Finally. We were Seniors, twelve-year veterans of the Russellville school system and seemingly at the pinnacle of our education. We had matured, of course, but were scarcely aware of how much farther we had to go. We had only the haziest notion of the extended education that was to come, learned only through the journey of life. Of this we understood little. Miss Geneva took all of this in stride with the patience and good humor for which she was known, and helped us steer through this final leg of our journey through RHS.

We had more flexibility in our subject areas that final year. English and science was required, but elective choices were available. We were required to take four credits. Two basic courses were:

• English IV (Mrs. Ruth Carpenter)
• Chemistry (Mrs. Alene Felts)

A math course was also required. Many of those who were college-bound took

• Solid Geometry and Trigonometry (Miss Hilda Willis)

Another math course available was

• Business Arithmetic (Mrs. Geneva Helm)

An elective science course was

• Physics (Mrs. Alene Felts)

Still other electives included

• Speech (debating) (Mrs. Ruth Carpenter)
• Home Economics (Mrs. Helen Raymer)

 Mrs. Ruth Carpenter, Mrs. Alene Felts, Miss Hilda Willis, Mrs. Geneva Helm, Mrs. Clyde Raymer

Some highlights of our Senior Year were (click on these links):

• "The Mud Game", football game, November 28, 1957, Russellville Panthers 33, Bowling Green Purples 0
• "Headin' for a Weddin' ", Senior Class Play, November 22, 1957
• Senior Class Trip to Washington and New York City, April 6 - 11, 1958
• Graduation from Russellville High School, May 1958

There were many other events that year including an exciting season of football and basketball, an extensive music program that involved many of the seniors in the band or one of the choral groups. Off-campus, many of our social activities on weekends centered around "Teen Town," a carefully chaperoned room on Sixth Street adjoining the Women's Club building. There was a jukebox, sometimes live music, and plenty of room for dancing, sharing a Coke, or maybe sneaking a smoke outside.

Some of the top hits for 1958 were

• "The Purple People Eater," by Sheb Wooley (see note below)
• "Sugartime" by the McGuire Sisters
• "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors (see note below)
• "Volare" by Domenico Modugno
• "The Chipmunk Song" by David Seville and The Chipmunks

The Hula Hoop was the hot new toy that year, and Vladimir Nabokov had just published "Lolita". For more remembrances of life in 1958, click on "As It Was in 1958."

Note: To play these tunes, you'll need QuickTime Player installed on your computer. QuickTime is free, public domain, and works on either Windows or Mac OS machines. If you have a personal computer running under either Windows 2000 or Windows XP, and you have a high-speed Internet connection (not a dial-up) go to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html to download both QuickTime 7 and iTunes 6. Enter your email address and click on Free Download Now. This is a 33 MB file, and will take about a minute with a DSL or cable modem connection. If you have a dial-up connection, it will take too long, so look for someone local who already has QuickTime and load it onto your computer. If you have a Mac running under OS X (Panther or Tiger), you should already have QuickTime Player installed on your machine.