Weston County Museum program gathers Newcastle alumni to recall 1940s–early 1950s school life

At a Weston County Museum District presentation titled “The Forgotten Years,” residents who attended Newcastle High School in the 1940s and early 1950s described daily school life, wartime rationing and community social traditions.

The program, presented in cooperation with the Weston County Historical Society, brought several alumni forward to answer questions about the high school building, extracurricular activities, wartime home-front measures and the social life of small-town Newcastle. “The focus for today's discussion will be the 1940s and the early 1950s,” said Mike Jordan, president of the Historical Society and a cooperating presenter for the museum district.

Organizers said the goal was to preserve firsthand memories for the local archive; several speakers urged continued collection of yearbooks and other student records. Alumni present and cited during the program included Jean Baldwin (class of 1944), Russ Christians (class of 1947) and Shirley Hansen Borgelli (class of 1953). Other class members—Joyce Strickley (class of 1950), Jim Dixon (class of 1953), Don Howell (class of 1954) and Roseanne Bolden (class of 1951)—were noted as unable to attend.

Speakers described the high school's physical layout and campus life. Alumni recalled a gym on the left when entering the school, a coal storage area used to feed the school's furnace, and a third floor dedicated to typing and bookkeeping classes. One attendee said the gym floor was hardwood and that spectators sat close to the court’s edge. Students described a strong emphasis on home economics; women who attended in that era recalled four years of home-ec instruction and participation in FHA (the high-school homemakers organization).

The wartime and immediate postwar years were a recurring theme. Shirley Hansen Borgelli, class of 1953, described her childhood reaction to World War II: "When I was in the first grade, my folks were out in the kitchen talking, and I heard them ... and we just declared war on Japan, and I was scared to death." Program participants described community contributions to the war effort: collecting scrap metal and bones, saving ration stamps for gasoline and groceries, buying war bonds, and maintaining “victory gardens.” Attendees recalled that students packed duffel bags with clothing and household goods for civilians in postwar Germany and France.

Speakers also recalled local transportation and fuel issues. Program participants said coal deliveries were disrupted in 1949 and that passenger train service continued in the wider region into the early 1960s; attendees noted local reliance on private cars for some team travel. One attendee recounted that a coach obtained gas for a long team trip by pooling stamps or otherwise arranging fuel locally. Several speakers said local passenger train service ceased later, though exact local dates were not specified at the program.

Social life and school traditions drew extended recollections. Alumni described dances in the high school gym and at the armory, sock dances where shoes were removed on the gym floor, weekend movies downtown and at a later drive-in, and dress codes that discouraged pants for girls and required belts for boys. Several speakers discussed homecoming, student-run yearbooks and fundraising; attendees said yearbook production has been reduced or discontinued in recent decades and urged preservation of older annuals as historical resources.

Speakers described relationships between Newcastle and nearby towns such as Upton and Osage. Sports competitions, regional 4‑H camps and summer events were described as the primary venues for interaction, with friendly rivalry but ongoing social ties across Weston County and neighboring Niobrara County.

Organizers said the program had been scheduled once before but was postponed because of winter weather; they encouraged attendees to share additional photographs and yearbooks with the museum for archiving. The session concluded with thanks to the honored guests and an invitation for follow-up conversations with attendees.