Go Western, young man!

On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

There used to be three junior high schools in Somerville - the Western, the Southern and the Northeastern. I went to the Western, which was up near Teele Square. Dr. Horne was the principal and Mr. Mackey was the vice-principal - it was 1968.

I wish I could find that huge rolled up class picture they gave us, but it’s long gone - it was all cracked and ripped anyway. But hey, who needs a photo - the images are still fresh in my mind.

The slicked back hair and pegged pants were on the way out, and long hair was growing.

Bell-bottoms were starting and pointy shoes were ending. Guys named Porky and Chickie were cool and girls named Lynn and Debbie were hot.

When you hit junior high you had made it - you were cool enough to attempt cutting class and running over to Angelina’s Sub Shop across the street and your only problem then was covering up your onion and cigarette breath when you snuck back in. Freddie Benoit had it down to an art.

I only did the ninth grade at the Western after escaping eight years of St. Clements - I went from Sister Helene to Miss Charlton. It was my first year of freedom and her first year of teaching. I don’t think I ever apologized to her for putting the dog in the paper closet – boy, did she scream when she opened the door!

It was also the first year I somehow convinced my parents to let me have a leather jacket - I was so cool.

After eight years of “sister school” I felt like a freed prisoner. My hair was growing, my leather jacket was shiny and I was ready for fun. On the other hand, Dr. Horne had some plans of his own - like strict rules. It’s a little foggy, but I think we had to keep our top button on our shirt buttoned and our sideburns had to be trimmed. Your hair wasn’t supposed to touch your collar. We had to walk in an orderly fashion in the hallways. The only words I ever recall hearing from Dr. Horne were: “Line over there…line over there”. But it was all good – we were in junior high school.

We had no i-pods, no playstations, no cable TV and no computers. We had “hanging around with our friends in the park or on a street corner”. We had record players and we bought albums. We didn’t have Fiddy Cent - we had The Beatles…until Yoko came along anyway.

Junior high school, leather jackets, Beatles albums and hanging with my friends made me feel like I was in heaven - then we hit the High School. Over one short summer we went from being the kings of junior high to the babies of the High School – and to make matters worse, our beloved Western went up in a puff of smoke shortly after we graduated.

The Western Junior High School was rebuilt and still stands on Holland Street as a testimonial to all who entered its hallowed halls - including my dad, my aunts and uncles and my cousins. My dear friend, the beloved Dr. David Wendell Jones, took over as principal and I went back as a substitute teacher. One of our bragging rights was that the class of 1968 had the distinction of being the last graduating class before the fire.

Being at the High School now meant new friends, new teachers and most of all - new challenges. We then had to figure out how to cut class and run over to Nan’s sub shop across the street from the High School.

You can email Jimmy with comments directly at [email protected]

Comments

[Ron Newman]

The Western is now the Tufts Administration Building and the city Senior Center. The Southern was torn down for housing, but the city eventually decided to create Nunziato Field and the Growing Center there instead. Where was the Northeastern?

[JARfromWard3]

Ron:

The Northeastern (which my wife attended) was on Marshall Street. it was razed around 1980. There is a condo development there today which was built ca. 1982. This development was, as I recall, built by Acorn Structures of Acton using their modularized system.

Of the three JHS's, only the Northeastern featured a yellow brick exterior.

73
JAR

[Hala]

I too miss the old Western Jr. High. I missed the only reuion that I can remember. All I know it was a good school and Mr. Jones was a great guy. I sure do miss the school.

81

[Fran Hart]

Greetings -

I attended the Western between 1966-67, for all of 7th grade and part of 8th grade before moving to Burlington. I have pretty fond memories of it, my teachers and classmates. Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. McNally were my homeroom teachers in 7th and 8th grade respectively. The others I remember include Mr. Tighe (social studies), Mr. Donahue (English), Mr. Nunziato (phys ed), Mr. Caven (science), Miss Johnson (Latin). Dr. Della-Colli (sp?) (drafting), was it Mr. Ball (sheet metal) - I might think of more later. I think my 6th-grade teacher (Mrs. Donahue - no relation to Mr. Donahue) moved there from the Hodgkin's as I visted the Western sometime in the late 70's and she was there.

Does anyone know where some online photos might be of the school? I haven't had any luck through searches. How about some documents in the local library or the SJ archives? Is the SJ on microfiche in the local library?

Thanks.

[Ron Newman]

The Somerville Journal is on microfilm in the Somerville Public Library, though it can be hard to read.

