Beacon High School Graduating Class of 1925... And the Story Behind the Picture

On the lawn in front of the old Beacon High School stand (and sit) the 36 graduates of the Class of 1925. Among their number, standing in the center, is the oldest graduate to receive a diploma that June, Benjamin Hammond. In the year before (1924) Hammond had retired as school board president after 30 years' service. The class of 1925 was the first to graduate, thanks in good part to Hammond's efforts, in the school's new (1925) auditorium.

There, on that June evening, Beacon mayor Earnest A. Macomber presented Hammond with a honorary diploma, a testimonial to his devotion to education in our city. The audience applauded Hammond, according to local newspaper accounts, a full five minutes in "a great demonstration of the love and affection the people of Beacon have for [him]." Hammond, doing the honors in turn, handed out the first diploma to Edward Todd, who at age 14, was the youngest to graduate. "The new auditorium fairly shook with applause", said the paper as Todd stepped onto the stage.

The second "history-making moment" of the night was when William Howes, the first African- American to graduate from Beacon High, stood on stage. Howes "was accorded an impressive demonstration when he received his diploma", the paper noted. "None in that audience could fail to be impressed by this beautiful exemplification of the ideal upon which the American nation was founded." Language surrounding high school graduations tends towards the lofty and inflated, but this graduation, this group of 14 boys and 22 girls of June of 1925, does seem to warrant a special closer look.

The Graduates: William Albrecht, Margaret Ambury, Dorothea Anderson, Edna Barlow, Ernest Bloomer, Adele Bolton, Jennie Chiarella, James Collins, Joseph Coughlin, Maud Covert, Helen Crookston, John Cummings, Mary Delahay, Eleanor Francis, Anthony Graziaso, Rothery Haight, Eva Herr, William Howes, Frances Hughes, Dorothy Jago, Allison King, Elizabeth MacGlasson, Kathleen Mallon, Gordon Merwin, Mary Nevins, Margaret O'Hare, James O'Reilly, Harriet Ormsbee, Miriam Pomeranze, Charles Schlagel, Margaret Schmitzer, Phillip Siegel, Anna Shea, Agnes Sherman, Edwin Strong, Edward Todd.