Yesterday: Kids at Faith School present an operetta in 1938

Published 12:00 am Monday, October 16, 2017

Verne McCombs furnished this 1938 newspaper clipping from the Salisbury Evening Post showing the primary grade students from Faith School who presented a spring operetta titled ‘The Wedding of the Flowers.’  All the children wore costumes representing some kind of flower. McCombs, a third-grader at the time, was Johnny Jump-Up and served as groom for the flower wedding. He stands in the middle of the top row next to his bride, Nathlyn Fesperman as Valla Lily. Other key characters were Lindsay Hess, the minister, as Jack-in-the-Pulpit; Sherry Gantt, a water lily, as maid of honor; Nell Redwine, the flower girl; and Dwight Fraley, the ring bearer. The kids playing other flowers included the following: Roses — Julia Lyerly, Lillian Eagle, Gilda Caster, Frances Holshouser, Annie Corn and Lydia Rusher. Violets — Isabelle Brown, Mary Rose Peeler, Rose Marie McCombs, Betty Frick, Helen Ruth Brown and Jannie Fraley. Sunflowers — Mark Ritchie, J.C. Smith, Harry Basinger, Jerry Keys, Billy Wilhelm, Clinton Basinger, Boyce Safrit and Herman Kepley. Daisies — Janet Sifford, Ethel Ross Kepley, Emma Jean Sifford, Patsy Miller, Nell Fraley and Madeline Fink. Forget-me nots — Bobby Safrit, Voidt Basinger, Donald Bruce, Mable Lyerly, Jean Raney and Delma Corl. Rainbow fair — Hilda Barger. Bluebells — Kitty Robertson and Joan Holshouser. Dandelions — Ted Holshouser, Chester Basinger, Howard Crossett, Vernon Goodman, Ben Fink and Albert Ray Kepley. Tulips — Gaynelle Fulk, Eugenia Jones, Jean Caster, Lottie Ritchie, Edith Reavis and Betty Holshouser. Heralds — Paul Webb and Jason Brown.