Prom-a Drama since 1967

by Katie McCombs and Lucia Maschler

With STA’s senior prom right around the corner, the Dart thought it was only appropriate to get the inside scoop on our very own teachers’ proms. With years ranging my 1967 to 2002, we collected a handful of memories from various teachers about everything from what they wore to what music they danced to . . . tacky tuxedos, awkward dates and all.

 

Mr. Pat Sirridge

Date name: Mary, senior

Year: 1967

Grade: Senior

School: Rockhurst High School

Where: Conference room at a hotel

Method of asking: On a date

After party: Manor Barn on 95th and Metcalf (no longer there)

Dinner: Before prom at The Buttonwood Tree where Bolings on the Plaza now is now

Wardrobe: White dinner jacket, tuxedo pants, tuxedo tie (RHS had a particular tuxedo that all the guys had to rent)

Music: Live rock band

Mode of transportation: Doubled up in cars

Best memory: “[Prom] was the last time we were going to see some of these people for the rest of our lives because it was the same weekend as we graduated. We all wore white dinner jackets and we had to wear them for graduation, which was the next night, so we had to be careful to keep them clean.”

Worst memory: “There were some break ups that night, so it didn’t go well for some couples.”

Fun Fact: Went to 4 proms: his own, STA’s with Mary, Notre Dame de Sion’s with Kris and Loretto Academy’s with Katie; girls’ wrist corsages were called “nosegays”

 

Ms. Denise Rueschhoff

Date name: Bill McIntosh, junior; “I was robbing the cradle, beggers can’t be choosers.”

Year: 1980

Grade: Senior

School: Mount Ayr Community High School in Mount Ayr, Iowa

Theme: “Somewhere in the Night”

Where: High school gymnasium

Method of asking: Face-to-face asked her brother’s friend

After party: Masonic Temple bowling alley

Dinner: Held right before the dance in the gym; Lasagna, salad, garlic bread and cake catered by their moms

Wardrobe: Borrowed a pink, floral, off-the-shoulder chiffon dress

Music: DJ; Stix, Journey and Steve Winwood were popular

Mode of transportation: Pick-up truck

Best memory: “I ditched my date and went to my brother’s kegger at the lake.”

Worst memory: “Having to explain to my parents why I ditched my date.”

Fun fact: “My mom made me go [to prom]. She said, ‘You’re really going to regret it some day if you don’t go.’”

 

Ms. Carrie Jacquin

 

Date name: Vince Baldin, freshman in college

Year: 1995

Grade: Senior

School: Oak Park High School in Kansas City

Theme: “Under the Stars”

Where: High school gymnasium

Method of asking: Had dated since right after New Year, so it was a given that she would ask him

After party: Date’s aunt worked for the Hyatt Hotel, so they stayed at a hotel

Dinner: Filigo’s Restaurant on the Plaza

Wardrobe: Black fuzzy, flocked dress with sparkles

Songs: “When I Come Around” by Greenday; Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer and Green Day were popular

Mode of transportation: Honda Civic

Best memory: “I had a lot of fun with my friends because there was so much excitement with it being the end of the year. Seeing everybody dressed up was cool and the weather was beautiful.”

Worst memory: “None. That was one of the few dances I actually went to and it was a lot of fun. But, I might have hit the tanning beds a little too hard.”

 

Mr. Michael Sanem

Date name: Megan Dimond, senior (STA class of 2002)

Year: 2002

Grade: Senior

School: St. Teresa’s Academy (her prom)

Theme: “When You Wish Upon a Star”

Where: The Little Theatre

Method of asking: For her prom, she just asked him in no special way; For his prom, he put flowers on her car

After party: “We went to a student’s house and continued dancing to an eccentric mix of Bruce Springsteen and Dr. Dre. It was fun.”

Dinner: The Little Theatre

Wardrobe: Black tuxedo

Music: DJ who loved Def Leppard and boy bands; “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard and “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen were popular

Mode of transportation: Bus

Best memory: “There was a lot of fun dancing after dinner. This was before dancing was cool, so it was a big deal”; “I asked her both to go to prom and to get back together. It was kind of a package deal. If you go to prom with me, we’ll go as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Worst memory: “That night I was dancing with the woman I loved (and eventually married), young, and had the metabolism of a triathlete. High school had its fair share of awful memories, but that night was not one of them.”

Fun Fact: “[Megan and I] danced to Bruce Springsteen at our [prom] after party and we did the same thing at our wedding, so it kind of started a tradition.”; Ms. Rueschhoff and Ms. Dolan chaperoned this prom

 

Ms. Jo Weller

Date name: Jimmy Adams, senior

Year: 1987

Grade: Senior

School: Norborne High School in Norborne, Mo.

Theme: “Swept Away”

Where: High school gymnasium

Method of asking: Simple note with hearts on it left on the windshield wiper of car

After party: Somebody’s farm in a barn

Dinner: High school gymnasium

Wardrobe: Long, formal, purple dress with poofy sleeves

Music: DJ; airbands and 80’s rock were popular

Mode of transportation: Tractor

Best memory: “When I got to dance with my math teacher because he was flat out hot. I was the only one in my senior math class and if I got 100% all year, he would have to dance with me a prom.”

Worst memory: “Everything else. It was okay. The worst part was the food, that was just bad. Everyone had to take their shoes off, so it was kinda smelly. I wasn’t particularly fond of the tractor part, but it makes for a good story.”

Fun Fact: “[I] went to prom on a tractor. I lived in a farm community and everyone was a farmer. There was a pre-prom parade and the bigger tractor, the better. [People] detailed their tractor, so it ended up looking like a weird tractor-float thing. I refused to get on it until [we were] two blocks from school.”