Postcards: Graduation 1926

I have been writing about the Churchill County High School (CCHS) senior class of 1926, one hundred years ago. As late winter melted into the Spring of 1926, the thoughts of the CCHS seniors turned, then as now, to graduation, with all the attendant mixture of exhilaration and fear. They would leave behind a full trophy case memorializing their state championships in women’s basketball and debate. 

The graduation ceremony was held on a Monday evening in June. Mrs. L.E. Cline, member of the Churchill County School Board, presented diplomas to 36 graduates. The “Churchill County Eagle” commended the setting by referring to it as the “great auditorium” of the high school (now the Old High School and administration building, constructed in 1918). The paper further praised the building: “That Churchill County’s fine high school building is one of the best possessions of the community was again clearly demonstrated last Monday evening when a great throng assembled to see 36 students receive the honors of graduation.”

Scholarship awards totaled $650 (equivalent to almost $12,000 today). As the “Eagle” described the event, “The first grant was that given by the local American Legion post. Edgar Maupin [my uncle, who died when I was a child] in fitting words explained that during the past four years the Legion had been giving scholarships.” Claude Winder, who had scored 100 percent on his studies, was awarded $50 [close to $1000 today].

The next scholarship was awarded by I.H. Kent. There is a cultural history lesson to be found in Kent’s remarks as he presented the scholarship. He reported that after he and his wife had returned home from the previous year’s high school graduation exercises, he suggested to her that it would be a nice idea for a $50 scholarship to be presented by them to some worthy boy, “and right there he got into trouble, for Mrs. Kent immediately contended that they should also help some worthy girl who might not otherwise be able to get a university education. Therefore, they decided to give two scholarships of $50 each.” The awards were presented to Alan Bible and Maud Dunbar.

The largest scholarship was awarded by the Fallon Rotary Club, consisting of a whopping $500 (over $9000 today), half to go to a worthy boy and half to a worthy girl! The times they were a-changin'. The lucky winners were Claude Winder and Rachel Bafford.

I have always found it intriguing to view Fallon as both original and unique, on the one hand, and representative of national trends, on the other. The Roaring Twenties are known for advancing women’s rights and their participation in what was previously a “man’s world.” In sports, in public speaking, in academic ambitions, Fallon’s women leaped ahead in 1926.

The commencement address was delivered by Hon. Samuel Platt, a prominent Reno attorney who, according to the “Eagle,” spoke at length about the benefits of education and said that he “would add to the old rule of New England, the three R’s, a fourth R, making it ‘Readin,’ Ritin,’ Rithmatic, and Religion.” 

His audience, seated in the great auditorium, was witnessing part of a broader national debate concerning the role of religion in public schools. Today, as in 1926, that debate goes on, but let’s take credit for the fact that we are still free to engage in it. 

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