Abbot Pennings High School Artifacts

The idea of this page is to include any artifacts from Abbot Pennings High School that could be digitized and put online.  If you have anything that would fit the bill, please send me a message at elf(at)abbotpennings.com.  Here's what I have so far.  The items below are sized for web viewing.  If you'd like to see higher resolution, send me an e-mail as well.  The APHS Gear page has clothing artifacts as well.

• Abbot Pennings High School Drawing - As I recall this was produced after it was announced the school was closing.  An artist, BJ Moran if I'm reading the signature correctly, did a drawing with several images representing the school.  The building and reliefs he depicts remain there as what is now called the "Pennings Activity Center" at St. Norbert College.  The signage is gone, although the wooden crest on the freestanding sign is now (as of Fall 2010) in Nicky's bar on Main Street in DePere.  We think the artist may have been called "Jerry" Moran.  According to Eliot Elfner, "The Pennings sketch was done by a local artist who also ran the Moran Printing company. He made calendars every year and used sketches of various local spots for them. I am pretty sure this sketch appeared on one of his calendars - don't know which one."
• The Abbot Pennings Crest - This crest was displayed in the auditorium, on the left side of the stage.  It includes the Abbot's staff, his hat, the Norbertine flour de lil symbol and a really cool lion or griffin in the center.  It also includes the motto, "Milites Sumus Christi" which I interpreted as, "We are soldiers of Christ."
• Fighting Squire Helmet Logo - Abbot Pennings was across the street from St. Norbert College, which is also run by the Norbertine Order.  St. Norbert's sports teams are known as The Green Knights.  A Squire is a Knight's assistant, which is how we got our name.  I'm not familiar with the origin of our Squire logo, but it's clearly inspired by Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Leprechaun.  I think it's a clever interpretation.  This version was scanned from a sheet of helmet decals that my family picked up at the clearance sale for Pennings stuff at the last Pennings picnic in June 1990.  For super hi-res version, click here.  (If anyone recalls who designed this logo, and when it was created, please drop me a note.  I'd like to give them credit, but I'm also just curious how far back it goes.  It definitely predates my arrival in 1981.)
• 1980s "Game Worn" Football Helmet - This is from the final auction of Pennings stuff during the 1990 picnic as well.  We put new stickers on it, but you can see all the scuffs on the helmet shell and facemask from the field of battle.
• Do You Hear What I Hear? - An MP3 of the Abbot Pennings Choir and Choir alumni singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" at the 1986 Christmas Concert.  Don Richter passed away in May of 2009 and his daughter Val was kind enough to provide me this recording from his archives.  It's a little spotty in verse 2 because it was to be a solo but the alumni were not properly briefed.  It's still excellent and makes a nice memorial to Mr. Richter.  Don's family has another CD of Mr. Richter's Christmas favorites
• The Lance - June 1, 1990 - Final Edition - This edition of The Lance is an interesting mix of farewell articles about the school closing and the standard articles you'd expect  departing seniors to write in any year.  It's a trove of information on athletic accomplishments with a lot of final school records documented in here, as well as some discussion about winning the 1990 State Basketball Championship.  It's a big file so be ready for some downloading time.
• APHS 'Seal' - I don't remember this one, but it was used on at least one t-shirt near the end of Pennings' run.  It reminds me of a college's seal or logo.  It's from a picture of the t-shirt, so it is a bit distorted.
• 1980s Commitment to Excellence Sticker - Used in a late 80s campaign.
• 1980s Mug - OK, this is just a mug with the crest decal applied, but I'm pretty sure high schools won't sell logo-ed beer mugs today.
• Patch with Crest - Some sort of patch with the APHS crest silk-screened in one color onto fabric.
• 1970s "This is Squire Country" Bumper Sticker - I have vague memories of "This is Packer Country" bumper stickers from the seventies, and I think APHS did a knockoff as "Squire Country."   I think we are getting closer to the original "Fighting Squire" logo, as this is clearly a precursor to the helmet logo above.  If anyone knows who created the Fighting Squire or who revised it for the eighties, I'd love to give them credit.
• The (first) Squires' Bus - This mid-seventies article by Dick Karbon of the Green Bay Press Gazette notes the passing of the first green Squires' Bus.
• A Sheet Metal Squire - The Iron Squire, as I've dubbed him, has been in Jim Van Hefty's ('80) basement since the final auction 20 years ago.  If you have any clues to its origin, please send me an e-mail (elf(at)abbotpennings.com.)  Image 2, Image 3, Image 4.
• An APHS Kitchen Pot - Here is the story Jim Van Hefty ('80) shared with me - "You will laugh at the picture of the pot from the lunch room but that is one of my most prized possessions. Having worked during the summer at APHS doing maintenance work with Mike, Marie and Mary Jane, I really got to know them and appreciated all that they did to make the school so special. The day of the auction I walked through the school with Mike and when we got to the old kitchen (where Tom Pigeon taught me Bachelor Cooking during "winterim"), Mike and I stopped and had a few beers as he had a case in the big cooler. I asked Mike what they were going to do with all the "stuff" like the pots and pans. Next thing I know he takes that pot and tosses it across the room to me and says take this as you will appreciate it some day. You will find it hard to believe but we still use that pot for cooking various things throughout the year. Every time it comes out I smile."

I do have a couple of more items I'd like to have on this page that I do not believe we will find.  Let me describe them for you.

1. An MP3 of the Pennings Choir singing "Do You Hear What I Hear" at the Christmas concert.  It wouldn't really matter what year it was, because it always sounded good.  That is one of my favorite Christmas Carols, and Mr. Richter could coax a lot of sound out of those teenage voices. - Thanks Val!
2. A picture of the trophy case.  The trophy case was across from the office on the main floor, and it was packed.  I'm sure Notre Dame Academy has all of them stashed away somewhere, but I'd like to have a picture of their rightful display in the Pennings main hallway.  Unfortunately I'm probably the most likely person during my era to have snapped that photo, and I can't find it.

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Contact Eric Elfner at elf(at)abbotpennings.com with additions, corrections or comments on this site.