Tribute to Dr. Smith

TRIBUTE TO DR. GJERTRUD J. SMITH
 
 
 
PRINCIPAL, CHATSWORTH HIGH SCHOOL 1963-1972
 
By Taree Belardes
 
 
 
Speech at the Chatsworth High School 60th Birthday Bash,
Chatsworth High School, Chatsworth, California
October 17th, 2010
 
 
On the Tuesday evening, of February 4th, 1965, one fairly frazzled fourteen year old wrote the following in a small leather diary:
 
“First day of school and BOY! Was I scared! Fog was so thick you couldn’t see 20 feet in front of you.”
 
The following day, Wednesday, was still foggy, and still frightening,
and by Thursday, after 3 days of walking blindly around this unfamiliar campus, meeting new teachers, vying for classes, and trying desperately to remember her locker combination, not to mention her locker location, her last entry for the entire month simply read;
 
“Homework. I don’t think high school is so much fun!”
 
 
As days turned into weeks, and the newly constructed campus of Chatsworth Senior High School grew more familiar, the class of nineteen-hundred and sixty-eight settled into familiar routines. In our three short years in attendance, we ran for classes, fought for favorite subjects and teachers, changed majors, enrolled in sports, joined glee club, band, service, academic and athletic organizations, attended social and sporting events, and even found a bit of time to study on the side.
 
Chatsworth High School boasted the best and the brightest in terms of educators -- a fact that seems to have stood the test of time, judging by the many profiles our classmates have posted on the CHS Class of ‘68 Website (which has been created and maintained over the last two years, solely through the hard work and dedication of our fellow classmate and friend, Elaine Rock).
 
The CHS faculty and administrators worked tirelessly to create for us, a real sense of safety, family, spirit and loyalty.   …To the school, …To the student body, …and to each other. (This is just one of the reasons why, our former teacher, Mrs. Marilynn Dierker, whom you see sitting there in the front row, is especially welcome here today!)
 
*****
 
For a brand new school, the sense of spirit they inspired was a stunning achievement. …Especially since we lacked the history that other schools in our district depended on to add to their ‘Street-Cred’, and prop up their award winning spirits. We had no traditions to carry on, no titles to uphold, and we didn’t even have a winning football team to brag about… 
 
…that is until that ground-breaking game in 1965 when our Varsity Football Team clobbered Cleveland High School by that one magnificent point… breaking our losing streak forever, and causing a near riot in the stands on both sides of the stadium at Van Nuys High.
 
Foremost among those revelers, and the single greatest reason that Chatsworth H.S. spilled over with an abundance of spirit at all times, was an effervescent cheerleader in a letterman’s jacket and those bright orange tennis shoes, Dr. Gjertrud J. Smith.
 
I can’t imagine there is one person among us who does not carry the picture in their mind of Dr. Smith leaping madly about the bleachers, beneath that CHS announcer’s booth, hands clapping, arms waving wildly, cheering her Chancellors on to a scored touchdown, a field goal, or a even just 10 foot advance down the field. She was a proud mother, to many children sons and daughters.
 
*****
 
“G.J.” as she was known by her peers (because Gjertrud was just too much of a mouth-full) had enough spirit for the whole school combined, and then some… and she shared it enthusiastically with everyone she encountered.
She believed that all of life was to be embraced with energy and enthusiasm.
 
Dressed smartly in her two piece Jackie-O suits, and wielding that ever-present ear-to-ear smile, she cruised the campus daily, overseeing the activities of her student body.
 
She was a powerhouse in a dainty frame, but never one to be feared. Rather, one felt welcomed in her presence. While she embodied spirit, she inspired loyalty, a trait she held in the highest esteem.
 
In her 1966 Chancery message to the student-body, she wrote,
 
“Loyalty is an essential ingredient of human decency, the adhesive factor in a civilized society, the insurance for a democracy, and the foundation of patriotism. The United States of America must have loyalty from each of its citizens if the greatest country on earth is to continue to be the beacon light of freedom, for the people of the world.
 
Loyalty as an emotion can be “caught” or absorbed, but is far more effective and powerful when it is learned. Education should give a student the background of knowledge and understanding which will enable and encourage him to become the kind of dynamic and discriminating citizen whose loyalty and dedication to the principles upon which this republic was built pervade his decisions and actions.”
 
