Graduation was May 11, 1916 in Buffington Hall. "The hall was crowded to its capacity. The hall was decorated with American Beauty Roses, lilies and ferns. The ladies wore white dresses and the men wore black suits. The address by Senator T. S. Hogan was considered the most able that has ever been given to a graduating class of the Hysham High School, dealing with cold hard facts and mature and thoughtful advice." A nephew of Senator Hogan, Dave Manning, was in the graduating class.
Dave Manning attended the University of Montana and has been an engineer and contractor. He has lived in Hysham and Helena, where he has served as a legislator from Treasure County continuously since 1933. He served four sessions in the House of Representatives, where he served as Speaker of the House. Since 1941 Dave has been a member of the Montana Senate. He has been Minority Floor Leader and President Pro Tem of the Senate. He has also served as Acting Governor under Governors Roy Ayers, Hugo Aronson, and Tim Babcock. He married Ruth Clark, and they have two daughters, (private) and (private). They have five grandchildren.
Eleven students started in the class of 1917: Helen and Lucille Bingenheimer, Jessie Boardman, Pat and Rachel Gallagher, Elsie Haveman, Frances Isaac, Gladys Kimball, Sam Likens, James Manning, and Edna Sorenson.
Miss Helen Manning had been hired to teach the seventh and eighth grades. Miss Watson had the fifth and sixth grades again. Miss Collicott was in the third and fourth grade room, and Mrs. George Miller came to teach the primary grades.
Debating, coached by Principal B. E. Davis, was a main scholastic event. Elsie Haveman, James Manning, and Gladys Kimball defeated the Forsyth team, taking the negative side of the question of municipal ownership of public utilities. They also defeated the Terry team, who had won over Miles City. Gladys Kimball was chosen to compete in the state finals, but the contest not being held, she had to content herself with receiving the Keith Debating Scholarship, the only debate scholarship in the state.
Rachel Gallagher was captain of the girls basketball team, with Helen Bingenheimer, Ruth Clark, Elsie Haveman, and Edna Sorenson making up the rest of the team.
The Hysham Echo for May 11, 1916 carries a story about one of the graduates, then a junior. Titled "The H. H. S. Boy Cartoonist," it carries a picture of "Jimmie Manning, The Cartoonist," and a collection of sixteen sketches of Hysham business men. In "Jim's Jam Jems" present day readers who knew the characters depicted can recognize Jim's drawings as George Warren, the grocer; Guy Bradbrook, the barber; W. E. Jenkins; Matt Zent; Doc Pemberton; B. E. Davis,; Herb Flatt; "Dad" Merritt; Cecil Wright; L. V. Jenkins; John Kelley; J. R. Middleton; and Echo editor W. T. Sherman. "Jim has been the life of the school the past year, as an advertiser of its social functions in pictures, and it has quietly leaked out that on several occasions he came near bringing down the wrath of Supt. Davis by his innocent pastime."
Pat Gallagher worked at the Court House before his death in 1940. He was married at the age of 36.
Jim Manning attended a post-graduate year at Hysham High. He is a master carpenter as well as being Hysham's "artist in residence". Recently he bought the old Catholic Church and remodeled it into a beautifully-designed modern home, doing the entire building job himself. Jim married Margaret Zent, and they have seven children: (private).
Rachel Gallagher took a post-graduate year at Hysham before going to college in Dillon and Bozeman. She taught for many years and married Art Boehm. She died in 1954, leaving one daughter, (private).
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