Class of 1928 -------------
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Above is the set of class photographs that once hung on the second floor of the highschool, in the hall along 36th Street. The frame is gone, and apparently only by some miracle does it survive at all now, some 84 years after the event, as of year 2012.
Left click on the image below for a much larger version.
1928 graduating class picture.
Material provided for scanning by the Godwin HS librarian, April, 2006.
Left to right, top row: Vera Francisco, Edward Dykstra, Isie Elizabeth Myers, Lyle Alger, Marjorie Wilson,
Left to right, middle row: Morey Galloway, Ida McDaniel, Ross Van Allen, Leoto Brant, Clifford Jones.
Left to right, bottom row: Eva Lake, George Marks.
The photograph above is an attempted recreation of the original 1928 class
photo. It seems there was a project in the works in about 1965 or 1966 to
write a book about the history of Godwin.
Apparently by this time so much archival material had been disposed of
by the school that it was already difficult to reconstruct that history.
The note in the lower right hand corner of the photograph above, shown
better in the larger version, sums it up well. It reads "Identification
should be made by a living member - no list is available."
The folks attempting to write the history were thus severely hampered in their efforts, and apparently no such book was ever finished. By 1966 yet all work had to be done with typewriters, and the cumbersome editing process they required. The Golden G would not exist for another 20 years, and could not provide access to many older Godwin alumni. Even though individual class reunions likely took place, without HS archives, it might have been difficult to tap in to them. And of course e-mail and the Internet were still a distant dream in 1966. Today this allows Godwin alumni for all over the US to participate in things like the Golden G.
Fortunately the Godwin Hieghts News published a set of photographs of the members of the class of 1928, and we can use this to complete the recreated class photograph that once hung on the second floor of the highschool building. Fortunately those attempting to recreate the class photograph seemed to have access to some good photographs of the members of the class of 1928. Just where they got them, and where they are today, if anywhere, is completely unknown at this time. Perhaps someone in the Golden G was a member of the effort.
Whether the resulting recreation of the original class photograph has the same student arrangement as the original is difficult to know. Of course the real tragedy is that the original no longer exists.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Material provided by Bob Charon, class of 1951,
Material provided by a 1966 effort to write a history of Godwin book. The effort was apparently abandoned.
Note that many street addresses in Kent county changed in 1943, so street names shown above might not exist in year 2006. Just when the class list was originally compiled, or from what source, is not known.
1928 graduating class program. ( Material provided by Lewis Lull, class of 1940, scanned by Craig Lull, class of 1970. )
( Image provided by Kim (Shepard) Brown, class of 1970. )
Bill for the 1928 senior class play. This might well have been performed on the stage at the south end of the Division Avenue elementary school. 1928 is one year before the first section of the new high school was completed. See faculty members Edward Dykstra and Clifford Jones in a 1935 photograph. The class of 1927 consisted of just five women. The class of 1928 might not have been big enough to put on a play without help.
( Image provided by Lee (Tanner) Collins, class of 1940. )
A notice in a local paper about the success of the 1928 minstrel show. It appears that the play was put on again at Alaska - presumably Alaska, Michigan, Southeast of Grand Rapids, on the Thornapple River.
( Material provided by Lewis Lull, class of 1940, scanned and sent by Craig Lull, class of 1970.)