THE WAY WE WERE
A Story of Adolescence in the 1950s
Featuring Daniel Boone & Davy Crockett
of Whiting High School

Al Koch
September 2026

PROLOUGE:

Once upon a time, in northern Indiana, near the shore of a large lake amid sand dunes, prairie grass, and railroad tracks, a small settlement formed.  Later, when an oil refinery was built adjacent to the property of the railroad settlement, a city took form. Soon after, businesses, houses of worship, neighborhoods, and schools followed.  Within the two and a half square miles of geography, immigrants from European countries came to find work.  Some moved on, others however, stayed, and the Little City by The Lake named Whiting became their home.

Sixty-eight years later, on an ordinary October morning in 1957, a couple of Whiting High School’s senior boys went hunting before dawn.  The aftermath of that excursion and their spur-of-the-moment-decision making became a folklore legend.  The kind of story that is told and embellished at future high school class reunions.

SETTING THE SCENE:

I’ve often said that growing up in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, in Whiting-Robertsdale was the best thing that could happen to a kid.  The Little City by the Lake was a self-contained, full-service, industrialized municipal Mayberry.

Upon graduation from Whiting-Robertsdale public and parochial grade schools in June of 1954, the latest group of 13- and 14-year-old students prepared to begin their high school years. Both World War II and the Korean War left indelible marks throughout the country.  Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, and guiding a country to adapt to post-war, technology, innovation and change. Many teens worked part-time, earning money instead of relying on parental allowance for personal wants and needs. Adolescents were becoming a monetary force accelerated by television, movies, transportation, radio, records, and fashions.  Teenagers were expressing individuality, independence, self-reliance, and celebrating being young! 

The 116 members of WHS newest freshman class crossed the threshold and began their secondary education at Whiting High School on Tuesday September 7, 1954. (see Appendix A). Later that first semester, Whiting won the Indiana State mythical football championship in 1954-55.  The year was filled with teenaged socializing, studies, and shenanigans, embodying the full gamut of adolescent coming-of-age adventure.

Our sophomore year, 1955-1956, began a few weeks after the massive explosion and fire at the Standard Oil Refinery in August 1955, that destroyed Stieglitz Park, and resulted in the deaths of two individuals. That calamity changed the communities of Whiting-Robertsdale economically, socially, physically, and emotionally. Numerous families re-located, finding suitable housing in Whiting, while other displaced residents moved out-of-town, reducing the city’s population and school-wide enrollment.

Change also took place at Whiting High School.  At the close of the 55-56 school year, veteran educator, William P. Burkholtz, who began teaching Machine Shop in the fall of 1921, retired. Mr. George McClure succeeded Mr. Buerkholtz. In addition, a new faculty member for the upcoming school year, Mr. James Ulrich, joined the English Department.

The Whiting City School Administration also changed. Mr. Emmett. L. Riordon, Superintendent from the 40s, retired and was succeeded by George Burman, former principal of Whiting High School.  Raymond Gallivan, Physical Education teacher and Coach, became high school principal.

The 1956-1957 school year began on Tuesday, September 4, 1956. Along with the now, ninety-three members of Junior Class. Returning seniors, sophomores, and incoming freshmen, filled lockers, hallways and classrooms with disciplined exuberance, enthusiasm, energy, and camaraderie, celebrating themselves. Each day, classmate friendship and a variety of individual talents, skills, ability, antics, and academic prowess were showcased, nurtured, and displayed by over four hundred students, in classrooms, hallways, athletic fields, school-sponsored events, and out-of-school activities.  Each school day, from 8:08 am to 3:38 pm, and into early evenings, school facilities on Oliver Street and New York Avenue as well as businesses and places of interest, overflowed with pedagogics, scholarship, social, and personal endeavors.

The 1957-1958 Whiting High School year began the day after Labor Day, Tuesday, September. 3rd.  Along with incoming freshmen, Whiting High School welcomed returning members of the sophomore, junior and senior classes.  For the Class of 1958, this would be our final year of high school culminating with commencement on June 4, 1958.

Our senior year was off to a great start. Classmates spent the first month catching up about summertime activities, and talked of post-graduation plans: work, college, military, or “I don’t know.”  Classrooms, study halls, homerooms, and hallways buzzed with adolescent conversations and academics. One topic of interest for a few guys was hunting season. Indiana Duck hunting opened on Tuesday, October first.  Several classmates hunted ducks, and trapped muskrats for their pelts.  Companies like Sears paid local trappers one to two dollars per muskrat pelt depending on quality for their raw fur marketing services.

