CLASS OF 1958
Faye Christiansen Ross
by Daniel Kent
Alumni Questions
What were some of the classes that you took in high school?
English, Gen. Math, Home Economics, Biology, and World History.
What were the sports/activities like during your high school career?
The girls didn't compete in any sports. For activities, we had G.A.A. (Girls Athletic Assn.). We met three times a week--last period of the day. We played soccer, Basketball (half court) and softball. Also taught many dances. In May, we had what we called "May Pole Day" we selected a Queen and had a special dance we did around a pole with streamers. We had F.H.A. (Future Home Economics). We met once a month in the evening. We had special events, such as a Mother Tea and banquets, along with our Mothers we each selected an adopted Mother (a special guest). We had a pep club. On game days, we dressed in red skirts and white blouses. We wore this to all the games. We had cheerleaders and pep rallies every game day. The coaches and the players gave speeches, skits, and the cheerleaders did cheers.
What advice would you give to the upcoming class of 2008?
Go to college--it is a must--the world is full of opportunities; they are all there for you to seek out.
Do you have any special memories regarding what was happening historically during that time?
Our president was Dwight D. Eisenhower and our vice president was Richard Nixon. On Jan. 29, 1958 murderer Charles Starkweather along with his accomplice Caril Fugate were captured. The number one song was "It's All in the Game" by Tommy Edwards. The number two song was "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors. We had a Pix Movie Theatre; it was open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The cost was 16 cents. We must mention "Lu's Popcorn Stand." To keep our streets clean, we collected the boxes and sacks, 15 of them would get us a free bag of popcorn. She kept track of this in a big gray book with our names. If we would guess the score or the closest to it for the football games, we would win a free angel food popcorn cake.
Do you have any special memories you would like to share about your days at PHS?
The Pep Club would sponsor a bus for every away football and basketball game; any student could ride on it for 25 cents. It was always fun. I belonged to the band and every October our band would get selected to go and march with about 50 other school bands and perform on the University of Nebraska football field at half time. In the morning, all the bands would march downtown Lincoln. I was fortunate to go all four years.
Homecoming day, each class would make their own float to show in the parade. The night before we would have a big bon-fire by the football field. After the bon-fire, we would perform what they called a snake dance--everyone joined hands and formed a single line, we would go through the front door and out the back, singing the school song which, by the way, was sang every time we turned around through out my high school days.
