September | 2022 | Abbie and Eveline

I decided to post a weekly journal (again!) Feel free to join me. Just post a journal entry on Monday summarizing the previous week. Or make your journal a photo a day. Whatever you like. If you are a family history researcher, you know it is good to remember to document your own life! Link your journal entry in the comments of my post so I’ll be sure to read it and so will anyone else who sees it. If more people join, maybe I’ll learn how to do a “linky”party.

Week of August 29-September 4, 2022

I think I’ll do things a bit differently this week. More pictures, less text. It’s the change in the weather that had me taking photos this week. The extremely hot temperatures are over (although unfortunately hitting the western states) and we have had rain. Measurable. More than once. What a difference it has made! I can feel fall in the air – at least in the mornings. Some photos are from walks in the neighborhood and some from our yard.

Leaves from a crepe myrtle fell onto a ground cover below, making it look as though the ground cover is in bloom. 8/312022

On the same walk. My daughter tells me this is datural (Jimsonweed)

Woke up to a new cilantro plant half-eaten. I couldn’t see the culprit at first and wondered if it had been a bunny, but then I found 6 cilantro-colored caterpillars.
9/2/2022

Yesterday I took several pics of the wonderful blooms that are now not few, but plentiful.

The crepe myrtle in the backyard suddenly full of blooms
9/4/2022

Passion flower is now blooming abundantly. They are so beautiful, but I consider this an invasive species now and am frequently upset by it.
9/4/2022

Beauty berry in the front. Deer leave them alone. We might try to make a small batch of jelly.
9/4/2022

Alas, not everything is beautiful.

A front bed full of weeds and dead stuff. I started working on it, but it got too hot.
9/4/2022

I have taken so many walks at 8:30 or 9 pm this summer and it was still so hot and nearly unbearable – well, sometimes I just turned around and went back inside because it was unbearable. Last night was wonderful. A breeze. Temp in the 80s. You can’t appreciate 85 with a breeze unless you’ve tried to walk after sunset when it is 95, still, and feels like 100.

The sunset caught my eye on my walk. 9/4/2022

In other news this week:
Posted two family history/Sepia Saturday posts.
Eveline’s Senior Year: Produce, Preserve, Conserve
Eveline’s Senior Year: Graduation Memorabilia

Husband and I watched the movie Elvis. T and I started watching The Crown.

Finished reading Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Most of the members of the church book group thought the book was mediocre. I will say I learned some things from it and it gave me more to think about. My opinion was not as negative as some, but I didn’t feel that the author made the case for using the term “mediocre” as her title. I think most people wanted a bit more at the conclusion.
Finished audiobook The Fatal Pursuit

Finished adding my encouraging sentences to 50 Get Out the Vote postcards and picked up 50 more.

Our pastor has been using the following as the benediction for a while. I finally googled it so I’d know all the words. And so it will be my benediction as well:

Life is short. We don’t have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind. ~ Henri-Frederic Amiel

I shared a photo of my grandmother Eveline Coates’ high school graduating class in Mystic, Iowa a few weeks (now months!) ago. Along with the photo and her diploma, a couple of other mementos were saved. One is the program for the Junior-Senior Banquet in honor of the graduating Seniors. It was interesting to see how World War I seemed to be the overarching theme of the festivities. I decided to take a deeper look at what her life may have been like during the 1917-1918 school year. There was a lot going on, a war and the beginning of an influenza pandemic to name the two biggies. The list of related posts is getting long, so I’ll link them at the bottom.

Today I’ll share a few bits of ephemera that remain from Eveline’s senior year in high school.

A picture of the high school

Eveline’s report card

From her report card, we can glean the following information:

Eveline attended Mystic Public Schools.
She was in Grade 12 during the school year 1917-1918.
No room number was provided, just Room H. S. (High School). Does this mean that all high school students were in the same room? I don’t think so? The high school surely housed a number of classrooms.
The principal of the high school was Nevah O. Prior.
Eveline was absent 7 1/2 days during the fall semester, presumably when she had smallpox, and 2 days during the last period of the spring semester. Eveline’s absences were excused.
Eveline was never tardy for school.
Eveline received high marks for conduct – in the high 90s during the fall and just a little less (95) during the spring.
A grade of 95-100 was Excellent. 85-95 was Good.
Eveline earned grades in the 90s in all of her classes.
She studied American Literature and Physics throughout the year.
She studied American History and Physiology during the fall semester.
During the spring semester, she studied Civics, and Economics.
Both of her parents signed her report card.

Another paper saved is this two-fold invitation from the Junior class. The size is about 5×7 inches. The paper is pink and the ink is green. Decorative notches have been cut into the paper.

On May 10, 1918, a Junior-Senior Reception was held at the Masonic Hall in Mystic. It was the program for the reception that prompted me to begin this series.

I’m not sure what this hand-drawn card is. It is the size of a calling card. Perhaps it marked Eveline’s place at the table for the reception.

Also saved was the graduation invitation, held together with green and pink ribbons. An eagle atop a shield decorated with stars and stripes can be seen through a cut out in the invitation cover. I believe it is hand colored.

The inside provided details of the commencement exercises.

The second page of the graduation invitation lists all of the senior class events leading up to and including commencement.

The last page provides information about the class officers, colors, motto, flower, and a list of the graduates. Tucked inside is a graduation name card for Eveline.

I hope to identify some of the people mentioned in the reception program and Eveline’s class photo. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be. It may be like trying to identify the unknown people in the prompt photo below.

Gather around and bring the dogs while you enjoy posts by others participating in Sepia Saturday.

Abbie and Eveline

Monthly Archives: September 2022

The Weekly Journal Project #4

Eveline’s Senior Year: Graduation Memorabilia