Jul 12, 2015 3 min read

High school graduates from 1945 can accurately call themselves members of the “war class,” but Trinity High School alumni have the yearbook to prove it, too.

That year, the yearbook cover was made of cloth because some materials, including leather, were reserved for the war effort during World War II.

“It was an anxious time because all the boys were going to war,” said Mary Britko, 87, who grew up in Pancake.

While members of the Class of 1945 recalled the repercussions of war during their 70th class reunion Saturday, they also shared fond memories of dancing the jitterbug and riding the trolley car into town.

Ten members of the class of 1945 attended the reunion at the Ramada Inn in Washington. Most still live in Washington, but one traveled from Addison, Somerset County, and another came from the Pittsburgh area.

Their class had 365 freshmen, but only 159 students ended up graduating. Many men dropped out to fight in the war, while others delayed their graduation by a year or two.

“We were called the ‘war class’ because all of our years were spent during the Second World War,” said George Julos, 88, of Canton Township. “Whenever a man or a woman went into the service from our group, if they came home, regardless of whether they were injured or wounded, they couldn’t graduate because they didn’t have enough credits.”

Julos remembers writing letters to classmate John Sten, whose graduation was delayed until 1947 because he was deployed overseas. He saved one of the letters, in which he tried to cheer up Sten – or perhaps make him jealous – by writing their principal was absent because he contracted mumps.

Julos started laughing when he realized he was perhaps too gleeful while sharing the news.

“You know how you are when you’re young,” he said, adding his favorite memory from high school was “staying out of detention.”

Britko and Elizabeth “Libby” Hamilton, who grew up in Buffalo village, laughed while recalling “initiation day” during their freshman year. The upperclassmen carried a tube of lipstick and painted the freshmen when they spotted them in the hallways.

“They’d just grab ahold of you and give you a big smear,” Britko said.

Britko fondly remembers dancing the jitterbug Wednesday afternoons in the auditorium during their lunch break.

“We had one guy, and he really knew how to jitterbug, and that was his nickname – Jitterbug Martin,” Britko said.

And speaking of nicknames, Julos joked he was nicknamed “Hot Lips” after a famous trumpet player. His nickname endured seven decades, as did his stories from high school, which were included in an autobiography he wrote for his family.