By Jeremy Couso
SusanvilleStuff Publisher and Editor
Loyal and True Part Two
Kayla Millar, one of Susanville’s only true polymaths, and all-around awesome individual, not only knew the answer to the question ‘who wrote Lassen High’s school song?’ but she even sent me the sheet music for the baritone saxophone part she plays on the song.
The ‘School Song’ was written by a very prolific composer named Paul Yoder and variations of it were used by hundreds of schools across the country. According to the fine folks over at Wikipedia he wrote more than 1,500 original compositions and arrangements during the course of his career.
Oddly, and I guess it makes sense after researching the subject, there weren’t a whole lot of school songs with complete arrangements for school concert band or marching band.
It was also pretty expensive to license and buy all of the parts, especially if you needed to have an original piece arranged. Yoder simplified the process with some ‘pre-baked’ pieces that could be used by several schools. Schools would change a line or two, but for the most part thousands of students across the country were singing the exact same school song we did in high school.
Well not exactly the same version. I was reminded by a fellow member of the Class of ’88 this last week of the alternate lyrics to the school song, which Freddie Franco and I proudly sang at the top of our lungs.
Much like other schools’ versions of Yoder’s work, we just changed a few of the key words.
I am almost certain that this off-color version of ‘Loyal and True’ is probably as old as the song itself. I am positive that a lot of you reading this column also sang the alternate version.
Those scandalous school song lyrics are something special, handed down from class to class, and I can tell you that I learned them in Advanced Band my freshman year from Larry Wilson, Doug Baker and Calvin Ferris. They corrupted me. Their fault.
How old is the song? It was hard to date the piece accurately because variations were published under several titles and copyrighted as part of different youth band collections, then later sold to schools by the Raymond Hoffman Co.
I went back through old Lassen High ‘Rays from the Purple’ yearbooks at the museum and the first reference I could find was in the early 1950’s.
We are in very good company too. Yoder was a master at his craft. He also composed Tennessee Tech’s fight song in 1946 and Texas State’s Fight song “Go Bobcats!” in 1961.
His arrangement of You’re A Grand Old Flag is the one that military bands still use in performances.
And now we know…
The Susanville Community Easter Egg Hunt
Tomorrow Susanville will hold its 96th annual community Easter Egg Hunt!
SusanvilleStuff sponsors the event each year and Mrs. Couso and I are really proud to do so. It’s our way of giving back to the community by keeping a long-standing tradition alive. And it’s fun!
Here is some history for you.
Up until the 1920’s in Susanville, Easter egg hunts were something shared with family at home, or perhaps at school at the annual Easter party. In 1927, after the opening of two new mills had created a massive increase in Susanville’s population, and a lot more children, the American Legion decided to sponsor a community event.
Thomas Tucker Post of the American Legion arranged to hold the egg hunt on the afternoon of Easter Sunday ‘near the campgrounds’ at Inspiration Point.
For years, beginning around the turn of the century, multi-denominational Easter services were held at the bluff above town beginning at 5:30 Easter morning. These were massive productions, lasting all morning long, and featuring hymns, poetry, music and sermons from local churches. This tradition lasted well into the 1960’s and I am not really sure at what point they quit doing them up there each year.
In the afternoon, after a picnic lunch on ‘the bluff,’ families would take part in sack races, pie eating and baseball.
“In addition to the search for the product of the Easter bunnies there will be all kinds of games for the youngsters and a band concert for the grown-ups.” It was the Fruit Growers Band furnishing music for the occasion.
“This frolic is open to all of the children of the town, and all are cordially invited,” the posters read, “with three foot-races for girls and three for boys. One for boys and girls of 8, 12 and 16 years old.”
Nowadays we have an egg-stuffing party the week before to put candy in 11,000 plastic eggs, but for most of the hunt’s history, up until the late 1990’s, the eggs were real hen fruit – boiled and colored the night before by volunteers.
The effort required all of the American Legions’ Auxiliary members to show up at the Memorial Hall on Saturday night to help with the egg preparation.
Here’s is an interesting activity added for the 1932 hunt – a 50-yard dash uphill for men weighing 200-pounds or more, “the only requisite being that the entries shall carry the proper amount of weight and cross the finish line at a run.” Oh, those good old days.
