Eunice Downing’s School Friendship Book

Eunice Downing was the daughter of Roy and Bertha (Haller) Downing. Her father Roy M. Downing was the U.S. Deputy Collector of Customs in Sandusky for 48 years. Eunice kept a friendship book during her high school years. She was a 1929 graduate of Sandusky High School.

The School Friendship Book was designed and illustrated by Clara Powers Wilson and was published by the Reilly & Lee Company of Chicago in 1910. (The 1916 edition of this title sold for $1.00.) The book provided pages for autographs and photographs. 

Juanita Gilbert wrote this verse for Eunice on June 1, 1925:

When your (sic) in love it’s hearts

When your (sic) engaged it’s diamonds

When your (sic) married it’s clubs

And when your (sic) dead it’s spades.

Dorothy Lorcher wrote:

Nothing more

Nothing less

Just a friend

From S.H.S.

A certificate of proficiency from the Remington Typewriter Company appears on page 44.  Eunice could type at a net speed of 29 words per minute for fifteen consecutive minutes. Also included in the friendship book were programs from art shows, concerts, and tally cards from many bridge games. Napkins, decorations, favors, and invitations found in the book have retained their original bright colors. Eunice’s book includes birthday cards, Christmas cards, Valentines, and graduation cards from the late 1920’s.

Newspaper clippings from Sandusky High School sporting events, honor roll announcements, and Sandusky social and church events allow us to learn what was important to Eunice in her teenage years. Eunice was the winner of a limerick contest sponsored by the Sandusky Star Journal, and she kept her letter of congratulations from the Star Journal.

The “Kodak Snap Shots” section of the friendship book features several photographs of Eunice and her family and friends. In the picture below are: Ila Chaffin, Dolores Neir and Eunice Downing.

Below are snapshots from a family trip to Niagara Falls in 1925.

After graduating from Sandusky High, Eunice Downing was a teller at the Western Security Bank. She married Myron G. Kryeski, and they were married for 35 years. Eunice died on May 17, 1987. Eunice and Myron Kryeski donated many items to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The Roy Downing Maritime Collection, in memory of Eunice’s father, contains many photographs of Great Lakes ships from 1902 through 1950, the years that Mr. Downing was with the Sandusky Customs Office. By looking through Eunice’s School Friendship Book, one can get a vivid view of the life of a young lady from a former generation in Sandusky. The friendship books of both Eunice and her sister Evelyn Downing can be seen at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library.