Shown here is the Class of ’20 (1920, that is) who graduated from the Furness School of Philadelphia on this day a hundred years ago, June 22, 1920. These girls are performing the “Welcome to Summer” dance as part of the commencement exercises, and this picture appeared in the next day’s issue of the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger.

Since the school was a junior high at the time, these were probably eighth graders, probably born in about 1906. Their older brothers very well might have gone to war, and we hope that most of them came back to attend the graduation.

A few years after this picture was taken, their families probably got their first radio. They were 23 years old when the stock market crashed, and they lived through the depression as young adults. Then, another war came. They were a little too old to go to war, and most of their children were too young. All of them, boys and girls, undoubtedly fought on the Homefront.

When they were in their 40s, they saw their first television, and probably bought one soon thereafter. They worked hard and retired with more wealth than their parents. A handful of them bought a computer and sent e-mails to their grandchildren. A few of them lived to see 9/11 on their television screen.

Welcome to Summer, Class of ’20.

A few weeks ago, I recorded this message to the Class of 2020: