Prom Traditions and Memories
rWhat’s Up? Magazine asked several adults for their prom memories. Here are some of their comments.
rr“Back then, there were no prom breakfasts in the ‘70s!” declared Chris Nemarich of Arnold, who has seen two of his teens off to proms at Broadneck High School and has one more kid to go. “We all went home after the prom was over,” he said,rr“rrchanged out of our ruffled tuxes into more comfortable clothes and then stayed out all night.”
r“I went to Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville in Montgomery County and graduated in June 1976. I'd have to look at my old prom picture but I think it was a Senior Prom. I do remember that there was no separate Junior Prom so maybe we had a Junior and Senior Prom. I hung out in a large group of guys and girls and we just paired up to go to prom. I think there were six or seven couples in our group. You should see my Prom photo. I had the ugliest brown tux with a ruffled shirt and huge bow tie! It was very 70's!”
r“Funny thing,” he said. “I had a job interview at the old David Taylor Research Center in Annapolis the day of my prom and I was offered a summer engineering apprentice job - which I accepted,” said Chris. “I spent the next four summers working there and then went to work there after graduating from Michigan. I've lived in this area ever since!”
r“One of the cool things for me and my friends was we each got to drive our dates in our parents' good car - not the clunkers we had. I got to take my date to the prom in my dad's brand spanking new Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme! I felt like I was on top of the world! Now, if I could only remember where our Prom was held!”
rAJ Eckert, a residential and commercial realtor with Coldwell Banker and a member of the rock group the Magnetics attended Northfield Mount Herman School, a Massachusetts boarding school. The proms at Northfield were called “The Chat,” shorthand for ‘chateau.’” AJ recalls it was a beautiful, old Victorian lodge which burned to the ground in the early ‘70s. He claims he was so hip, he “blew off” his senior prom in 1970 and, instead, “to visit my girl friend. Of course this was summarily frowned upon by the school elders and I'm sure I paid for my transgressions with some unsavory work detail in the School kitchen - It worked for me.”
rOf course, his daughter’s prom is coming up in a few weeks …
