The song playing on this page is the "Grand Rapids School Song", digitally created by Dianne Preston & her brother Brad.


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"REMEMBER WHEN"


Remember the school song?
Go ahead, give it a try. Sing along with us.

      

Joyous and ever loyal, let us boost for Rapids High
Let every heart sing, let every voice ring
There's no time to grieve or sigh
U-rah-rah
Onward, our hearts pursuing
May your ardor never die
And united we all shall boost for GRAND RAPIDS HIGH

I-N-D-I-A-N-S.......Indians, Indians, gooooooooooooo INDIANS!!

Good job, you're on a roll. Try this one on your own, without music......

Cheer Cheer Rapids
Cheer all the time
Spur them on to Victory

Cheer Cheer Rapids
Cheer all the time
Show your loy-al-ty
U-rah-rah

Fight for victory
Your orange and black
Keep those colors high
So fight, fight
Fight and come through
With a victory for Rapids High


1958 - Our Freshman Year     

Who was dating who our Freshmen year!!

Jane Murphy Dick Newton
Mary Desnoyers Ted Landswick
Lynn Stuneck Tom Hogan
Dianne Preston Pat Lacroix
Andy Peterson Dick Schugel
Karen Kekkonen Snook Card
Kathy Heimark Doug Ehrlich
Marietta Nageleisen Norm Jetland
Marietta Nageleisen Doug Ehrlich
Marietta Nageleisen Steve Kirsting

We were first 9th grade class in the new Junior High.

The Mutual Broadcasting System drops all rock and roll records from its network music programs, calling it "distorted, monotonous and noisy music."

August 5:  The world's first undersea crossing of the North Pole was made by the U.S. atomic submarine Nautilus.

January 31:  The first U.S. Earth satellite, Explorer I, was launched at 10:48 pm from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

At the Movies:  Academy Award Winners - Best Picture Gigi;  Best Actor DAVID NIVEN in Separate Tables; Best Actress SUSAN HAYWARD in I Want To Live

Music:  Gigi, Witch Doctor, The Purple People Eater, and The Chipmunk Song

Minimum wage - $1.00; Average Income - $4,650; New house - $11,975; New car - $2,155; Gallon of Gas - .24; Dow Jones Average - 583.65; Life expectance - 69.6 years.

Inventions:  Barbie Doll, Hula Hoop, and Laser

First stereo records.

First heart pacemaker.

First trans-Atlantic passenger jet service.

The Bank of American introduces the BankAmericard, which will become the Visa card.

1959 - Our Sophomore Year

Who was dating who our Sophomore year!!    

Mary Desnoyers Ted Landswick
but goes to the Greenway Prom with Poncho Bennett??
Tom Roy Rosemary Novak
Marietta Nageleisen Connie Lovdahl
Marietta Nageleisen Russ Mischke
Carol Curran Tim Jolin
Jan Kroll Norm Mattson
Sharon Kauppi Jim Arnold
Ann Costello Tom Shorba


Link Wray's instrumental classic "Rumble" is dropped from radio stations across the country in January - even though it has no lyrics. The title of the song is thought to be suggestive of teenage violence. When Wray appears on American Bandstand to perform the song, Dick Clark introduces Wray and his band, but refuses to mention the song's title.

Wanting to secure an appearance on the hit television program American Bandstand, singer Lloyd Price agrees to re-cut the lyrics to his song "Stagger Lee," removing all references to violence.

January 3:  Alaska was proclaimed the 49th state by President Eisenhower.

February 3:  Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens die in plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa..."The day the music died."

August 21:  Hawaii was admitted to the Union as the 50th state.  The President also ordered a new flag of 50 stars.

June 11:  Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence, was banned from the mails by Postmaster General Summerfield, who said, "Any literary merit the book may have is far outweighed by the pornographic and smutty passages and words, so that the book, taken as a whole, is an obscene and filthy work."

October 4:   The Grand Rapids "Indians" beat Greenway in football 20 to 14.

Swiss males vote against voting rights for women.

The microchip is invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce of the U.S.

Food stamps authorized

Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, after overtaking Batista

Homecoming Queens - Football - Nancy Heimark, Basketball - Judy Erholtz

1960 - Our Junior Year

Who was dating who our Junior year!!

