blog

Queen Valencia and May Festival

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 03:15:12 GMT

Before Homecoming and Orange High girls competing to be Homecoming Queen, There was Valencia Queen. The City of Orange was a major valencia orange producing area and decided to promote their product with a festival and queen. In 1927 OUHS provided contestants and Thelma Dugan became the first Queen Valencia. In 1933 the Valencia Festival became the “May Festival” and queen valevcia became the “May Queen”. In the early 1930’s the orange festival was sometimes called the “Harvest Festival” or “Thanksgiving Festival”. The picture below shows the 1928 Valencia Queen and her court.

Where Orange High Began

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 02:46:35 GMT

When the school bond election of 1903 was declared illegal because one polling place closed early, there was no money to build a High School. Mr Dobner offered one of his buildings for rent. It was described as a building of three stores in the Dobner block on South Gassell St. In the picture below (bottom left) you can see two buildings near the corner of Almond and Glassell (in circle). The one with no awning has two stores (it is still there today). The building with an awning has more stores. A picture in the city library of this building shows three stores. This must be where OHS began. The building was torn down in 1950 to make room for a market. The color photo shows two 1903 students. To their left is Dr. Jones office, which is listed as 162 S. Glassell, in the 1907 Orange directory. The Dobner building is listed as 142 S. Glassell. See the “Dioramas” section of this website for a model of what the Dobner building might have looked like.

Students Suspended For Dancing

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 03:51:33 GMT

The City of Orange was very conservative in the 1920’s and churches thought dancing should not be allowed on campus. When seniors went down into the basement gym and danced to piano music they got in trouble. The basement gym of the 1st school building had a piano for rhythmic exercises for girls, but it was not allowed for dancing. According to a story related at the 75th Anniversary celebration, the seniors were suspended for 3 days and the school newspaper was not allowed to report on the incident.

The Reflector did run an article mentioning that a statue in the study hall had been draped in black in honor of some missing seniors. There were many newspaper articles, at this time, by students who thought OUHS should modernize. They wanted modern clothes and hair styles as well as dancing and smoking on campus.

Christmas Through The Years

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 02:01:58 GMT

Orange High has had many Christmas traditions that have come and gone. In the early years, there was the Christmas Party with Santa, school decorations, a Nativity and assemblies and concerts. Food drives have collected items for the needy at the holiday season. We used to decorate our classroom doors like holiday cards for a contest. A brass sign was attached to the winning doors. The Choir would walk through the campus singing carols.

The Ambulance

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 00:15:36 GMT

In 1918, The Reflector reported a fund raising program to purchase and send an “ambulance” to France to aid the US wounded. The program was requested by a former student in the medical corps in WW1. The school raised $1600 to purchase one in france. The photo below tells a different story. The signs on the side of the truck (in French) translate to: Military Medical Service, Mobile Hospital Service, and Sterilization Truck. The mobile hospital or “Auto-Chir” was developed by the French and adopted by the US medical department. Using Large tents and portable equipment packed into specialized trucks; an entire surgical hospital could move to the front lines. There was an X-Ray truck and a Sterilization truck that had a boiler for hot water and steam to sterilize surgical equipment. Even though the “Ambulance” never transported wounded, it provided vital sterilization equipment that saved countless lives.

Leanna Shibata Retires

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 02:19:12 GMT

Leanna Shibata has broken the record for the longest teacher tenure at Orange High, 42 years. Since 1903 only 2 other teachers have come close: Tom Judson and Gary Stevens, both with 40 years of service. The saying, “Once a Panther, always a Panther” is true for Leanna since she was a former Chapman University Panther as a student and an OHS Panther as a teacher. Her early career at OHS was in the PE department and then she became the Drill Team Advisor for many years. She spent a number of years as a Health teacher. Her dedication to the students of OHS will be a shining example for all and the 1000’s of her students will always remember her.