Then, on Friday October 4, 1957, nations worldwide were shocked to hear that the Soviet Union had launched earth’s first satellite into outer space—Sputnik.  Television, newspapers, and radio focused on the accomplishment of the Russians and questioned the lack of scientific prowess in American schools.  The space race was on!

Slowly, over the next few weeks, things settled down at Whiting High School. Lessons, studies, sports, and socialization returned as teenaged priorities.  Two years earlier, in August of ’55, a devastating refinery fire nearly destroyed the city. In early October of ’57, the Russians blatantly challenged the United States for technological superiority by launching Sputnik.  All of this was moved from the forefront so the WHS Class of 1958 could concentrate on, and enjoy, their senior year.

REFLECTOR FLASHBACK

During the 40s and 50s, Whiting High School was ranked in the top three schools in the state of Indiana: academics, athletics, and scholarship.  In addition, the school’s newspaper, THE TATTLER, was voted one of the 5 best in Indiana. Print Shop and Graphic Arts, teacher, Mr. Bernard Vesely, and Journalism teacher, Ane Marie Peterson, coordinated and taught Whiting High’s students to plan, organize, write, and prepare the bi-monthly issues of the school’s paper and annual yearbook: REFLECTOR. Adding to this excellence, Whiting High School’s Band and Orchestra, under the direction of Adam P. Lesinsky won a plethora of statewide awards. With a total enrollment of around 400 students, Whiting High School set the standard for all-around scholarship, achievement, and athletic excellence.

The faculty at Whiting High School were multi-talented, well-educated, and pedagogically gifted.  Most of the teachers who taught at Whiting City Schools stayed at Whiting for their entire teaching career.  (See Appendix B). Individually and collectively, students received the quality of this faculty’s teaching expertise and experience.  For enrolled students, Whiting High School became the Hallmark of their adolescence years.

One of the fringe benefits of Whiting High School, because of its size, was by the time one became a senior, you knew everyone and everyone knew you—senior, junior, sophomore, and freshmen classmates, teachers, administrators, office and maintenance staff. Whiting High School was where life-long friendships were formed, nurtured, bonded, and celebrated. This scholastic camaraderie reflected hometown Whiting-Robertsdale’s close-knit community of family, church, and school.

And one more thing:

            During this writer’s four years, 1954-1958, rarely did any student come to school late.  A few students drove to school, but the vast majority walked.  Kids from Stieglitz Park, Goose Island, and neighborhoods throughout the city walked regardless of season: spring, summer, fall, or winter. We never missed a day of school due to adverse weather. Whiting High School was where one’s friends were, Whiting High School was the place to be. Before Disneyland, Whiting High School presented students with Invitations to: Opportunity land, Teen-Age Adventure Land, Kid to Grown-up land, and Threshold to Tomorrow Land. The school where wishes become hopes, hopes become dreams, and dreams come true. A student entered WHS as an“old” child and four years later, graduated as a “young” adult. That coming-of-age transition became the foundation for future endeavors as their life unfolded.

            As students we understood what was expected of us:  Be where you are supposed to be, when you’re supposed to be there.  Punctuality was not an option; it was a responsibility.  There was pride in being punctual. Remember, too, schools did not have central air conditioning.  A few administrative offices had window air conditioners, but not classrooms. When outside temperatures and humidity elevated, windows and transoms were opened to encourage comfortable airflow. During cold weather, the school’s heating system kept everything toasty and warm.  I recall the verbal jingle: “Whether it’s cold, or whether it’s hot, we’ll have school, weather or not!”

TATTLER EXCLUSIVE:

On October tenth, a week after Sputnik’s launch, we began our school day.  It was a cool, clear early autumn Thursday. My first period class was Civics, in Mr. Fowdy,’s ground floor classroom of the senior high building near the senior lockers.   (Mr. Stephen Fowdy was also Class of 1958 Sponsor.)

When the tardy bell rang, there were two vacant desks.  Bob Turich and John Hart were absent. Mr. Fowdy had a quizzical look on his face as he recorded attendance in his grade book. Then he began a discussion about the House of Representatives from the country’s 48 states.

About 10 minutes later, the classroom door opened and Bob Turich and John Hart, dressed in hunting regalia, came in and sat at their desk. Attired in camouflage, the two presented a stark contrast image to fellow classmates dressed in Jaymar slacks and dress shirts. 

