Graduation '79

 

Jessie Martha Wilcox, the daughter of Rollin M. Wilcox and his first wife, the former Martha Newton, graduated from Sandusky High School in June of 1879. At this time, U.T. Curran was the superintendent of Sandusky Public Schools and Emily Patterson was the Principal of Sandusky High School. 

Here is the cover of the program from the annual commencement exercises, held on Friday, June 27, 1879:

During the ceremony, several students gave essays and orations. Jessie Wilcox spoke about “Friendship of Books.”  Charles Courtney Curran, the son of the Superintendent U.T. Curran, gave an oration on American Inventions; he would go on to become a well-known artist. The Great Western Orchestra began and ended the program with musical selections.

The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center has in its Schools Collections many primary sources related to Sandusky High School, including several commencement programs, class photographs, graduation pictures, and many decades of the Fram.

Paul Browne Patterson, Music Educator

Paul Browne Patterson was the son of Rev. and Mrs. Charles D. Patterson, born in 1876 in LaPorte, Ohio. Rev. Patterson had formerly been a minister in the Perkins Methodist Episcopal Church. Paul Browne Patterson graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1896, with a double major in piano and voice. Following graduation, Paul spent three years studying music in England, France, and Germany. From 1900 to 1903, he operated the Patterson School of Music in Sandusky. In 1903 he moved the school to New Castle, Pennsylvania. Below is the cover of a brochure from The Patterson School of Music when it was located in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

While in Pennsylvania, he formed the Festival Choral Society of New Castle, which was comprised of one thousand voices. Through his musical career, Mr. Patterson was the conductor of many symphony orchestras, including orchestras in Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Dresden, Germany, during their guest appearances with the Choral Society. In 1935 Mr. and Mrs. Patterson moved back to Sandusky, and he helped to organize the local Choral Society. He served as director of the choir at the First Congregational Church for many years, and was active as a teacher of piano and voice at his school, the Patterson School of Music, on East Park Street, until his retirement in 1966. Mrs. Patterson also taught piano lessons. Pictured below is a program from the vocal recital of Mary Louise Clary, a pupil in the Patterson School of Music.

Mrs. Patterson, the former Mary Evelyn Blocher, was a gifted singer, pianist, teacher, and accompanist. She served as the secretary-treasurer of the Patterson School of Music. 

Paul Browne Patterson died on January 12, 1971, at the age of 98, survived by his wife Mary, a daughter Mrs. Thomas Monroe, a granddaughter, and two sisters. He was buried at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. He had been a former member of the American Guild of Organists, and was listed in the International Who’s Who in Music. Mrs. Patterson passed away in 1995, at the age of 90. The cultural life of Sandusky was deeply enriched by the musical talent of both Mr. and Mrs. Paul Browne Patterson.

Myrtle Louise Meagher, Music Teacher

Miss Myrtle Louise Meagher was born in Sandusky in 1882, to John E. Meagher, and his wife, the former Margaret Lotz. Myrtle was of both Irish and German descent. Myrtle’s grandfather, Henry Lotz, ran a grocery store in from the 1850s until his death in 1887 at the northeast corner of Shelby and West Washington Streets, where Joe Sundae’s is now located. 

From 1900 through the late 1920s, Myrtle was a piano teacher, having been a student of well known local piano instructor Paul Browne Patterson. The advertisement above appeared in the March 21, 1908 issue of the Woman’s Endeavor, a locally published newspaper edited by Sandusky women. Below is an advertisement which was in the Sandusky Star Journal on October 25, 1922. 

Also appearing in the Star Journal of October 25, 1922 was a brief article by Miss Meagher about the value of music. She maintained that the family and friends of a music student would benefit from music instruction, as well as the individual who was receiving the training. She held many piano recitals in her home studio on Shelby Street.

 By 1957 her health was declining, and she moved to a nursing home. Myrtle Louise Meagher died on June 4, 1965. Miss Meagher’s funeral was held at the Frey Funeral Home, and burial was at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.