They lived in Lynn, a rather gritty northern suburb of Boston, once a city of shoe factories and immigrant workers (French Canadian, Irish, Polish, Italian, Greek), site of a large General Electric plant, and (according to Wikipedia) "long colloquially referred to as the 'City of Sin,' owing to its historic reputation for crime and vice."
Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin,
you'll never come out the way you went in,
what looks like gold is really tin,
the girls say 'no' but they'll give in,
Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin.
Lynn is home to Durkee-Mower, makers of Marshmallow Fluff.
Lynn English High School was a Vocational school, offering these courses: Stenographic Course, General Technical Course, Household Arts Course, Accounting, Electrical, Pattern Making, Machine Design Printing, Cabinet Making, Machine Shop, Architectural Design, Carpentry, General Clerical.
Bessie's classmates (whose names are inscribed on the backs of the photos) command our attention and consideration, one by one, but my first draft of a YouTube video presentation of the photos provides a complementary introduction to them:
Agnes Barry
(died 1997, Wife of the late William J. "Bud" Manning Jr.)
Alida DuPont
on the list of 1926 graduates of Cobbett Junior High School
Norman Barbeau
(Ward 5 Lynn in 1940 Census)
Annette Auger
(Cobbett Junior High School, 1926)
Concetta Rando
(Concetta was still alive, at 105, in 2016)
Helen McDormand
(family from Annapolis County, NS; died Lynnfield 26 Oct 1994)
Madeline Ratican
(graduated Lynn Hospital School of Nursing, 1936)
Charles Comenas
(still living at home, 1940 Census)
Roseda Byrd
(Cobbett Junior High School, 1926; married Frederick Anderson)
Gertrude Breen
(still living at home in 1940 Census)