still struggling to recover from World War II. That explains the donation to Italy mentioned in the third paragraph. The term, “care package” has become a cliché, but in the post-war years, CARE packages were “a thing.” Perhaps the sixth graders of the Class of 1956 got started that way in lower grades, and later decided to do their own thing. I can remember in the lower grades we’d bring in such things as bar soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, etc., to be sent to Europe as CARE packages.
Another situation that the group donated to was for a closer-to-home problem; polio. That’s the subject of the Milford News article below. Polio epidemics during several summers in those years were often a cause of panic.
Hopedale Young Americans
Club Busy Helping Others
By Nick J. Tosches
Daily News Staff
Four Hopedale youngsters, representing a group of 30, turned in nearly $100 to the polio fund the other day, revealing one of the most worthy clubs in this area.
The money, $92.27 to be exact, was collected by the Young Americans club of Hopedale, composed of youngsters from 10 to 11 years of age.
The club’s aim is to help others and to foster good citizenship. It has been in existence for two years and among other things has sent a food package to Italy, and collected for other worthy causes, such as the Jimmy Cancer fund.
The club meets on Friday afternoons at the Dutcher street school where members are students in grade six. They conduct a meeting of their own, and every week select the best citizen, who in their judgement has contributed most to the aid of others.
The idea to raise money for the polio fund was fostered at a meeting last September. The members fell to the task with vigor. They rounded up stray tonic and milk bottles for resale; collected old newspapers, raked leaves, instigated food and handkerchief sales, and aided parents in benefit bridge and coffee parties.
The enthusiasm of the youngsters grew oversize in no time, and when committee leaders reported to the club treasurer, to total sum was found to be beyond the expectations of the pupils themselves.
The club was broken down into committees, representing youngsters living in the same locality. Chairmen were Russell Goff, who is president, Walter Evers, Arline Peterson and Ann Sadler.
It would be difficult to pin the leader’s badge to any one member. The other officers, Robert Cardasso, vice president, Mary Ann Watson, secretary, and Patricia Draper, treasurer, took a very active part in the drive, but so did many other members.
They are Beverly Allen, Joan Cardarelli, Antoinette Carrabba, Melba Jane Cederholm, Richard Clement, Matthew Colaini, Janet Cox, Shirley Deiana, Owen Dow, Anita Drisko, Walter Evers, Melba Gould, Ronald Hazard, Janet Heron, Priscilla Knight, Elizabeth Krauss, Mary Mancini, Walter Paradiso, Arline Peterson, Patricia Rice, Beverly Rowe, Ann Sadler, Jowena Scalzi, Patricia Smith Hilda Townsend, and Richard Collins.
The originator of the club was Miss Mildred Cressey, fifth grade teacher at the Dutcher school. Here class showed interest in such a club, and she gave them the go-ahead signal.
The present advisor is Miss Jessie Gover, teacher of the sixth grade, who accompanied the four chairmen to Town Clerk Catherine L. Coyne’s office in Milford Town Hall to turn over the polio money.
The children make their own rules and suggestions, and so far, have followed through on all projects undertaken.
Principal Donald Dow of the school says the club has done some remarkable things all on its own initiative. “The club helps youngsters to develop good traits of citizenship,” he states.
His son happens to be a member of the club which has given him a home-side view of the various projects, in addition to routine school observation.
As a result, he has learned of the valuable training it has given youngsters in preparing for a truly useful adult life—that of helping others.
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Hopedale News – August 1999
Hopedale News – August 1974
Hopedale News – August 1924
