Ruth Gross

Does anyone -- except perhaps the class valedictorian -- remember class rank 50 years later?!  I have a fairly good memory for numbers and I sure don't remember mine.  How important it seemed then.  Perspective.  But I love Sherwin and Preston's  wager.  We could write a musical--"My Fair Wildkit"!

Robert Lindner

I was lower rank too

Seems odd to argue over who was worse,

When by now it’s neither blessing nor curse.

What is the point? To see who goofed off more,

When this all happened fifty years before

This bet, where will it get you now, to know

Is there status in whose rank was below

Whose? There must be. Oh well, mine was higher.

If I said it was not, I’d be a liar.

Though I goofed off then too, in my own way

A measure of a world of yesterday

That meant something to someone then, but now

It seems odd to bet on that, because how

Can it mean a thing, now that we’re older?

Is it in the eye of the beholder?

Is there a kind of beauty I don’t see?

Is ‘who was worse than who’ better than me?

I know Rosie was, that’s an easy bet,

Cause beauty and brains is hard to forget.

Robert Lindner November 1, 2014

Preston Cook

Good to see a poet has admitted a low class standing, joining the ranks with Jay and myself in our own low, and likely lower, class standing.  I was beginning to worry we all went into real estate! 

Are there others that would now like to step forward?  You can now join the 800 Club!

Besides, our low class rank had merit to you in that it made you, and others, look all the better. I feel Jay and I should have some credit due in class place rank displacement, a well known theory, if properly and carefully calculated, led to your higher class rank, as well as our well known, and much deserved, class valedictorian, possibly even pushing him over the top.

Jay and I, through our actions, or inactions, depending on how one views it,  actually increased class-rank for some 800 students.  How many people can actually say they increased class rank for 800 students?  All at one high school, and in one class.  How many educators can make such claims?  We should be given an educational award for this! Our actions may have allowed dozens of students to enter colleges and universities, that, with lower class rank, would not have gotten accepted.  That is why this is important. Maybe someone, while there is still time, should start a betting pool, as the importance of our years at ETHS has been so overlooked.

Holly Underwood (Bisenius)

I think EVERYONE was beautiful in their own way! Here we were, branching out from our smaller and earlier experiences...............It is what we were and are TOGETHER that counts!    My best to all of my classmates!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Edward Boesel

As near as I can remember, I was number 496 out 891, not really in the top or bottom half of the class. 

Rosanne Bass (Keynan)

Haha, belated thanks, Preston, for buoying the rest of us up. Of course I was trying to jest -- in the rear-view mirror class rank is insignificant -- this website of full and interesting lives is teatment to that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have "confessed" my recollection of the scores or "outed" Preston, who certainly is leading an A+ life! (BTW Preston, I don't know how either of us ever passed science lab. There was such a void in my science education, beginning then. Why didn't they teach science more like Nova or NPR's Radio Lab or Science Friday, which are fascinating?)  And Jay's creation of a large, cohesive loving family is nothing short of brilliant; I'm sure his wise wife Alyn had a hand in that. As my family continues to shrink, I'm downright envious.

Pauline Noznick (Gerstein)

The  transcripts microfiche is probably in one of the attics at the High School, with  the boxes that hold  your gradschool permanent records. 

Preston Cook

Rosanne, I outed myself, but I am not posting an actual rank until the official transcript arrives, likely this next week.

I remember very clearly how I got through, and passed, Mr. Aulie’s biology class;  I volunteered to clean test tubes after school to achieve a higher grade.  That was the deal we made.  He then gave me a 3 (average).  A “3” was the highest grade I ever attained  in my four years at ETHS, including once in biology, once in Tech Arts, and twice in Auto Shop.  I repaired a teacher’s car for a better English score (again, that was the deal we cut), then she only gave me a “5” (borderline pass).  Oh Well.

And in my senior year I had to remind several of my basic level teachers that I was indeed a senior and if they did not pass me I would fail to graduate AND I threatened I would take their class again!  My senior year I received four “5’s”, and just barely graduated with not a grade point or credit to spare.  A close call indeed.

A point of disclosure is called for here in that Rosanne and I became blood brother and sister in that sophomore year biology class.  We each pricked a finger and let the blood flow between us.

Vernon Neece (Neece)

For what it's worth 50 years later, somewhere in the recesses of my gray cells I remember that I was ranked about 20 below the median.  So, I guess you could say I was in the upper echelons of the lower half of our graduating class.  ;-)

Joan Novinson (Nicholson)

I confuse class rank with ACT and SAT scores, which were a major feature of our senior year.  Omigod, the math.      I must boast, for ETHS actually, that ten years later when a took the Miller Analogies to be able to apply to graduate school at the University of Utah, I scored in the 99th %ile.  (I wish my stocks did that well.)  I think I remember Bob Edwards, or some NPR person, telling a radio moment about going back to ETHS to take the SAT.

Lillian Summers

Alison Van Swearingen (Brown)

Lillian, how right you are about a good laugh on a cold November morning!  Preston is giving away his bartering secrets for better grades.  Pretty creative.  Stay tuned for the next episode of:  "Class Rank Mystery" or "Who Finished Ahead Of Who".

