SHS GRADUATION 90 years ago – 24th in series; Jack Griffin Travis, Class of 1936
1936 Yearbook remarks:
“Noise—personified and amplified.”
Activities: Boys’ Social Club, Sailing, Track Manager ’34, Journalism, Senior Orchestra, Junior Orchestra, Class Treasurer ’33, ’35, ’36
Today we remember Jack Travis, Class of 1936. His yearbook line, “Noise—personified and amplified,” gives his entry a lively and humorous tone.
Jack was active in Boys’ Social Club, Sailing, Journalism, Senior Orchestra, and Junior Orchestra. He also served as Track Manager in 1934 and as Class Treasurer in 1933, 1935, and 1936, reflecting a student trusted with responsibility and remembered for his strong personality.
The Class Will makes that even clearer, noting that he bequeathed his gift of argument to Clarence Beintema.
Vitals: Jack Griffin Travis
Birth: 21 Jun 1919
Greenport, Suffolk County, New York, USA
Death 3 Dec 1960 (aged 41).
Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York, USA
Burial: Saint Ann’s Cemetery
Sayville, Suffolk County, New York, USA
GPS-Latitude: 40.737051, Longitude: -73.0781023
Memorial ID
129368700
2026 graduation is now in the history books! Congratulations to the Class of 2026!
90 years ago in 1936, our Sayville High School graduates would have felt the unique pull between a quiet, coastal upbringing and the massive shifts occurring just a few miles west in New York City. While the island was still largely defined by its sprawling estates, and potato farms, the completion of the Grand Central Parkway just a few years prior was rapidly turning the region into the world’s first true “suburbia.”
Walking across the stage in June of 1936, a graduate wasn’t just stepping into adulthood; they were stepping into a world caught between a painful past and an uncertain future. The Great Depression had been the backdrop of their entire adolescence, and while the “New Deal” offered a glimmer of hope, the struggle for steady work was likely the first thing on every graduate’s mind. For many, the dream wasn’t a corner office, but simply a reliable paycheck and the chance to help their families finally move past the hardships of the early 30s.
Yet, despite the economic weight, the culture of 1936 was vibrant and pulsing with a new kind of energy. In their free time, these graduates were listening to the rise of Swing music; Benny Goodman was the “King of Swing,” and the upbeat, rebellious rhythm of big bands provided a much-needed escape from daily life.
They were talking about Jesse Owens, whose legendary performance at the Berlin Olympics that summer was a point of immense pride and a defiance of rising tensions in Europe. At the cinema, they might have caught Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, a film that perfectly captured their own anxieties about a rapidly industrializing world.
As they looked toward the horizon, the news was a mix of domestic recovery and international unease. They watched as Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned for a second term, promising continued relief, while across the Atlantic, the headlines spoke of the escalating Spanish Civil War and the growing shadow of conflict in Europe. For a 1936 graduate, life was a balancing act: finding joy in the local dance hall or a Saturday matinee, while keeping a wary eye on a world that felt like it was changing faster than ever before.
