PARK RIDGE—From March 10 to 14, 1924, life at Park Ridge High was a real popularity contest.
That week the students cast their ballots in a race to proclaim the most popular boy and girl in the school. In the mid-1920s, the contest was held annually as a school fundraiser. The cost to place a vote was 1 cent. As the students could vote as many times as they wanted, those pennies actually did add up, with thousands of votes typically being cast.
The 1924 contest started out slow. On the first day only a few votes came in, and there wasn’t much of a commotion around the school. By Tuesday the word must have gotten out, because suddenly everyone was eager to spend their extra pennies. The rivalry between the girls became the dominant topic of hallway conversation.
The boys were generally nonchalant about the whole thing, or at least they pretended to be.
In the girls’ contest, three students from Hillsdale vied for the top spot: junior Josephine Stewart, senior Eleanor Pause, and sophomore Hazel McConser. The leading candidates among the boys were junior John Healey of Park Ridge and senior Hans Pause (Eleanor’s brother).
If you are wondering what Hillsdale kids were doing in Park Ridge, the explanation is simple: The Pascack Valley had only two high schools back then: Park Ridge and Westwood. Kids from across the valley attended either of them, usually whichever school was closer to home.
The final days of the contest saw Hazel and Eleanor battling for the top position, with only a handful of votes separating them. When the votes were tallied on Friday afternoon, Eleanor emerged victorious, along with John Healey. (No worries about Hazel—she would win the contest in 1926, her senior year.)
Eleanor’s and John’s portraits got a special feature in the yearbook and are shown above. Though the contest took place a century ago, certainly these kids are still remembered in the Pascack Valley today. Both went on to make a mark in their adult years.
Eleanor Pause was a lifelong Hillsdale resident and became a teacher in the town’s public school in 1930—starting salary $1,200. She never married, and instead lived with two of her siblings at the family home on Vincent Street. She taught fourth grade in Hillsdale for nearly 40 years.
An interesting tidbit about Miss Pause: In 1934, at age 28, she was the first woman in Bergen County to apply for a permit to carry a pistol. She needed to be armed, she said, because she frequently transported cash between her home and Newark for a private organization. The fact that a woman had applied for the permit was a front-page news story back then. (The papers never followed up on whether she received it.)
John “Jack” Healey spent his life in Park Ridge. He was rather popular in adulthood as well, due to his involvement with so many local organizations. Before retiring in 1976 he was the tax collector for 20 years, and also served as a councilman and Park Ridge treasurer. He was active at Our Lady of Mercy Church, helped charter the local Knights of Columbus, volunteered with the Rotary Club, and was a lifelong member of the Park Ridge Fire Department. A U.S. Air Force veteran of World War II, he was a member of American Legion Post 153. He lived to be 94.