From: "Milt Cunningham" 
Subject: phallus

Just one more evidence of the decadence of U.S. schools, that they would
allow such a salacious picture in their year book.

The fountain in Kendrick Park was a thing of awe in the winter, 
as the ice deposited in more and more fantastic shapes from the 
water spraying over and through it throughout the season.  It was 
sort of our little bit of Yellowstone.  It was a favorite activity 
to try to climb it, while skating on the surrounding frozen pond, or 
just as a special trips.  My parents had friends who travelled 
commercially and brought an 8 mm movie camera on their travels.  
If the film has not disintegrated, I have a roll of film showing 
the fountain (OK, and me) in some winter of the late 30's or early 40's.  
 
In spite of the tendency of SHS freshman to end up in the pond 
during their first few days, it was a great disappointment to find 
the fountain gone and the pond filled in (When did that loss occur?).  
Why did the old band shell have to be removed?  Why, why, whi, whine, whine.  
Where, for that matter, are the snows of yesteryear? 
(Today's literary reference).
 
Bob Hylton '51 
   

There is a "Mystery Picture" w/in the "Mystery Picture".  What is the
little white house behind the pond?

Br JIm

That fountain in Kendrick Park was always so amazing to me as a child.  
The water kept spraying until the whole thing was frozen.  Positively glorious.  
Many times I asked my parents to drive through the park so we could see it 
again.  

That pond in summer about my sixth grade was also the origin of the worst 
case of poison ivy I ever had...requiring my first ever visit to a dr. for 
penicillin shots to get rid of the infection that set in.  Whew!   I thought 
it would never go away.  So did my mother, who changed my sheets every day so 
as not to further contaminate me.  

The Fourth of July always brings back memories of Sheridan.  This 4th my 
friend and I went to San Francisco (about a three hour drive) to see the 
sights again, this time including fireworks at the wharf.  Seeing spectacular 
fireworks over the water with literally 100,000 other folks is okay enough, 
but the best ever fireworks displays were in Sheridan many years ago at the 
Skyline.  Sitting on the fender of the my parents' car was the "best seat in 
the house."  Feeling the percussion from the "bombs bursting in air" was very 
exciting for us kids.  I can only wonder what parents really thought of it.  
Hopefully, they were as in awe as we were.  Every year when I see the poor 
old deserted Skyline I remember the wonderful times it held for so many 
people.  I lament that we are now so "sophisticated" that drive-ins are a 
thing of the past.  Remember the sign on it in the winter that said, "Closed 
for the season.  Freezin's the Reason."  
McRainier@aol.com

The mystery house is the "duck house," where the ducks laid eggs 
and little hatchlings lived until they couldn't fit inside it anymore.  I 
hadn't thought of that for years...

Mary Alice Gunderson, '53

I think that the little house was a sort of refure (nesting place)
for the ducks or geese that lived around the pond.  

I guess my picture caption would have to be "Ou sont les neiges d'antan"  
in both metaphoric and actual senses.  I append an explanation 
(pardon my French!), and then will be very quiet:

The snows of yesteryear-actually, les neiges d'antan-comes from the 
pen of Francois Villon. Villon was considered the greatest poet of 
the 15th century and one of the greatest of the French language. 
He was also a criminal who caroused the streets of Paris, killed 
a priest in a street fight, and spent plenty of time in prison 
before disappearing from tout le monde at the age of 32 
when he was banished. 

Villon was all of 30 (and fresh out of prison) when he mused, 
"Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan?" (But where are the snows of yesteryear?) 
in his "Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Times." His bittersweet refrain is 
spoken as the poet realizes that everything temporal fades, 
melting away like the snow. 

Five hundred years after Villon's disappearance, writers still turn to 
his phrasing-the snows of yesteryear-to invoke the lost, transitory past. 

Bob Hylton '51

Duck refuge, not refure!  No need to look for that word! Whenever I 
don't spell check, I regret it.  Sometimes when I do.

Also, as is now the fashion among writers, mostly well known ones, 
I inadvertently omitted the quotes around the paragraphs about 
Villon, about whom I would not know much except for the internet 
search and the copy function.  Sorry for the failure to ascribe 
(I'm still failing, because I can't find that particular quote again).

Bob Hylton '51

From: madowling@webtv.net
Subject: Re: Fountain, etc.

Hey the Skyline is still open!!!! And we have a great fireworks at
Ucross, Dayton, Ranchester and at Big Horn Equestrian Center...Hundreds
of people go  there and they have a marvelous display with music...so
you see we haven't some things...also we have concerts in the park at
the Band Shell every Tuesday night...it just wonderful and they have
great crowds...ice cream stand is open and they are various  foods to
buy...Sheridan still is a marvelous , wonderful place to live....