Caroline Lavin Hightower, Class of ’47, lives in the second oldest property in the town of Villa Park. Built in 1852, it was used as a farmhouse for its original owners. While it has been 70 years since she graduated from York, she still recalls her time here like it was yesterday.

Back in the 1940s, York consisted of fewer students and a much smaller campus, very different from the York we know today. While it was still considered a large high school at the time, most classes consisted of less than 400 students. Caroline recalls that it was better that way, in which her and all of her classmates were close with one another, which is much different than most high schools today.

“We had a real wonderful class and we all loved each other,” Hightower said. “There were no cliques, everyone just loved each other. I think that is very rare in today’s world. You would always say hello to everyone in the hallways and such. We’d keep in touch even after we had graduated, even after some people had moved away. Up to a few years ago I would write little notes to my classmates.”

Back in the 1940s, life was very different in many aspects. The world we live in today, everyone, both male and female, are expected to do well in school and hopefully attend college. However, back then it was common for some women to stay at home to help their families with the meals, children, etc.

“I was not the best student,” Hightower said. “I didn’t get any Fs, but I was not a great student. I was in a journalism class and took Latin for one year. I really enjoyed typing for the yearbook, Y’s Tales. However I spent most of my free time working in the city and earning money. I ended up going to Elmhurst College. I’m not totally sure but, when we lived in Elmhurst I think for one semester it was around $35 dollars! But I dropped out because I lost interest and just wasn’t a good student.”

One thing that is very different about York is the athletics. Back in the 40s, many sports teams that we have now did not exist. But some of the more popular sports here at York were just as big back then.

“Back when I was in school the football team was so great,” Hightower said. “Everyone would go to the games, because they were so much fun to watch. I am a little disappointed in their football team this year though. Especially since I recently heard about how they lost to Glenbard West 50-3.”

When it comes to other high schools back in the 1940s, there were a lot less of them than we see today. This has to do with many things, especially the growth in population in our area since.

“Back then in Elmhurst there were about three schools that would feed into York,” Hightower said. “Also, towns like Villa Park and Addison would go into York. This was because back in the 40s, Addison was just a farmland, so all of their kids would come here for school.”

However, back in the 1940s, York still had some rivalries. One of which is still pretty big today.

“But that Glenbard West, that was always the snooty school,” Hightower said. “Because if you lived in Glen Ellyn, you had a lot of money. The kids all had their own cars to drive and were just really kind of snooty. We always liked it when we could beat them.”

The 1940s were very rough for a lot of people in this country. Not only had the Great Depression recently occurred, but we were also involved in World War II. These factors caused a shrunken population with many citizens going overseas to fight.

“It was right after the depression, and people would come to your door and ask you for something to eat and they needed food,” Hightower said. “Whatever you had you’d hand over to them, and my mother was a very generous person with that. She used to go down to the market in Chicago and buy a whole stalk of bananas, and she’d hang it on this back porch and let anyone come grab one if they’d like.”

Caroline Lavin is 88 years old and graduated from York 70 years ago. She still lives in the same house she did when she attended York. However, over the years she has lost more and more classmates from her class of about 300 students. But she still does enjoy to keep in touch with her classmates that are still around.

“At this age now, there are very few who I still keep in touch with, especially since truly most of them are gone now,” Hightower said. “There is a girl in Lombard, she’s still very active. In fact there are two girls in Lombard that were on the reunion committee with me. I’ll tell you this, our class from 1947 has had ten reunions. More than any class that I have ever heard of. We’ve had two of them after 2000. I was one of the few students who never missed a reunion, partly because I never moved away and I just really loved York.”