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HI-Y CLUB
Morning Star, June 13, 2025, pg. 5
Through the years there were many clubs and activities that existed to keep students at Washington Gardner High School (Albion High School) busy. One of them was the Hi-Y Club, active from the 1930s into the 1950s. The purpose of the Hi-Y club was described in the 1942 Breeze Annual as (pg. 29): "A boys' organization 'to create high standards of Christian character throughout the school and community.'" The Breeze further commented, "It is affiliated with the National HiY to send boys to Hayo-Went-Ha, the Hi-Y camp in Northern Michigan." The National Hi-Y camp was located at Torch Lake, and the boys would attend there for a week during the summer.
The club helped with various Albion fundraisers and community projects. One of them was the all-school trip to Greenfield Village in 1939 which we wrote about in the March 14, 2025 edition of this column. For many years, the faculty advisor for this group was Vernon Baldwin, long-time Albion High School biology teacher.
From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of the members of the 1941-42 school year Hi-Y Club, and their graduating years if known. Officers of the club that year were: President, Lester Stone; Vice-president, David Kipp; Secretary' Wendell Sebastian; Treasurer, Walter Nester. One of the speakers at their monthly meetings was Ernest Gray, faculty member, who spoke to them on November 13, 1941 about the "Four-Cleans:" Clean sports, Clean scholarship, Clean living, and Clean speech.
Bottom (First) Row: Robert Bushong '44; Richard Lambrecht '42; David Kipp '42; Lester Stone; Walter Nester '42; Orval Dean Sebastian '45; Donald Hubbard '44; Daryle Torrey. '43;
Second Row: Unidentified, Kenneth Zick ’42; Gerald Zick '44 Vernon Baldwin, John Sharp '44; Dean Stafford Smith '44; Lester Starks ’44.
Third Row: Earl Elmer Van Sickle ’42; Robert L. Johnson ’43; Headley Rogers ’42; Robert Shideman; Blair Bedient ’44; Howard Claucherty '43; J. Clymer; Loren Richtmeyer '42.
Fourth Row: C. Russell Baker '44; Lawrence Pahl '42; Paul Engstrom '42; Frederic Goodrich '42; George Hafford, '42; Harold Finley '42; Lawrence Frank '43.
Top (Fifth) Row: Gaylord Russell '43; Kenneth Wolfe '42; Richard "Dick" Vetter '42; Harold Wakelin '42; D. Edward Neil '43; John Washington Gardner '43. How many of our readers remember hearing about the Hi-Y Club?
The 1941-42 School Year Hi-Y Club
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All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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Frank Passic — Albion Historian
An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page.
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