Lee Oxley Conquered All

At one time, it appeared on sports teams’ uniforms, podiums, letterhead, report cards, and even on a building, but few of us know the origin of the HERH School’s crest, which has been replaced on many of the school’s items with a simple: H, or a stylized tiger’s head.

The original HERH crest was actually a contest winning design in 1957 by then grade twelve student, Lee (Oxley) Gilmour of Milford. Today, Lee admits that her design replicated in the original school sign was not as square as the current sign that hangs at the Milford end of the building.

The Latin motto: “Labor omnia vincit” (work conquers all), that Roman Emperor, August Caesar, used to encourage the Romans to work the land is fitting for a school surrounded by farmland. Its use on the sign was suggested by Lee’s English teacher, Carroll Baker.

Lee, as a budding commercial artist, also helped create the backdrop for the school’s spring plays and decorations for the school dances. Lee fondly recalls that her own graduation prom at HERH had a Japanese theme. She and her friend, Dinamarca Lorenzen, not only helped to create the decorations; they also acted as hostesses dressed as geishas for the year-end celebration.

Lee can list various commercial art projects she has completed throughout her fifty-years as an artist. One such project required that she paint a sailboat’s name on its stern by coordinating the downward strokes of the brush with the upward movement of the bobbing sailboat. Apparently, “Labor omnia vincit”.