In 1935 there was a special three-legged race for married couples.
That year the Lassen Advocate noted, “the affair will be held at Inspiration Point, weather permitting, or in Memorial Hall if the usual spring weather is at hand.”
The Inspiration Point era came to an end in the 1940’s when the hunt was moved to the fairgrounds. There, the little egg-hunters had to search for 2,100 eggs that had been hidden by the 4H club in the fair’s barns.
In 1953 everything moved to the ballfield at the newly completed Memorial Park, with a new sponsor for the annual shindig – Susanville’s Lions Club assumed the responsibility, and records show that the club ordered 144 dozen chocolate marshmallow eggs, wrapped in bright foil, for Susanville kids.
The Lions Club sponsored the hunt all through the fifties and it was consistently held on the field at Memorial Park until… something happened! I don’t know what!
Between 1966 and 1974 there were no community egg hunts, but I could not find a reason anywhere. The only reference I found was in a Lassen Advocate from 1974 that said, “After an 8-year absence the Community Easter Egg Hunt has returned.”
That year the event was sponsored by the Susanville Recreation Department and held on Arnold Field at the high school. There were 1,700 chocolate covered eggs and 150 plastic prize eggs all hidden by 7th and 8th graders from Diamond View School. More than 600 kids showed up.
In 1975, because the high school field was too muddy, the egg hunt was moved to Memorial Park where it was held for the next four years. After that year the hunt was split up so that toddlers and first graders went to the Little League Park and older kids went to Memorial Park.
Citing the city’s ‘grim financial condition’ the 1982 hunt was canceled and ‘lack of money’ was the reason given, but thankfully after only a year it returned, this time sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department and Almar Realty.
400 dozen colored eggs were purchased for the triumphant return which, according to the newspaper, drew around 3,000 kids!
A new era began in 1986 when the Susanville Kiwanis Club members started hiding the eggs, and would continue to be in charge of the event for the next thirty years. Three decades. Wow. Good job Kiwanis folks.
Now, I don’t remember this, but what a cool idea. In 1990 The Susanville Business Association sponsored an old-fashioned Easter parade with prizes and live music leading up to the egg hunt.
For a few years in the early nineties the Easter Bunny would fly into Susanville municipal airport from ‘Easterland’ and kids were encouraged to come out the airport and see him arrive. In 1993 the big bunny upped his game and parachuted into the ballpark, much to the delight of the assembled kids!
That year there was also a petting zoo with animals provided by Standish and Richmond 4H.
In 1999 the egg hunt was supposed to move to the college, but at the last minute, because of the weather and muddy conditions, it was changed to Riverside Park and it went back and forth between the college and the park for several years.
The event returned to the Lassen County Fairgrounds in 2008 where it has been held ever since.
In 2016, after three decades of sponsoring the hunt, the Susanville Kiwanis Club went out of existence, and a new sponsor was needed. Sunrise Rotary stepped in for the 2017 egg hunt, but a permanent sponsor was needed.
Mrs. Couso and I decided that we could probably do this. With a lot of help. So the following year we gathered sponsors and carried on the tradition, because that is important.
In 2022, with the help of Ronda Hall, we added a special session for Children with Special Capabilities featuring sensory bins, balloons on eggs, toys and candy in eggs, safe spaces for wheelchairs and walkers to maneuver.
We did have one more year without an egg hunt. In 2020 we had to cancel because of the Covid rules, and nearly didn’t make it in 2021 for the same reason. Last year the hunt had to be moved inside at the last minute because we had rain and wind gusts of 50mph. Oh Susanville spring.
Things are back to normal this year though, and the weather looks to be spectacular for tomorrow’s egg hunt. Susanville’s Easter Bunny, Tina Jacobs, who has been passing out eggs and candy to Susanville kids for 25-years now, will return for Saturday’s party.
And I want to say thank you to a lot of people who help us out each year – our sponsors who support the egg hunt financially, the nice folks at the fairgrounds who make everything work no matter what, and our community volunteers – we think the event is something that can last another 100 years, but only with the help of nice people like these. So thank you all.
See you tomorrow at 9:00 kids! Have a great weekend everybody!