*****
 
As much as Dr. Smith treasured loyalty, she was a sucker for freedoms as well. Arguably one of the most liberal principals ever to reign over a high school, in an era when other schools drew a hard line in terms of dress code, hair length, and other privileges.
 
Dr. Smith, much to the consternation of many of her peers - put her stamp of approval on “Casual Fridays”, where not only did the girls get to dress like the boys, but the whole student body was allowed to dress just about any way they pleased. Shorts included! 
 
Oddly, she drew the line at Granny gowns during our tenure.
That was one battle we lost.
 
While other administrators were running scared, trying to shield their students from the evils of sex, drugs, rock n’ roll & Bob Dylan, Dr. Smith was finding ways to indulge our creativity, while encouraging us to savor the different experiences life has to offer -- even as she demanded the highest from us academically.
 
She had faith that a life well taught, would be a life well lived.
 
*****
 
Academically, she was a traditionalist. She believed her students needed a firm platform of fundamentals and much more. While every other school in the district required only one semester of English to graduate, Dr. Smith required three. She was not about to let her Chancellors go out into the world unprepared, or without every advantage on the road to prosperity for themselves and the whole of mankind, which she fully expected us to be of service to.
  
She spoke of our time in her care saying,
 
“I am convinced that most Chancellors use this important time of their life to expand their personality horizons, to completely shed their security blankets, and to prepare themselves for lives which will be satisfying and of value to society. I am very optimistic about the kind of citizens our Chancellors will become and confident that society will benefit from their services.”
 
 
She strove for excellence, but excellence within a community, and she led by example, passing those expectations along to her student body and staff.
 
In 1967 she wrote,
 
“Excellence is a lonely virtue, but the society which fails to cultivate it, respect it, insist on it, cannot survive. A good life for all people will be possible only when each man has discovered how to use his intellectual instrument wisely as well as efficiently, when he has found how to give wings to his creative powers, and when he has learned to cherish as well as to develop to the fullest his manual skills.
 
Only a few mortals have the genius to achieve independent superiority, but each one of us is morally obligated to develop to the fullest, his particular abilities, so that collectively we may achieve many excellencies!”
  
Only occasionally did her “Never Say Die” sensibilities clash with those around her.  On one particularly blustery day, of some now forgotten year, with the ferocious Santa Ana’s churning the layers of topsoil in the vacant lots surrounding the school in all their mistral fury… a windblown P.E. teacher complained to Gjertrud that it would be problematic that day to teach the specified curriculum of archery and other sports outside on the windy field.
 
Whether it was her great respect for what the human machine can endure, or simply that “Never Say Die” disposition of hers which prompted her illuminating response, we’ll never know… but regardless, by some, it has never been forgotten.
 
“Don’t worry about the wind,” she counseled,  
 
“Just run their asses off!”
 
Now this little anecdote lays to rest at least one of the burning questions that have been smoldering for decades in the minds of the Class of 1968 and the subsequent student body for decades.
 
The first, (and still unanswered) being:
 
Who was responsible for that spectacular feat of engineering known as the “Lunch Court Pyramid of ‘68” which sprouted one sun scorched morning on the Senior Lawn like a mushroom…
 
The second, (now put to bed)… Is:
How it happened that by the time they’d become seniors, all the girls enrolled in any one of Marilynn Dierker’s physical education classes from that original blustery day, way back in some now forgotten year, until the very day of her retirement…
 
Sported the finest asses on the campus!
 
Dr. Gertrude J. Smith,
 
We, the Senior Class of 1968 salute you. 
We are forever grateful…But, we are also secure in the fact that if you happen to be looking down today, on this community of Chancellors whom you and your remarkable staff have taken such a hand in molding…
 
You would be beaming with pride at the citizens we have become.
 
~
 
The school fight song as the class of ‘68 knew it, is no longer in service to Chatsworth High. The original words and music, were written for Chatsworth Senior High School by the late, great, Johnny Mercer, and his musical partner, Gene De Paul.
 
The words are on the tables in front of you…
 
We would like you to help us to resurrect it one last time in a tribute to the true spirit of Dr. Gertrude J. Smith:
 
 
 
It goes like this (Led by both Taree and Becky Maiden Nygard):
 
Chatsworth Fight Song
 
Roll you gold you orange and you white
Like an ocean upon the shore
Roll along with all of your might
Till you’re able to score once more
 
Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em,
Chancellors Go-Go!
Till they’re too weak to even try
Hey Team! --Yea Team! ---Never Say Die!
For the honor, of Chatsworth High!