School days are drawing to a close and, for area seniors, a new chapter in their lives is about to begin.

So today we are featuring a few photos and some information from Ellis Kriebel of Harleysville, about his graduating class from the Towamencin Junior High School in June 1939.

He notes that “a three-day trip to Washington, D.C., was an exciting time for the graduating class. It was the same week that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt entertained the king and queen of England by serving hot dogs and beer on the White House lawn.”

We don’t suppose the students were invited, but it must have been exciting nonetheless.

One of the photos shows the bus they used for the trip — not quite a luxury coach — and the other shows their Mack bus owner/operator, Mr. Markley from Schwenksville.

Kriebel also has provided the class photo, which he notes was taken at Bartholomew Studio on Main Street, Lansdale.

Members of the class were:

Front row: Ruth Hoefpl Cassel, Myrtle Stevens Waldspurger, Dorothy Boyle Burke, Evelyn Fritz Pfister, Ann Kroker and Betty Springer Butler.

Middle row: Herbert Metz, Nicholas Siomko, Frank Schlegel, Lawrence Overholtzer, Laverne Kulp, Russell Borneman, Jacob Ziegler, William Gehring and Carl Hunsicker.

Back row: Lester Clemmer, Harold Moyer, Harold Kulp, Ellis Kriebel, John Tregea, Earl Ford, Lester Kister and Ralph Keyser.

The girls certainly were outnumbered, weren’t they?