Thank you to Betty P. who gave me a large stack of Ridgeway school newspapers titled “The Owl”. The paper was put out every two weeks by the publications class. In the February 18, 1955, edition, the Delta Lamba Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi sorority announced their picks for queen of the Heart Dance. Queen candidates were Shirley Buis from the 8th grade, freshman Nita Provin, sophomore Janice Hogan, junior Zoe Baker, and senior Dorothy Nible. The candidates’ pictures were all hung in Meek’s Café with a heart. A penny in the heart counted as one vote and the candidate with the most votes would be the queen.
In the class news: the girls’ glee club was learning “Chop Sticks” and “Velvet Shoes”; the latter piece was going to be one of their two songs for the Maryville music competition in April. In addition to the girls’ glee club, there were several students going to the competition to do vocal solos. Martin Taylor planned to do a trombone solo and Dale Pontius was going to perform a trumpet solo.
The paper closed with the “Owl Hoots” gossip column that hinted at several school romances and gave this wise definition: “Birthday – when a girl wants her PAST forgotten and her PRESENT remembered.”