Mr. Fowdy had just explained the Legislative’s committee structure when Mr. Gallivan, opened the classroom door. Scanning the class. Looking first at Bob Turich and John Hart, then Mr. Fowdy; said: “I want to see Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone out here in the hall.”  

Mr. Gallivan, as former coach and Physical Education teacher, knew every male student in school. John Hart was a robust 250 plus-pound-lineman for the Oiler football team.  Bob Turich was the team’s manager. Their fondness for the outdoors was legendary.  Hart would occasionally display trapped muskrat pelts in biology class. Several times, Turich came to class with his pet hamster crawling under his shirt.  The first time Algebra teacher, Mr. Allen, saw Bob’s hamster moving under his shirt he thought it was some kind of mobile tumor.  Bob would occasionally put the hamster into the open wooden desk, and the hamster would roam around inside and poke his head up threw the ink well hole to scope out the environment.

Leaving the classroom door open, Bob and John exited the room and went into the hall. Standing close by was one of the custodial ladies who sounded the alarm, notifying the principal, when she noticed what looked like blood, seeping out from under the door of a closed locker. As the trio approached the locker, Mr. Gallivan reached out and opened the unassigned locker.  The fluid was indeed blood dripping from the carcasses of several harvested waterfowl tied together at the neck, hanging from a hook. Behind the feathered quarry, inside, at the back of the locker were two shotguns.  Several boxes of shells rested on the lone locker shelf.

Addressing the two hunters, Mr. Gallivan asked, “What’s this?”   John Hart spoke first: “Mr. Gallivan, we went hunting early this morning and lost track of time. We didn’t want to be late for school or leave this stuff in the car all day, so we put everything in a locker and went to class.”

            Mr. Gallivan looked at them both: “Who drove?”  

            Hart answered: “I did.”    Mr. Gallivan: “Where did you park?”

            “On Oliver Street in front of the Gym.”

Mr. Gallivan issued his directives: “Both of you take the guns, shells and those chickens out of here.”  Hart interrupted and with considerable pride said: “Mr. Gallivan, those aren’t chickens, those are mallards.”  Mr. Gallivan was unimpressed. “I don’t care if their mallards, mud hens, chickens, or feathered do-do birds, get them out of here!”  You drove, so take everything home, change clothes, and get back here as quickly as you can. We don’t need a Daniel Boone look-a-like roaming the halls.”   Gallivan looked at the school’s Davy Crockett and said:

“Go with the custodian, she will provide you with a bucket and cleaning materials.  You clean this locker--inside and out!”  

Bob Turich nodded understanding and offered: “I have a change of clothes in the gym’s locker room I keep there as manager in case of an emergency.” 

Mr. Gallivan countered: “After your housekeeping chores are completed, go to the gym and change the camouflage for street clothes.  I wouldn’t want any wayward ‘Mallards’ to get frightened.”

As “Davy Crockett” and “Daniel Boone” went about their assigned duties, Mr. Gallivan took his leave, glanced at the custodian, exchanged wry smiles, shook his head, mumbling something about dripping ducks in a locker.

By the beginning of second period, Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone had changed back to Bob Turich and John Hart.  The guns and shells were locked secure in a home safe, and the harvested waterfowl were appropriately stored. The locker and surrounding area had been thoroughly cleaned with adolescent energy and copious amounts of Spic-and-Span.

The entire matter was handled with dignity, cordiality, understanding, mutual respect, and common sense. And, in harmony with the coming-of-age 50s teenagers, just a smidgeon of humor.

EPILOGUE

            Today, I doubt if a similar adolescent adventure would ever happen.  And that’s okay.  For those of us who shared the youthful adventurous years of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, remembering these incidents always makes us smile. As ancient adolescent fossils, we recall the spontaneity, exhilaration, exuberance, understanding, guidance and celebrity bestowed to us by the grown-ups in charge during our wonder years. With unflinching certainty, somewhere far beyond the stars, Whiting High School’s Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and supporting cast continue to enjoy the gift and treasure engendered by life’s banquet and song: the rhythmic verses and rhyming couplets, of a well-written poem about youth from long ago.

