(Condensed from original article written by a 1949 OHS Senior) Twenty-eight seniors of Osmond High and their sponsor started off on the annual sneak day at 3 a.m. with a bang. Yes, many people in Osmond were awakened with the sound of exploding firecrackers set off by some of the boys of the class.
The class stopped at Norfolk to change bus drivers and thenat breakfast at a Seward cafe, where they were complimented on being a good group to serve. The class also received several other compliments throughout the day, one from the bus driver, Mr. Wayne Milee of Norfolk, who said at the end of the trip, “I’m not going to say that you are one of t he best groups, I’m going to say that you are the best group I’ve driven for.”
On arriving at Lincoln, the class toured the airport, Morrill Hall at UNL, Station KFOR, the state capitol and the state historical society there, where they looked
that in the year of 1902.
The class also attended a meeting of the Legislature where they were a little surprised at the disrespectable [sic] attitude in the room. Senators sat with feet on the desks or over chairs and were conversing with each other, not caring if they heard the motion that was being made or not.
Then one senator got up and said, “I make a motion that, since we are going to have so many visitors over the weekend, some of the boys clean up their desks a little.” One man didn’t know where Osmond was. He thought it was in Kansas.
After dinner, the class went to the police station and were shown through the cells, There were several drunkards lying in coop and also two girls who had run away from their home in Kentucky. The lieutenant who guided the class through the police station told them of the test they gave to the alcoholic people.
They were asked to walk on a white line and when they came to the end to make a sharp turn and come back. Usually they would end up on the floor. Then they would throw a bunch of pennies on the floor and the drunk would have to pick them up. While this test would be going on, a movie camera would be taking pictures of the actions of the drunk. Then if the person convicted would say “not guilty" in court the next morning, these films would be shown.
From the police station the students went to the other part of the building which housed the fire department. While there, an alarm came in and a number of the fire - men chased out on a fire truck to extinguish the fire. The group then took pictures of Sunken Garden and then went to the zoo. At the zoo, the redhead in the class was the only senior from Osmond who could make the parrot talk back to her.
The group then went to the state penitentiary, but were disappointed with this. There were a lot of visitors and thus the students from Osmond did not get to see too much. They were shown around in one large room and were able to buy some pins and other novelties that the prisoners had made.
Then the boys were left free for the rest of the afternoon while the girls toured the Bryan Memorial Nursing Home. There they were able to witness an appendicitis operation. The rest of the afternoon, the group did as they pleased, some going shopping, some bowling, and so on. At 6 p.m. the class met again for supper, then went to shows. Movies that students attended were “Family Honeymoon,” “Miss Mink of 1949” and “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.”
At 9 p.m., the group left Lincoln and made their next stop at Columbus where they ate lunch and some danced to the juke box.
They arrived in Osmond at about 2 a.m Saturday morning, much quieter than when they started out. And as they awoke, the majority of the seniors' shoestrings seemed to be tied in knots. Must have been a mouse in the bus!
Members of the Class of '49 included Mary Beck, James Bowling, Phyllis Broekemeier, Robert Brunckhorst, Wyona Brunckhorst, Eldred Folkers, Shirley Fuelberth, Larry Galvin, Gene Hixson, Mary Lou Hoeppner, Eveline Kiichler, Ronald Koehler, Gerald Kumm, Milford Kumm, Norman Lorenz, Bill Luebbers, Dale Reed, Marjorie Tech, Leo Schmit, Charlotte Schuettler, Delores Stech, Joan Theisen, Leonald Warneke, Laverne Weber, Dorothy Wegner, Amy Wiegert, Marva Wiegert, Robert Wortman, Marjorie Wragge and Kenneth Zeurcher.
