A LOOK BACK:

I’ll bet there are a lot to students entering Huntington High this year at the end of August who would have liked to go back in time when the school semester didn’t start until mid-September.

This week we’re going back to 1945, when Huntington High didn’t open its doors until Sept. 10 and not only look at what the school did for the summer, but also what some of its students did to occupy their time.

Today the school is doing some major remodeling, and in ’45 the school was also making some major repairs and additions, hoping to be finished by the time school opened.

While the students were away enjoying the summer, the school’s high-pressure water line was completely reconditioned, all the driveways were repaired, offices were repainted and several pieces of furniture received a fresh coat of paint.

Inside the school’s library all the old light fixtures were replaced with modern fluorescent lighting, and several new trees were planted outside that I hope are still there to shade today’s students.

One problem that still remained was a shortage of girl uniforms, but school’s staff hoped that would be remedied by the time school began.

The school buses were cleaned, repaired and ready to pick up students as far away as Seal Beach, Barber City, Springdale, Fountain Valley, Ocean View, Sun Gardens, Boulevard Gardens, Midway City and Westminster.

Everything needed for our students’ education including books, lockers, etc., would be provided by the school at no charge except membership in the Associated Students Union at $2 a semester.

Classes would begin promptly at 8:10 a.m. and last until 3 p.m. five days a week.

During the summer of 1945, several of the students, including John Achey and Charles Graser, who spent their vacation time working at a local oil company, took jobs for extra money.

Denis MacElrath spent his three months working in Michoacan, Mexico, as an assistant surveyor, while Barbara Bender was boxed-in making boxes for a company in Long Beach.

Bill Miller drove a truck for a feed store in Garden Grove and Arthur Oldenburg bused tables at Cycelle’s Café here on Pacific Coast Highway. Jeanette Adair spent her summer working at her father’s grocery store as a clerk, while Maxine Dekker clerked at a department store in Santa Ana. Betty Allen helped her mother in her malt shop on PCH during this summer; Mary Rose Duff and Marcelline Purkey cashiered; and Frank Gifford and Joan Lelash ushered at our Surf Theatre on Fifth Street.

Tom MacIntire and Lawrence Burlison checked water, cleaned windshields, put air in tires and pumped gas at one of our local service stations. Bob Wilkerson made insecticide at the Dow chemical plant in Seal Beach and Phillip Duff and Don Harris hauled cement for a contractor in Costa Mesa.

Not every student worked close to home that year. John Conant helped paint houses up in Pasadena; Bob Berry set type in Marion, Ark., and Jimmy Prentice cut wheat in North Dakota. Betty St. Clair worked as our pre-9-1-1 girl at our lifeguard headquarters, manning its switchboard, typing the lifeguards’ rescue reports, their First Aid case reports and the lifeguard schedules.

That year, the school saw an enrollment of nearly 800 students from the nearby towns and also hired eight new faculty members.

All the way from Huntington Beach Central Elementary came Esther Funk, who decided to follow some of her previous students as they entered high school. Funk would be teaching freshmen English and sophomore world events to some of her former students.

From Santa Barbara High came Victoria Hunter to teach girls’ physical education. Hunter had been raised in Los Angeles and received her college degree at Santa Barbara State.

Marian Mize had been teaching classes in Compton before joining our school’s English department. Mize, an Indiana native, attended Phillips College for Women in Oklahoma and the University of New Mexico and, before arriving here, taught two years in Albuquerque.

Evelyn Mahony came to Huntington to teach in the school’s Commercial and Business Department. Mahony had graduated from Long Beach public school before attending Pasadena Junior College and UCLA.

Another teacher joining the school’s business department that year was LeMoille Pugh. Pugh had previously taught in several schools in the Southland including in Pasadena, Glendale, Atascadero, Paso Robles and Long Beach.

Dorothy Rosier came here to teach girls’ physical education alongside Victoria Hunter. Rosier had originally come from Kansas where she received her education at State Teachers College at Emporia, and just prior to coming here she taught physical education at a high school in Maricopa.

The Industrial Arts Department added a new shop teacher, A. Neil Royce, to teach boys mechanical drawing and machine shop classes. Royce had previously spent five years teaching shop at a Santa Ana school.

From El Centro came Helen Stengel to teach the girls to be good homemakers. She had experience in homemaking, having taken courses at Frank Wiggins Trade School in Los Angeles.

Sarah Johnson joined the staff at Huntington as school nurse, splitting her time between Huntington Beach and the County Health Department. She received her training at Murray Hospital in Butte, Montana before coming to California.

On the opening day of school there were some faces missing. M.G. Jones left as principal and was replaced by Raymond Elliott.

That year, the school said goodbye to Phyllis Birdwell, who wanted to spend more time with her husband, Wheeler Birdwell.

Other faces absent that semester included Frances Berres, who wanted time at home to raise her child; Lillian Barkan, who would be teaching school in Long Beach; Dorothy Latasa, who joined the teaching staff at a Riverside school and Sallalee Ryan, who retired to spend more time with her husband.

These are just a few happenings during the summer of 1945 and on the opening day at Huntington High at the close of World War II.