Two Newbury High School graduates from the class of 1969 — one a member of the final Newbury Schools Board of Education and the other, a well known actor and “voice of Geauga” — have teamed up in a unique project to preserve school memories forever.
Two Newbury High School graduates from the class of 1969 — one a member of the final Newbury Schools Board of Education and the other, a well known actor and “voice of Geauga” — have teamed up in a unique project to preserve school memories forever.
David Lair, former school board member, said he and his classmate, local actor Bill Ward, decided to make digital copies of Newbury’s graduating class composite photos dating back to 1928, which once hung along the walls of the intermediate building, to preserve them and make them available to the public.
“I was talking with West Geauga officials as they were scanning the photos for their video,” Lair said. “We decided to put all of the Newbury pictures into climate controlled storage until the future of the Newbury buildings is decided. I then talked to Bill and we arranged them all in chronological order.”
Lair said the composites — large framed posters containing the individual photos of each graduating class member — dated from 1928 through 2019 remained in their frames as the two digitally photographed each one.
“For some reason, we were missing the years 1933 and 1934,” Lair said. “We have no idea what happened to them. And we do not have the class of 2020 yet.”
Lair said he cropped each image and enhanced it.
“I’m generally pleased with them because you can read all the names,” Lair said. “We made a video of all of them, which is about 11 minutes long. On a smart TV, they show up well.”
Lair said he and Ward hope to scan the photos on professional equipment at some point, to enhance the quality even further. They have given a digital copy of their project to Newbury Township Trustee Glen Quigley and recommended making it available on the township’s website.
“That way, people can look at them whenever they want to, or make copies for themselves,” Lair said. “There is no charge. We feel honored to be in a position where we have access to them and are able to do this for the community.”
“It’s almost a hundred years of Newbury history, preserved forever,” Trustee Bill Skomrock added during the July 29 trustees meeting. “There are more than 90 files. The quality is not at a high level, but they are certainly readable and can be easily reproduced.
“This can be displayed on our website,” Skomrock continued. “I think it would be a good thing for our residents to have free access. It’s nice for our community.”
