Up until recent years, the names of female
graduates were published as a set in the Water-town
Daily Times, followed by the set of males.
Within each set, the names were listed in order of academic achievement
with the highest listed first. Thus,
rankings and pecking orders were known to all.
There were, of course, a tremendous number of school
activities over the years and it would be impossible to account for all of
them. Therefore, only a few are cited in
the attempt to reflect both the number of events and the number of students
most often involved.
Judges in the 1930 Helen Mears art contest con-ducted in
Watertown schools as part of the state-wide test awarded the four top prizes to
students of the school. First place went
to Loretta Meitner, second to Clara Berg, third to
Margaret Kreuzi-ger, and fourth to
Mildred Hrobsky.
Winners from the school were announced at the close of a
spelling bee conducted in 1933 by the Watertown council of the Knights. Competition was restricted to the eighth
grades of St. Henry’s and St. Bernard’s.
Among those representing St. Henry’s, first prize went to Anna Huebel, second to
Francis Fendt, and third to
Anna Berg.
In 1934 the school temporarily dropped its first grade
class due to the record size of the seventh and eighth grade classes. Children scheduled to begin school had to
enter kindergarten or first grade in the public school system.
Seventh and eighth grade pupils of St. Henry’s school spent
a day at the state capitol in Madison in May of 1937. They witnessed the legislature in action, saw
an electric voting machine, visited the legislative reference library where an
explana-tion of how laws are drawn up was presented, and went on a tour of the
capitol.
The eighth grade pupils included: John Coughlin, James Fendt, Kenneth
Fendt, Lorraine Haber-korn, Saurina Hertel, Francis
Kehr, Gerald Kleck-er, William
Koehler, Olivia Kohta, Floyd
Miller, Marion Miller, Raymond
Peirick, Alphonse Pitt-erle, Doloris Renz, Albena Renz, Helen Renz, Merlin
Riedl, Gerald Ryan, Irene
Scheiber, Kath-erine Surdick.
The seventh grade class of 1937 included: Alice Baurichter, Evelyn Brennecke, Rosemary Brusen-bach, Henry Ertl, Elizabeth
Euper, Margaret Fendt, Phoebe Fendt, Mary Hady, Leon
Klecker, Peter Miller, John Motl, Dolores
Naughton, Mar-ion Neis, Kenneth
Oestreicher, Gertrude Pitterle, Lorraine Schulz, Louis Winkler, Robert
Winkler.
Rose
Oestreich, a seventh grade student and the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ruben Oestreich, won first prize in the 1944
state essay contest con-ducted by the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin. The contest’s subject was Fr. Damian, Apostle
of Molokai, the dedicated worker among lepers.
Hall
and school on east side of North
Third St, 1940’s
Intersection of Cole and
Third, looking south
School playground, 1940’s, unknown student
Miss Margaret Derleth served as
recreational leader at St. Henry’s School in the early 1940’s. She was also assistant manager of Watertown’s
Savoy Theater for two years, a recreational leader for three years at local
parks, and at one time cashier at the old city swimming pool. Miss Derleth enlisted in the WACs as a result
of a local WW II WAC recruiting drive.
In the 1945-46 school year it was found necessary to provide
additional classroom space in the hall to accommodate the increases in
enrollment and augment the regular school classrooms. Two classes were divided, resulting in two second grades and
two fifth grades.
Classes
for the fifth and sixth grades
were held in the parish hall.
The main floor of the hall was converted into a classroom for temporary
occu-pancy until a new school could be built.
Fifty school benches were ordered for the new class-rooms and a
temporary wall was erected in the hall, cutting the auditorium in half.
In November
of 1945 St. Henry’s launched plans for a new school building fund and named a
committee of men from the parish to help direct the raising of money.
Members named were the
following: Herbert Boelter, Henry Breunig, Lawrence Brown, Simon Checki, Paul David, Peter Euper, Herbert Euper, Theodore Fendt, Gerhardt Fendt, Fred Fendt, Isa-dore Fendt, Joseph Fendt, Eugene Fendt, Henry Fendt, Joseph Giese, Leonard Giese, William Goecke, Clarence Haberkorn, Chester Hady, Jack Hady, John Hartung, Edward Haznaw, John Hoeffler, Leo Hoffer, Art Hoffer, George Hrobsky, Herman Huebel, Eugene Iffland, James Imming, Leo Imming, Henry Indra, Robert Jansky, Mich-ael Kaul, Edgar Kellerman, William Klecker, Hugo Klecker, Ed Klecker, Herbert Klecker, Fred Klecker, Arthur Koch, Herbert Koser, H. Kreuz-iger, Leo Kreuziger, John Kreuziger, F. Lager-man, Lawrence J. Lange, Henry Langer, John Lutovsky, Frank Markl, Elmer Matasek, Chester McGuire, Joseph Meitner, Paul Menz, John Mueller, Frank Murkowski, Alex Murray, Justin Neumann, Eugene Nimm, Joseph Nistler, Joseph Oestreicher, Edward Peirick, Ray Peirick, Leonard Peirick, John Pirkel, George Pitterle, Ed Pitterle, Norbert Pitterle, Al Pitterle, Hilary G. Reichardt, Henry Riedl, James Rothschadl, Thomas Rothschadl, William Rothschadl, Fred J. Ruesch, Arthur Ruesch, Roland Ruesch, Joseph Schleicher, Norman Schneider, Joseph Stangler, John Surdick, Gerard Thren, Charles Treixler, Fred Vergenz, Anthony Wanke, Hubert Weber, Edwin West, Robert Wicker, Leo Winkler, Ray Winkler, William Zeiner and George Zoelle.
The
new school fund drive began toward the end of Father Schwinn’s service to the
parish. Upon his passing, Father Mueller
announced that he would carry on the effort, determined to fulfill the wishes
of the late pastor to make a new school a reality. Father Foltz would nurture the effort after
Mueller was transferred.
It was
decided in 1948 that construction of the new school would start no later than
1951, so to be completed for the 1953 centennial of the parish and the 1953-54
school year. The sum of $350,000 would
be the target for the school building fund.
Members of the 1948 new school fund committee, headed by Father Foltz,
were many of the same as had served on the 1945 committee.
