Cecilia (Carey) Major is 99 and still active in the Renton High School alumni group. Tracey Compton, Renton Reporter

Not too many distractions in the 20s – except boys

Ninety-nine-year-old Cecilia Major is probably the most senior graduate from Renton High School, having graduated in 1930.

She didn’t have a cell phone or an iPad to distract her when she attended Renton High back in the late 1920s.

But, one distraction stands the test of time.

“Boys were always interesting,” she said, laughing.

Some of the most fun she had at the school was attending boys basketball games. She didn’t have a lot of time to hang out with her friends because she worked at a confectionary on Third Avenue. But she does remember enjoying the games. Her brother Bill Carey played on the 1934 championship boys basketball team. Her other brother, Joe, graduated from RHS as well.

“I had wonderful friends and was active in a lot of things and I liked school,” Major said.

She was born in Los Alamos, Calif., and settled in Renton in time to begin first grade in the district.

“At that time they were building a new [headquarters] for the school and so the first six grades had to go to classes in the lower portion of the high school,” Major said.

She lived a block away from Renton High and walked to school every day.

Her nickname was “Cele” and her maiden name was Carey. She said she was known by her friends as being easy to get along with. The 1930 yearbook has a “seniorscope” and it says that she was best at managing, her hobby was journalism, her by-word was “let’s laugh,” and her ambition was to be editor of The New York Times.

Major was the editor of The Renton High News in 1929 to 1930. She was also a member of Torch, the school’s honor society. There were 54 graduates in her class.

“But, we had a lot of fun,” she said. “We had clean up days, when we helped clean up the school yard and so forth – assemblies. It’s a long way back.”

Literature was her favorite subject, as she liked to read and write.

“I remember we had a young man who was our adviser, who was a recent college graduate,” Major said. “He was very enthusiastic about everything he did, so he was kind of an inspiration.”

A year after high school she got married. Although she would have liked to attend college, they didn’t have scholarships back then and her family couldn’t afford to send her.

She turned her love of reading and education into a sales career, selling World Books for Field Enterprises. She had four children, one of whom she lost in the war in Vietnam. Major has nine grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.

“All I can say is that I enjoyed it,” she said of her time spent at Renton High.

SCHOOL SONG

The Renton High School song as remembered by Cecilia Major, formerly Cecilia Carey:

“In those dear old high school days,”

“In those dear old high school days,”

“Free from sorrow, care or strife,”

“The happiest moments of our life,”

“We can hear those school bells ring,”

“We can hear those voices sing,”

“Renton High School, Renton High School,”

“In those dear old high school days.”