1950s Handbook A Snapshot Of Society

Readers: Last week I gave you a brief history of the beloved and now-departed Palm Beach High. Recently, my colleague, business writer Jeff Ostrowski, came across the school’s 1954-1955 student handbook. It was the property of sophomore Barbara Baker. With help from some Palm Beach High grads, we tracked down Barbara – now Barbara Costello, a homemaker living near Charleston, S.C.
“We had a hell of a good time,” Costello said. “I was sort of on the fringe (of) the in-crowd, It was very cliquey.”
“Let us work together as one big team and make this the best year at Palm Beach High School,” student council president Eric Bailey wrote in the introduction. Bailey’s now owner of Canoe Outfitters of Florida in Jupiter.
Girls had to take home economics, but not physics, chemistry or shop. Electives included beginning Glee Club and shorthand. The diversified cooperative training program offered courses for “auto parts man,” “gunsmith,” and “mortician’s assistant.” Shop courses included boat building and beauty culture. No rummage or food sales were allowed on school grounds. Smoking on campus brought a two-week suspension.
“The climax of the year’s social activities is a dance given in honor of seniors,” the handbook concludes. ” Everyone is lost in a fairyland beauty with the thrill that is never equaled.”
The book also has some interesting notes to young Barbara. One is from Jim Beaver, who was an all-state tackle and went on to captain the 1961 Florida Gators football team. He died in 1971 in a Central Florida car wreck and was posthumously named to the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. Another is from Clyde E. Harris, Class of ’20 and principal from 1948 to 1958, who died just this March at age 95: “Always stay as sweet as you are.”
Next week: A look at Palm Beach High students’ favorite hangout.
Palm Beach High School Historical Committee and Museum: 835-1681
Historical Society of Palm Beach County: 832-4164.
Read More: Pioneers in Paradise, by Jan Tuckwood and Eliot Kleinberg.