Nancy Schroeder

This saga on senior placement is becoming a hoot. I agree with Ruth that a musical would be a fantastic idea and a hit for sure. I love the creativeness that Preston used to improve his grade. I never thought of this but i was somewhere in the middle........I think?? I also love the thought that you helped 800 or more people ahead of you by being worse than they.

Keep the humor going. and you must let us all know who wins the bet.

Mark Goldman

I don't remember my class rank except that I was in the upper 25%. I got straight A's (1's) in all my math and science classes and almost straight C's(3's) in English, History, etc. I rembeber my History teacher asking me one question, that if I answered correctly, he would give me a passing grade. The question was "Who was burried in Grant's Tomb?" I think I answered it correctly.

Janet Bos (Lefevre)

I don't remember my class rank and don't want to know.....it's not important.  It doesn't matter.  It's not where you started that matters......it's what you did with your life that matters.

Robert Lindner

Measures Of Vanity

A characteristic of human kind

Is to be vain in body and in mind,

Thus, throughout history, humanity

Has been partly driven by vanity,

The vanity of appearance, of dress,

Of shoe, of who the deity will bless,

With attractive features and with success,

But now to those grades that once caused distress,

The ‘A’s , the ‘B’s, the ‘C’s, the ‘D’s, or worse

Though now. they are neither blessing nor curse.

Those ‘3’s, those ‘5’s, numbers I can’t recall,

Now they have no meaning to me at all.

I remember four point ‘O’, as a scale,

And measurements that were just pass or fail.

Still, what ever number or letter grade,

It will fade away from the life I’ve made.

My rank, I can’t care less, my vanity,

Is what I’ve done with my humanity.

Jack Penrod

I was like top 1/3. If anybody rewants to know, send me 2.50 and I'll meet you half way. I do remember my SAT scorew:560 verbal and 624 math. total 1184. Not bad considering I had a 102 degree tempurature. I was too sick to take the physics AP test and got a 3 in chemistry AP.

Jack Penrod

Susan Holsten (Blumer)

     Quite a topic.....let's see, I think I was #245. Just testing my remembering skills.hopefully I am in the ballpark with this ! It matters not at all.... Just know the Class of 1964 had the brightest and most successful graduates as apparent at our 50th reunion in September. A trivia fact I remember..... I really, really worked hard to get my grades so I could use the student Lounge in my Junior year at ETHS. Love the dialogue going on about the rankings.... Who else is brave enough to post their rank???? Posting my rank was an exercise in remembering NOT bragging.

Pauline Noznick (Gerstein)

There is nothing better than achieving a goal. Having access to the student lounge was a good goal.  I remember that there was a pop machine in there.  What a treat! I remember hanging out there, but can't  remember my class rank.  I agree with Robert, well expressed in a poem.

Carolyn Wyld (Saul)

I remember Freshman year I made a 1 in Honors Algebra and failed Latin.  Somehow my name came up between the Latin teacher, Mr. Zamzow, and the Algebra teacher, Mr. Koss, and they couldn’t believe they were talking about the same student.  Then Junior year Algebra 2 I was floating between a 1 and a 2 all year.  It came down to the final class test and I missed one of the questions because somehow I added 7 and 4 and didn’t come up with 11.  I missed the question, got a 2 on the test and a 2 for the grading period, a 2 for the semester and a 2 for the year.  I knew the Algebra, I just didn’t know how to add.

Susan Burns (Bangs)

Class rank . . . yup, sad to say, put me in the 800 club and embarrased.  However, it is refreshing to know  of other confessions and views about educational measurements.  Preston, I always thought you were a brain creative bargaining takes talent and brains..  Carolyn, I knew you were and are.  Robert Linder, thank you for your poetry. 

Kathy Dalgety (Miehls)

How's that transcript request working for you? The policy is to keep a student's permanent record, including "...credits and grades, GPA, class rank, college-entrance test scores..." for at least 60 years after you graduate or leave ETHS. We still fall within that 60 year window, so the info should be readily available. Call the Student Services Office at ETHS, 847-424-7580. Have fun!

Robert Lindner

Class Rank at ETHS 1964 - The Musical

The opening scene is a library

Where at the last minute everyone crams

And all of us are there including me

Then someone begins singing “Spring Exams”

I hear the song, I hear it in my ear

It’s from a musical, I can’t recall

Which one, though it was performed that year

Then I sing, I don’t remember at all

The exam’s tomorrow what do I do,

Oh dear what shall I do, my mind’s a blank

I need to review, I need to come through

I need to do well to raise my class rank

My girl won’t like me, if my rank is low

My girl, talkin’ ‘bout my girl, I need to shine

For her and my parents, I need to know

My history so that I can do fine

So I can do well and raise my rank high

So I can be cool and so I can fly

So that I can be my girl’s kind of guy

And I can sing “Miss American Pie”

I knew I could do it, knew that I could

Somewhere, a future where I got it right

Somewhere in the future, may mine be good

But I’m singing Johnnie B. Goode tonight

At the last minute when everyone crams

And the whole cast is singing “Spring Exams”

Pauline Noznick (Gerstein)

Wonderful!

Ann Gilkes (Liu)

Classic ! What a laugh. Love it.