Mary Desnoyers Poncho Bennett
Dianne Preston Gary Monson
Doug Powers Katy Mickelson
Tom Roy Rosemary Novak
Marietta Nageleisen Russ Mischke
Marnie Nerland Hank Robinson
Shiela Partridge Richard Henderson
Kathy Heimark Jim Hough
Sandi Cunningham Jim Beier
Doris Danson Dan Roettger

March 23:  Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Larence was ruled a work of art and not obscene, and therefore mailable, by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Sells 200,000 copies in one day.

March 24:  Andy Peterson gets a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover. That Thursday night she reads excerpts to the girls at a slumber party.

March 25-26:  Best weekend for dating in Grand Rapids History. If you guys didn't have a date that weekend you really missed out. Thank you Andrea, what a weekend!!

May 5:  The downing of a U.S. plane over the U.S.S.R on May 1 was announced by Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who called the captured pilot, Francis Gary Powers, a spy and vowed he would be put on trial.  On May 7 the U.S. admitted that the unarmed U-2 plane had been on a spy mission.

July 7th: The laser is introduced to the public.

November 8:  John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected President of the United States.

FDA approves the first birth-control pill.

A civil rights bill passes Senate.

Coronary problems linked to smoking.

Elvis leaves the Army.

At the Movies:  Academy Award Winners - Best Picture The Apartment; Best Actor BURT LANCASTER in Elmer Gantry; Best Actress ELIZABETH TAYLOR in Butterfield 8

Music:  Theme from Exodus, Only The Lonely, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Let's Do the Twist, Puppy Love

Minimum wage - $1.00; Average Income - $5,199; New house - $12,675; New car - $2,610; Gallon of Gas - .26; Dow Jones Average - 685.47; Life expectance - 69.7 years

Homecoming Queens - Football - Jan Tenhunen, Basketball - Cyndie Hagman

1961- Our Senior Year

Who was dating who our Senior year!!

Mary Desnoyers still with Poncho Bennett?
Sue Pennala Norm Mattson
Marietta Nageleisen Russ Mischke
Jeanne Schrunk Bob O'Neill
John Yurkovich Shelly Duell
Tom Roy Rosemary Novak
Sharon Olson Jimmy Cortes
Marjorie Utech Terry Taylor
Donna Hanson Jerry Hammann
Charlene Lane Donnie Garner
Terry Holum Nancy Garner
Patty McLaughlin Dick Chambers
RoseMary Jordon Bob Hince
Larry Card Corinne Tarbuck
Sharon Kauppi John Kearney
Ginny Vikre Jerry Beier
Andy Peterson Keith Tok
Sandi Cunningham Jim Beier
Doris Danson Dan Roettger

January 20:  John F. Kennedy was inaugurated President of the United States.

April 17:  In what came to be called the Bay of Pigs invasion, some 1500 anti-Castro Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Cochinos in Cuba.  On April 24, President Kennedy stated he accepted full responsibility for failure of the invasion.

May 5:  The first American in space was Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., who made a successful suborbital flight aboard the Project Mercury capsule Freedom Seven.

June 2:   Watch out world, the Class of '61 graduates!

August 31: The Berlin Wall goes up.

October 4: The Grand Rapids "Indians" beat Greenway in football 34 to 12

Homecoming Queens - Football - Faith Johnson, Basketball - Carol Curran

October 6:  Speaking on civil defense, President Kennedy advised families to build or buy a shelter against atomic fallout.

Contraceptive pill becomes available. (Thank goodness!)

At the Movies:  Academy Award Winners - Best Picture WEST SIDE STORY; Best Actor MAXIMILLIAN SCHELL in Judgment at Nuremberg; Best Actress SOPHIA LOREN in Two Women.

Music:  Moon River, Runaround Sue, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Big Bad John, Take Good Care of My Baby.

Minimum wage - $1.15; Average Income - $5,315; New house - $12,550; New car - $2,849; Gallon of Gas - .27; Dow Jones Average - 734.91; Life expectance - 69.7 years.






How could we forgot those friday night dances at the Village Hall?




Then on to Mickey's for a Burger, Fries & Coke.
It sure looked bigger in 1961.




Or, if you had wheels, up to the Broaster.
Who were you in the back seat with?




Remember the Forest Lake Lodge..free beer if the back was not locked.






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Last Modified December 30, 2002