Springfield High School Yearbook 1944
Alice Sloman was a high school senior in 1944. Although she did not participate in extracurriculars while attending Springfield High School, as she did while attending school in Morrisonville, Alice managed to communicate her passion for singing and profession aspirations to her school in a meaningful way for it to receive recognition in her senior yearbook.
Alice's Senior saulute states:
Alice should have no trouble fulfilling her ambition to sing opera. Remember her solo at the assembly.
Alice's lack of participation in Springfield High School's music department did not come as a result of disinterest or intimidation from the choir, one that quadrupled the size of her Morrissonville choir.
When Alice attempted to try out for a cappella choir in her junior year, the director told her that they were full since auditions for girls took place a year in advance and suggested she get a job for something to do after school.Disappointed, but not discouraged, Alice found an opportunity to sing a solo during a school assembly. Afterwards, as Alice recalled, the choir director called her mother, Ruby, requesting Alice join the choir at once.The next day, with her head held high, Alice replied to the director's call saying that she was too busy to join the choir now that she had gotten a job.
She met her future husband, Ernest (Ernie) Antonacci, at that cinema job. She wrote letters to him everyday during her senior year as he fought overseas in WWII. She also continued to sing in the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church choir. There, she studied to be baptized Catholic so that she could marry Ernie when he returned. Alice fondly remembered being "oncall" for the church anytime they needed a singer for mass, funerals, or just in a pinch. In 1948, Alice and Ernie even became owners of a nightclub called the Wishing Well Supper Club, located in Sprinfield's downtown, where Alice frequently enjoyed entertaining their guests with her voice.
Falati, Connie, telephone conversation with Gabby Antonacci, October 2, 2020.