APPENDIX A

 WHITING HIGH SCHOOL

CLASS of 1958

Arlene Abner                          Judith Dvorshak          Thomas Justak               Elaine Muday                                                  
Michael Adzima                     Donald Elledge            Judith Kamradt             Diana Mrzlock                                          

Barbara Anderson                    Denver Ferry               Lawrence Kenda            Linda Novotny

Margaret Arnold                    Elaine Foster               Sharon Kinnane             Mary Payton

Otho Barton                            Patrick Gallivan           Michael Klym                  Alberta Phelps

Gale Beeler                             Thomas Gambini         Irene Kobe                      Henry Plawecki

Francis Bernard                       Constance Geffert        Albert Koch                    Dennis Plesha

Dennis Blazewick                   Leroy Girman              Ernest Kochis                 John Pohl

Richard Bonczyk                   Elizabeth Green          John Krivacic                  Roberta Progar

Mildred Brown                       Carolyn Gruba               Katherine Kroslack          Frank Pustek

Benedict Bubala                    Virginia Gyure            Thomas Kujawa              Gayle Pustek

Donald  Bubala                     Charlotte Hall               Stephen Linko                Jerry Reeves

Clyde Buckmaster                 John Hart                      Melton Litavec              Arnold Reener

Gerald Burke                        Richard Harding          Patricia Louis                 Donald Richardson

Mary Calfa                            Frank Harrison            Joseph Lovasko              Milton Riggs

Norma Jean Carroll              Mary Hayes                  Marion Lunde                Janice Roe

Donald Carter                       Leonard Helpingstine     Annette Lynch               Nancy Rosdil

Gilberta Cesar                       Nancy Hill                     Donald Maicher              June Rowe

Helen Collier                           William Hurt               Clifford Morden              Karen Sabo

Deonia Copeland                    Daniel Jacobs              William Marlowe              Norma Satterlee

Annette DeCarlo                  Diana Jamrose             Marjean Maxwell            Leonard Scher

Susanne Doman                   Janet Johnson              Marian Mayernik           Jack Scott

Barbara Dunker                   Mary Ann Jurbala          Joyce Mowell                  Jack Sims

Bernadette Skalka                 Mae Carol Sorrells        Judith Walsko                 Rudolph Wunder

Diana Skundrich                 Phyllis Strabavy           Marilyn Wandell             David Yadron

Anna Smith                             Patricia Sullivan           Wayne Westerfield         Evelyn Yasvec

Caroline Smith                      Carolyn Thornton       Sharen Williams              Anita young

Elaine Smoltz                        Joan Tolley                   Ronald Wilson                 Dorothy Zencka                   

Margaret Smriga                 Robert Turich              Florence Wingert

NOTE:  Classmate roster culled from 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958 Whiting High School REFLECTOR

This list included names of students who enrolled in, and attended, Whiting High School in September 1954, and students who joined the Class of 1958 in succeeding years.  A number of classmates transferred from Whiting High School before Graduation in June 1958.  Several classmates left Whiting High School prior to graduation to join the Armed Forces—fulfilling their military draft commitment.

ALSO:  Formal first names are listed—shortened first names, middle names and initials have been omitted.

AND…counting all classmates who were part of the Class from 1954 to 1958: One Hundred and Sixteen (116).  Diplomas presented to graduation classmates on Wednesday, June 4, 1958 – Eighty-Five (85).   (In BOLD print)

APPENDIX B

WHITING HIGH SCHOOL HONORED EDUCATORS

1954 – 1958

Jesse B. Allen                     Ruth Espenlaub              Peter Kovachic          Joseph Piatek  

James Buckley                   Thomas Faulkner           Charles Leckrone       Bernard Qubeck

William P. Buerkholtz       Steve Fowdy                    Marie Lentvorsky     C. E. Riehl

George Burman                 Raymond P. Gallivan     Adam P. Lesinsky      Emmit L. Riordan

Delma Byers                       Norman Hall                   Joseph McAdam         Von Stoffer

George Calder                    Donald Hogue                 George McClure         Jack L. Taylor

Shirley Crutchfield            Wesley Humphrey          Elizabeth Matson       La Donna Thue

Edward Decker                  Alice Jenkins                   Michael Mihalo           Arnold Turner

Joseph DePeugh                 Alexander Kompier         Edward Pawlus          James Ulrich

Irene S. Dougherty            Henry Kosalko                 Ane Marie Petersen   Bernard J. Vesley

Marion Wagner                  E. L. Watkins                   Mary Jeanne Wiesen

Note: Superintendent Emmit Riordan retired at the close of the 55-56 school year.

           George Burman was appointed Superintendent beginning with the 56-57 school year.

           Raymond Gallivan was appointed High School Principal beginning with the 56-57

               School year.