Three Gulf students and a fourth girl who was married to the photographer posed for a photo on the Main Street bridge around 1948. The photo was made into a post card that was widely sold around town. On April 25, 2014, four Gulf seniors re-created the photo by posing on the bridge, sitting or standing in the same poses as the students did in the original photo.
Both pictures show the Pithlachascotee River looking north from the bridge. Much has changed in about 66 years. For one thing, the bridge in the original photo was replaced with a new bridge in the 1960s.
The four girls in the original photo are Eva Lee Dudgeon (GHS ’47), Lily Belle Calais (GHS ’48), Beatrice Falany (GHS ’48), and Viola Lagerberg. Mrs. Lagerberg did not attend Gulf High School; she was the wife of professional photographer Ted Lagerberg, who took the original photo. The exact date of the original photo is not known. An original post card was postmarked in 1949. Lily Belle Calais (Perraud), the only person in the photo who is still living, left New Port Richey in 1950. However, she has attended numerous Gulf High reunions and stays in contact with alumni from her period.
The four girls in the modern photo, all seniors at Gulf High, are Madison Morlan, Nicole (Nikki) Sedivy, Rachel Gardner, and Lauren Lopez. The two students who arranged the scene and took the photos, at Mr. Miller’s suggestion, are Tanner Abbott and Domenic Crisafulli, also both seniors.
Larger versions of these photos are on the Facebook pages of Gulf High School and the West Pasco Historical Society and are also at Flickr here, here, and here.
