Mr Payne's 99th birthday!
W. Purnell Payne, co-composer of the MHS Alma Mater, will celebrate his 99th birthday this Friday, Jan. 8. The alma mater, with music written by Payne and lyrics by Virgil Alexander, was adopted on Oct. 23, 1956.
A longtime MHS music teacher, Payne also was among the first members of the MHS community inducted into the Spartan Hall of Fame in 2004.
Birthday well-wishes may be sent to:
W. Purnell Payne
1814 Pine St.
Camp Hill, PA 17011
the beautiful ladies graced our campus:
All hail to thee, Milton Hershey
Thy loyal sons are we.
To stand by thee and each other
Our pledge will ever be.
Thy brown and gold we cherish
And thy traditions dear
Proudly we sing thy praises
For all the world to hear
Then stand we firmly united
Through all the years to come
By friendship and fond mem'ries
Of youth and school and home
We're men of Milton Hershey
And vow to that great name
Lives filled with strength and honor
To add to Spartan fame.
Call me sentimental, but even just typing these words and the melody running through my head, makes me choke up with pride in my Alma Mater. The Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu is the sister school of MHS (read about the founding of it on the net - very similar to MHS). One of their school rally songs is Imua Kamehameha (Forward Kamehameha). I'm adopting this for our school to say "Imua MHS"! 
All Hail to thee Milton Hershey, Loyal and true are we, to stand by thee and each other, thru faith and liberty. By friendship and fond memories, Were proud of Milton Hershey, thy traditions dear. OMG I can't remember the order or the rest of it.....
I know it is way off but at least i tried.
I still remember the Alma Mater, kinda hard to forget it when you learn it in the glee club. I still remember Mr Payne playing the organ at founders hall every sunday.
sing the Alma Mater? All I can think of is what we used to sing on the bus to football games......who we are,where we're from,so we tell them etc.
I do remember the music teacher's breath when he was trying to teach us the song. It was HORRIBLE!!!!!
if he still has all his faculties (pun intended), He would be an interesting man to have a long conversation with.
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