The "It's Finally Over After Over 60 Books" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Can't seem to get the tune to the song "It's Over" by Roy Orbison out of my head.  Sang it to myself for hours after finally making the call to the Landis Run Intermediate School and telling them that I would no longer be working on the school yearbook.  It all began in 1968 when my friend and fellow teacher Ed Blazer asked if I would be interested in helping him with the Manheim Township High School Yearbook.  Told him I'd love to help and I have been working on yearbooks since them.  Some years it was only one book that I would help produce while other years it was two schools I would help with the yearbook.  When I first began working on the yearbook my friend and fellow teacher, Jim Gallagher would help me with the high school book.  We had a student yearbook club which did most of the writing and layouts for the book, while the two of us were in charge of making sure everything was completed on time.  We worked with the Josten's Yearbook Company which was located in State College, Pennsylvania.  Jim and I were able to take our staff to visit the company and they would show us how the book was done on their end and how it was printed.  The students were amazed as they stood and watched the presses running, printing yearbook after yearbook.  Josten's produced yearbooks for all but three of the years that I was the advisor.  Those years were completed by a different company that offered me new computers for the school as well as myself if we could change to their company.  After the three year contract expired we shifted back to Jostens.  I worked on the yearbook until I retired in 1999.  Upon retirement I asked the High School Principal if he wanted me to continue with the yearbook and he declined my offer saying he wanted an in-house teacher to help with the book, but the following day the Principal of our Manheim Township Middle School called and asked if I wanted to be in charge of their school yearbook.  Yep!  I did that book until 2020; mostly by myself since the book was smaller and I found it hard to visit the school all the time to have students help me with the book.  

A few of the yearbook covers from recent years.

In 2013 the school district opened a new building that housed those students in grades 5 and 6 known as the Manheim Township Intermediate School.  Today I just notified  the Principal that I wouldn't be available to do the book for next year.   I found this past year a rather tough job with the COVID-19 virus keeping me out of the school except for an hour one afternoon to take a few candids.  We did cut back on the size of the book which included primarily the class photographs as well as a few candids and plenty of stories written by the students telling of their travels through the school year with COVID-19.  Many students chose home schooling and only had their photo in the yearbook if they submitted one to me.  I recently heard that school will return to normal this coming year (whatever that means).  The past few weeks have once again shown an increase in COVID-19 cases and most students under the age of 12 will not have been vaccinated as of now.  Landis Run School is comprised of students about 12 and under, so I can't be sure if they may carry the virus or not; and I can't take the chance that they may be a carrier and I will become infected with the virus.  I am vaccinated, but don't want to chance gettin the virus at my age.  May never recover!  So, I placed a call to the Landis Run Principal and passed along the news to him.  I wish the school the best in trying to find a faculty member to take over the book, but if not...I'm pretty sure a parent can step in and do the job with the help of the staff at Josten's Yearbook Company.  Will I miss it after producing 61 yearbooks?  Yeah, but it was getting harder every year to make constant trips to the school for club photos, musical photos, candids, plays, etc.   I will miss the students and faculty, but my health is a bit more important to me than a school yearbook.  I will be anxious to see how nice the book looks when it is published in 2022.  I've had a great time, but it's now time for me to relax and allow someone else the chance to enjoy the role of Yearbook Advisor!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.