ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Tulsa Central High School Senior Class Poem of 1951

Updated on August 6, 2011

Tulsa Central High School

This Senior Class Poem of 1951 appears on page 4 of the Tulsa Central High School newspaper for Friday, May 18, 1951, which a former classmate, Rosella Orf Morton of Tulsa generously sent me on March 10, 1996. I read this class poem before an auditorium full of our assembled graduating class of 853 seniors. Ms. Lev-Ellen Gilliam, my beloved 12th grade English teacher, had recommended me for this honor. Mrs. Edna Weeks, the Senior Class Counselor, later told me that during the reading the principal Mr. Black leaned over to her and asked, “Who wrote that?“ and Mrs. Weeks replied, “Max did,“ and she said he was amazed. It never occurred to me in those days to doubt the truth of such a story, because no one dared to question the formidable Mrs. Weeks who not only taught American history but proudly carried a season ticket for all games of the Tulsa Oilers baseball team. On the same page 4, however, it says, “Max Havlich [sic] received an $800 scholarship from East Texas Baptist College.” Even then, I knew poets would get little respect.

Senior Class Poem of 1951
Central High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Momentous progress never comes upon
The notice of a single instant. Days
Are all the same in life, but only one
Must hold our thrills and tears and hopes, the maze
That Life bestows, through which each student goes.
The yonder Spirit, known for seeking help above,
Must stands for these: an education first,
And then an honest life that’s daily filled with Love.

Our student duties filled our hearts and minds
With learning. Much that time has proven right
Was set before us by our teachers. Some
Was left untaught by them so we could find
That path to treasures deeper still. We owe
Our life to those whose aid, however slight,
Instructed us from step to step -- thus far.

Behind the books, the thing that age can’t mar --
Our mixing with experience -- is memory.
Remember when you had no friends at all?
Remember your first heartache over Love?
Remember talking first with God above?
Remember writing notes with incoherent scrawl?
Remember when you first observed an August moon?
Remember when you could not stop that crazy tune?
Remember now and never let these fall
From you, though Destiny should beckon you
And threaten to enslave you in his call.

Upon this day our lives are poised. From now
We sail down living streams in hand-made yachts
Toward ultimate perfection, but the probing prow
We carved, protected on the shore, is not
To reach that Sea of Right without the help of God.
Although the woody banks appear the same
To some, refreshing joys, with but a touch
Of newness, rest our aching flesh and claim
Our hearts. Thus education saves us from disaster.

Max Havlick, Jr.
_____________________________________________________
With minor editing of punctuation and two words at Villa Park, Illinois, June 30, 2011. Copyright © June 2011 by Max J. Havlick, Writers Workshop, The Max Havlick School of Personal Creation and World Citizenship, a project of New World Community Enterprises, Inc., 16 West Vermont St., Villa Park, IL 60181-1938, all rights reserved (30 min. from O'Hare Airport). Permission granted here to make exact copies of this page that include the explanatory note and copyright notice.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)