Roman Banquet Held at School Saturday A 1963 newspaper account (not written by me) The Richwood High School Latin Club Banquet was held Saturday, March 30, at the grade school cafeteria.  The cafeteria was decorated by large columns which suggested a Roman building.  The table decorations, place cards which were in the shape of Roman helmets, and scrolls which contained the menu in Latin, carried out the color scheme of purple and gold. Before the meal the Magister Bibendi, Dan Rush, announced "Cena est parata" ("Dinner is ready").  Each member entered the dining room making sure that he stepped over the threshold on his right foot to avoid any bad luck.  The Lord's Prayer was prayed in Latin by Dan Rush. Each member was dressed in a Roman tunic and toga.  Second-year Latin students were the "nobility" and were served a delicious three-course dinner while reclining by the "slaves," or first-year members, under the direction of Mary Ann Willacker.  All food was eaten with the fingers, as the Romans used no silverware. Following the meal, Dianne Steele directed a style show involving all the members and judged by Judy Allgower, Kelly Drake, Mary Jo Fetter and Bob Webb.  The winners were:  Mary Wells, best contume; Dan Rush, best model; Penny Reidenbaugh, best costume in the slave division; Kirk Miller, best model in the slave division. A musical honoring Juno, the queen of the Roman Gods, and Jupiter, the king of the Roman Gods, was sung by Eloise Gulliford, Joan Prichard, Dick Minter and Terry Rockhold.  They were accompanied by Tom Thomas, who composed the music and wrote the words for this part of the program. The members of the Latin Club agree that the banquet was an enjoyable and memorable experience. —Richwood Gazette, Thursday, April 4, 1963   Since the high school building lacked any dining facilities, this glamorous cafeteria on the basement level of the grade school building was the scene of any and all school functions involving food, from the annual athletics awards dinner to the banquet for the Junior-Senior Prom.  But its seating consisted of chairs.  For the authentic ancient Roman experience, we had to bring our own couches.
	Above, the nobility reclines behind a long table.  I believe the first five from the left are Dan Rush, myself, Joan Prichard, Terry Rockhold, and Dot Goddard.  While some others reclined on lawn furniture, I used one of my father's old Army cots. On the right, Dan, our Magister Bibendi, relaxes on his lawn chair and hoists his glass.  This photo turned up on page 88 of the 1964 Tigrtrax yearbook. Before my class entered high school, the only foreign language course was Spanish.  In my freshman year, the school added Latin classes, taught by Marjorie Goddard.  The Spanish students had their Spanish Club, so we formed a Latin Club to celebrate Roman culture. Below is the original membership of the club, not in togas, as we appeared in the yearbook in 1962.
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