Did you know that the tradition of crowning a homecoming king and queen didn’t become popular at Anaheim High until the late 1940s?
The crowning of Colonist royalty first occurred in 1945 as part of a patriotic effort to raise funds for the war effort when Shirley (Walsworth) Guardia, a Class of ’46 graduate, earned the title of Victory Queen in her junior year.
In a letter written to the AHS Alumni Association, Shirley (now age 86) explained that the title of Victory Queen was the reward for raising money for a WWII victory bond drive. Students earned one vote for buying 10 Defense Stamps and 10 votes for buying a $25 War Bond. Anaheim High raised $46,000 (today’s equivalent of more than $360,000).
“WWII was still going in full force and the school wanted to show its patriotism by raising money to send to ‘the cause’ so they thought of having a contest for Victory Queen,” Shirley recalled. “It was such a traumatic time with announcements every day of deaths in so many families and empty seats in many classrooms. We were just thinking of our boys on the battle front.”
By the time Teddy Lou Payne won the title the following year the war was nearly won and America had almost claimed victory at both fronts. Two months later, Warren Mackay was the first king of the campus, chosen for the March of Dimes Valentine Dance.
With the war over and lives getting back to normal, Colonist royalty was chosen for non-philanthropic reasons. In 1948, Arlene Anderson won the title of “Miss Slick Chick” as the first queen of the annual Anaheim Halloween celebration.
In 1947 and 1948, a king and queen were chosen for the Pigskin Ball, a post-football season event sponsored by the Anaheim High Anoranco Press Club. Jim Elam and Dolpha Underwood were ’47 royalty; Dick Golden and Paula Doretti, the ’48 selection.
Homecoming 1949 started a new tradition, that of homecoming queen. Chosen as the first homecoming queen was Class of ’50 Carol McDermott with a court of Betty Siems, Jeanene Sanders, Jackie Whiteman and Dorothy Mejia.
The rest is Colonist history!
(This is a rewrite of an previous article on the history of Colonist Royalty to ensure that facts are correct and Anaheim High’s history is accurate.)
