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Kokomo High School Class of 1886 - Forty-four Years Ago

Note: The photograph referenced in this article can be found in the original newspaper article: Kokomo Tribune, March 8, 1930, page 3

When the Kokomo High school class of 1886 finished its work, it had the distinction of being the largest group the school had graduated up to that time.The class had twenty-one members-nineteen girls and two boys.

The commencement is recalled as one of the most impressive held in the earlier decades of the school's existence. There was something of a seminary flavor about it.The exercises took place in the opera house, then a structure only ten or twelve years old. It is doubtful whether the snug and ornate interior of the old play house ever looked more beautiful than on that spring evening forty-four years ago.The scene pleasantly haunts many a memory even to this distant day.

The accompanying picture [not included here] presents likenesses of nineteen members of the class and the three members of the faculty, Prof. and Mrs. Sheridan COX and Prof. Horace G. WOODY. Two members of the class, Gertie CANODE and Cassie GUINN, were not able to be present when the picture was taken.

The identification of the figures in the picture, exclusive of the three faculty members, is as follows:

Bottom row, left to right, Myrtle SHAUL, Lulu HULL, Luella LANE, Sallie DIMMITT and Tivia DEFFENBAUGH.

In row with faculty, left to right, Sudie MOORE, Carrie SMITH, Minnie BEACHMAN and Minnie DUNKLE.

Next row in rear, India MARTZ, Olive HILANDS, Laura BENNETT, Emma MCGLYNN, Josie BREEDLOVE, May MARTIN, Cora JONES and Addie HUDSON.

In rear, Bert ELLIS and Eldon SOMERS.

After forty-four years, fourteen of the graduates shown in the picture are living.Five of the graduates and the three faculty members are dead.

Individual Histories.

Myrtle SHAUL became Mrs. W. H. MURPHY. She died in Texas several years ago.

Lulu HULL became Mrs. M. P. ELLIOTT. She is a widow and resides at 203 Conradt avenue.

Luella LANE became Mrs. Charles SHEWMON. They reside at 921 West Sycamore street.

Sallie DIMMITT resides at the homestead of her family, 409 West Walnut street.

Tivia DEFFENBAUGH became Mrs. George SMITH. They reside in Florida.

Sudie MOORE became Mrs. Sam SIPE. She is a widow and resides in Pittsburgh.

Carrie SMITH became Mrs. Ralph KNOWLTON. They reside in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Minnie LEACHMAN became Mrs. Minor SEWELL. She is a widow and resides with her sister, Mrs. M. J. MULLARKEY in Miami, Fla.

Minnie DUNKLE became Mrs. Leonard DOLMAN. She is a widow and resides in Los Angeles, California.

India MARTZ has long been the head of the Latin department of the Kokomo High school.She resides at 515 South Main street.

Olive HILANDS became Mrs. John SOLLENBERGER. She is a widow and resides at 406 East Taylor street.

Laura BENNETT became Mrs. William H. STOKES. They reside in Freehold, New Jersey.

Emma MCGLYNN became Mrs. John MCGRAIL. She is a widow and resides at 821 West Taylor street.

Josie BREEDLOVE became Mrs. H. E. KIDDER. She died at the Kidder home just west of Kokomo on the Sycamore street pike only a few years ago.

May MARTIN, Cora JONES and Addie HUDSON have been dead several years. May MARTIN and Cora JONES died here and Addie HUDSON in Winfield, Kansas.

Bert ELLIS, long connected with building construction, resides at 745 South Phillips street.

Eldon SOMERS, lumberman, resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

Commencement Orations.

When the commencement of 1886 was held, each graduate delivered an oration.The following list reveals the order in which members of the class spoke and the subjects of their orations:

Josie BREEDLOVE, "Wise Fools."

Sudie MOORE, "Milton's Daughters."

Myrtle SHAUL, "Whetstones."

Cassie GUINN, "Dreaming, the Wine to the Act."

Lulu HULL, "Things by Season Seasoned Are."

Minnie LEACHMAN, "The Way to Win Is Wisely to Advise."

Olive HILAND, "Education for the Man of Business."

Cora JONES, "The Cure for Discouragement."

Laura BENNETT, "The Low Sun Makes the Color."

Gertie CANODE, "If Gold Rusts, What Shall Iron Do?"

India MARTZ, "Balmung's Edge Still Keen."

May MARTIN, "The Crowd Not Company."

Luella LANE, "The Wind Blows Strength to The Brave."

Sallie DIMMITT, "In the Shadow."

Adaline HUDSON, "The Trojan Horse."

Bert ELLIS, "He'll Not Feel the Wrongs That Tie Him to An Answer."

Carrie SMITH, "Thanks to Our Faults."

Tivia DEFFENBAUGH, "What Now Availeth That I Was."

Emma MCGLYNN, "The Left Handed God."

Minnie DUNKLE, "Force and Fuss."

Eldon SOMERS, "Conservation of Energy."

The honor pupil of the class for the four years of high school was India MARTZ.

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