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Abraham Lincoln High School 
     Los Angeles,California

Early on Saturday morning, October 24, 1998, the question on everyone's mind at the campus of Lincoln High and at the Von's parking lot on Daly Street was, "Is this parade going to come off O.K.?"  The L.A. Parking Enforcement officers mobilized like a small army at the Daly Street parking area, and moved into the neighborhood to setup barriers to block off the streets so the parade could begin. And begin it did. The volunteer alumni, parents, staff and students were able to participate in bringing the first parade in 10 years to Lincoln Heights, which was for the purpose of celebrating the fact that Lincoln High School has been in existence for 85 years.  By the way, the last parade held in L.H. was to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Lincoln High.

  There was a remarkable turnout for the parade and for the Health Fair that was going on at Lincoln at the same time.  The weather was absolutely tailored for the day, with a cool morning that warmed up by parade time and progressed to a bright afternoon.  There was participation from area elementary schools which included Griffin Avenue's drill team, and the Hillside School's drill team, amoung the various drill teams participating. The Grand Marshal was himself a 1924 graduate of Lincoln High, still living in Lincoln Heights with his wife.

  We had clowns and cartoon characters for the younger crowd, and, since the elections were around the corner, the politicians and staff were out being very visible to help the voters remember their candidates on election day.  The description of the parade is incomplete in this report, mainly because this writer was involved in the Health Fair operations and could not get onto the parade route, but did see the last part as the entrants came into the parking lot on Lincoln Park Avenue.

The crowd began to grow as the parade ended, and there was a live band performing in front of the Administration Building steps, and there was no lack of energy on their part, providing a heavy dose of contemporary (meaning "hard") rock for their allotted time.  A young and enthusiastic group, this band played and played, pausing only to allow the presentation of awards and words of appreciations just after noon.  The band "Faultline" followed to provide a different style of music, based heavily on latin rock with a jazz influence, and its members had several years on the first band.  Both bands had the similar feature of having former Lincoln students as members, but from that point on, they were each distinctly different, and did what they set out to do. Faultline wrapped up the afternoon with a definite latin flavor, but without losing its hold on the remaining audience.  Much thanks to the bands for their assistance with the event.

The front entrance to the Auditorium was the scene of the speeches. It was where the officials and reps of our political elements were stationed to share in the exchanging words of praise and thanks, and to announce the particpants and volunteers involved in bringing the event together. The announcements moved at a fairly efficient pace, and the crowd was able to keep its interest focused on the podium, which is always a challenge with these sorts of things.

The Health Fair component of the event was the beneficiary of the large crowd, and the services such as blood pressure monitoring and other screenings were done without charge. The Lunch Shelter area, the Cafeteria, and the building formerly known for housing the the Home Ec. classes were the health services could be found.  There were other health service agencies and organizations that brought information to let people know of an enourmous amount of resources that exist, but sometimes, are little known or hard to locate.  Home care services, and mental health services were among the exhibitors.

Other tables were set up for food and beverage booths to generate funds for the student groups which included the girls basketball team, and the booster groups for the elementary school activities.  The community was well served by the availability of the services that day, and we hope to be able to see another large crowd at next year's event, which is planned to be better. The support of the recent Lincoln grads in helping with some of the pre-event chores was appreciated and needed.
Finally, the overall appearance of the school matched the warmth of the afternoon. The campus cleanup and landscape maintenance really brought out the beauty of the school, which nearly all of us have taken for granted for so many years, possibly because the school was built in a good-looking style to begin with, and we assume that is how all schools are.  This still shines through with all the modifications and updated additions that have been put up in the last 30 years.  The post-activity cleanup was a lot less than expected due to the cooperation of everyone in being attentive to getting the trash into trash cans. (Now if the students who have problems with that concept could see the benefits of this, the school grounds would look clean after lunch and nutrition during the school week without the need to have maintenance people clean up after them.  A real problem by enough persons to make a mess of the grounds.)

Alumni are reminded that we want to have your help and participation at the events that can bring about some changes for the better as only a unified alumni association can generate.  The only disappointment was that there were not more alumni at the event.  For those that came out, thank you for your support and time. Many of the attendees at the event are families of the current Lincoln students and were not alumni, but are important to the success of school events and to the success of their children at Lincoln. Sometimes this participation on the part of the alumni component can be just showing up to be counted.  The invitation stands for alumni and friends for future events.  Don't be a stranger.

Brief History: She was a long-time principal at Lincoln...the first woman as a High School Principal in California...1924 to 1944, and for whom "Andrus Hall" was dedicated on the 2nd Floor above the Cafeteria.... remember the noon dances there?.... Andrus Hall has been lost to progress over the years and several class rooms take its place. A past casualty of space and crowding, and funding problems.)  This would have been a useful facility now, since the only medium size space for meetings is the Library, which is smaller than Andrus Hall was. This was the location of several student social events and there is no current equal to the utility that this room provided.

Dr. Andrus retired as principal from Lincoln in 1944, and continued to help people who were in need after their retirement, with one of the first persons being a retired teacher whose retirement savings were lost in the depression, and was living in poverty.
In 1947, the National Retired Teachers Association, "NRTA" was founded by Dr. Andrus. The AARP was founded by the NRTA NRTA History
In 1967, Dr. Andrus died,1967 and The Foundation was established in her name in 1968. 

(I remember seeing Dr. Andrus when she visited Lincoln before I graduated in 1967 to attend a ceremony honoring her.  She had a small entourage assisting her, and at that time she was very old and appeared frail, but this physical appearance belied the energy generated and effort expended by her in the 23 years since she retired from Lincoln.)

Now, in 1998, 30 years after the establishment of the Andrus Foundation, the Scholarship is created to be awarded to the graduating student who best exemplifies the spirit of Dr. Andrus and her work.
AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)

On October 16, 1998, Friday, at 2:00 p.m. the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for the newly constructed football bleachers, at the football field was held before the start of the first home game of the season, Lincoln v.W ilson. It was a time for real celebration since 10 years had passed without the stands being usable for games. These stands are metal construction which doesn't have that same sound that the wooden ones made when people walked on them. The original concrete stairs were largely intact, and the bleachers aligned perfectly. The work still is going on for the finishing touches. Now all we need is to figure how to get them packed in with fans like most of us recall from way back in the days of old.

October 30, 1998, Friday, a Noon  Football Homecoming Luncheon with alumni attendance was held before the homecoming game played against Marshall High School.  We came out on top, 14-7, and the Homecoming candidates were presented at half time, coming down the track in some late model convertibles and presented with their escorts and fresh boquets of flowers. For all present it was a pleasing sight.  We still have lots of empty seats in the stands, and that is something that we rarely saw in the old days, even when the team was not on a winning streak.  Hoping for an increase in next year's situation. This year was encouraging, however, in that last year's homecoming game had less to work with for the half time events, as the bleachers were then untouched. Students and alumni - pride is deserved. Let's show that in the future events.

    ( SEE  commentary at Traditions and Morale )