As we all know, CSDR had its opening day on February 2, 1953 for only Lower School with the first set of 56 students. In Fall 1953, three more academic departments opened for older students. There were no juniors and seniors at the time.
Three years later, the Class of 1956 with only 12 seniors had the honor for being the first graduation class at the very young school. The commencement exercise took place in the Social Hall. The picture below was taken in front of the Seely Center in which the high school principal’s office and the main library are located. It is interesting to note that Upper School with three class years was the original department name for today’s high school with four class years.
Below is the school’s first yearbook published in 1956. The yearbooks were printed in school’s own print shop with Toivo Lindholm assisting students with the publication work. The CSDR archives have several copies in its inventory.
Below is the last page of Dr Brill’s yearbook where you can see the name signatures of the school’s first graduates.
In Spring 1957, Joni MacFadden, ‘56 returned to the school she just graduated the previous year for a visit. See below. Three girls standing from left to right are Patsy Mull, Rae Etta Marquis and Lillian Quartermus, all seniors in the Class of 1957.
Joni has the distinction for being the first alumnus heading to Gallaudet University. Lillian, however, earned the credit for being the school’s first alumnus to have completed her college studies for a degree from Gallaudet in 1962.
Joni Macfadden lived in Riverside for decades and worked with Deaf clients with disabilities for independent living training. She is retired and lives in South Dakota.
Rae Etta Marquis remembers living in the brand-new single-family house in the Maude neighborhood in 1953. She walked on the unpaved Marguerita Street to school every day. Fifteen years after her graduation, she returned to CSDR in 1972 and worked first as an elementary school teacher aide and then a dorm counselor. She retired in 1995 and lives in Arizona with her husband, Rene Gamache, ‘64.
Patsy Bull was in the second group of CSDR students heading to Gallaudet University. She met her future husband there and decided to drop out of college for marriage with him. She lived in Maine until her death in 2022.
As previously stated, Lillian Quartermus, ‘57, has the distinction for CSDR’s first alumnus with a four-year college degree. She soon earned her teaching degree from CSUN and taught at Marlton School for the Deaf in downtown Los Angeles until she retired in 1995. She came back to Riverside once again and worked at CSDR for sub teaching across all grades. She has a brother by the name of Burton Quartermus, ‘65.
Above is the 1993 Alumni Reunion, 37 years after their 1956 graduation. Six out of twelve graduates showed up. They were delighted to see the athletic playing fields and the gym that were not there in 1956.
Nearly all 1956 graduates were born around 1935 and have deceased. Little is known about the other eleven graduates. As far as I know, Joni is the only graduate still around and now 84 of age.
Kevin Struxness, ‘76, MA
Editor, CSDR Old Times
21 October 2024
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