To see what the Western looks like now, go to Google Maps, enter the address "167 Holland Street, Somerville MA 02144", and turn on Street View. Here's a link to that view.

I don't think the exterior of the building has changed much since you attended it, but it now belongs to Tufts University. It also contains a number of city offices, and SCALE (Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences). The SCALE page also has a small photo of the entrance way.

[Ron Newman]

The Somerville School Department or the city's Historic Preservation Commission might have old photos of the Western. No guarantees, but worth checking.

[Fran Hart]

Thanks for the suggestions Ron!

Fran Hart

[To Fran Hart]

I hope you are not going to drag up every lame article this guy has wrote?

[whyme]

Ron,

Thanks for the info on the old pictures of the Western. I graduated from the Western in 1969, the year it burnt and we had to finish out most of the year doing double sessions (12-4PM) with the Southern. I would like to find out if there are some negitives hidden away somewhere of the class pictures we got back then so I can replace the one I have. As you can imagine after almost 40 years it is a bit tattered and torn...Also, I would like to find out about getting copies of year books.

[Ron Newman]

How badly did the school burn, and how long did it take to reopen it? Did they have to rebuild any of the exterior, or just the inside?

[James Norton]

Whyme -

If you call the High School, they will probably be able to put you in the right direction as far as yearbooks. If they can't help, you can try the central administration, but I would definitely try the High School first - they have quite the collection of yearbooks and other memorabilia and have the capacity to reproduce stuff in-house.

Jamie Norton

[whyme]

Ron,
The Western was burnt pretty good. It was a case of arson. It burnt in Oct. 1969 and opened in time for the following school year.

Jamie,
Thanks for the info.

[Library]

Go to the below link for the library.

http://www.somervillepubliclibrary.org/localhistory/guide.html

Somerville Student Magazines and Yearbooks
1882-1884, 1895 - present (paper and microfilm)
This collection includes the student magazines and yearbooks for Somerville High School Radiator, the Somerville Trade High School Trade Winds and the magazines for the Southern, Western and Northeastern Junior High Schools.

[JARfromWard3]

The City Room at the Somerville Public Library has a fairly complete volume set of SHS yearbooks as well.

BTW, the Western was torched over a $10 bet.

73
JAR

[Well??]

Just a question, John (a.k.a. JAR):
When do you think you'll write the definitive book on the history of Somerville? I for one can't wait to read it!

[dapper dan]

I don't know about a definitive book but a discussion group about life and times in Somerville could be interesting...I know alot about a specific time and place (West Somerville 1972-1980) but very little about other times and places. I think many local historians or historical societies may want to capture these stories before we all get too old.

Any interest in such a group? JAR? Jimmy D?

[James Norton]

About a book - the idea has been in the back of my mind (and my father's truth be told) - about writing a book. If we got a smaller group together - me, Jimmy Del, JAR and a few others - and started writing about the good, the bad and the ugly of Somerville in the last 40 years, I think we would be able to amass quite the reading material. Then just write it up, edit the hell out of it (double negatives left in of course) and make something special. Hey, it's an idea.

Jamie Norton

[Ron Newman]

Tricky could contribute a lot to that book, too.

[Sharoney]

Hey, Jim, I have that rolled-up panoramic class photo from Western.

In it, you're in the front row - they arranged us by height, as I recall - and you're sitting on the ground, crossed-legged, with your elbows resting on your knees, your hands drooping down out of sight of the teachers, and your middle finger is extended.

There's an irresistibly evil smirk on your face.

I also remember Mr. Mackey, waving his ruler in the lunchroom, yelling in that booming trumpet of a voice, "Last call for ice cream! Last call for ice cream!"

[jay collins]

Does anyone remember the name of the gym teaher at Northeastern JRH in the 70s ? A Mr. Peterson, or Pederson ? And what happened to him if you know ?

[JARfromWard3]

Yes, it was Mr. Peterson, according to my wife. She doesn't know what happened to him, however.

The girls' gym teacher at the time was Ms. Tarimino (sp?).

JAR

[Anthonya1981]

Mr Tom Peterson. Whereabouts unknown. Ms Tarimino became Miss Morris. Sadly she passed away from cancer in the late 80's/ early 90's

[Michelle Montgomery]

I went to the Western! I had the time of my life there. I miss that old school. Of course I remember Mr Jones! How many times did he have to call us down to his office over the PA system and let us know when we got there that he was incharge of running the scholl and not us?? The class of 1981 - YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!