RANGELEY — Rangeley High School’s 15 seniors graduated Saturday with a great deal of good-natured pomp, though an unforeseen circumstance delayed the ceremony for almost an hour.

At 3:02, as the senior class was processing up the center aisle to Elgar’s famous march, an elderly relative of one of the graduates, who was standing on the aisle, collapsed unconscious to the floor. At the same time, a young boy of 8 or 9 standing close to the aisle fainted when he saw the elderly woman fall.

The crowd that filled the Rangeley School gymnasium behaved with exemplary calm as care was administered and arrangements made. Members of the audience with medical expertise came to the fore as other onlookers cleared the space around the two victims. A Rangeley police officer soon came to assess the situation, and NorthStar ambulance medics arrived at 3:35. EMTs eased the elderly woman onto a gurney and wheeled her to the waiting ambulance; at her exit the victim was talking to the medics. Medics also helped the young boy to stand and assisted him from the hall.

The graduates then went back to their original positions and began the procession as Sue Downes-Borko struck up the music. The ceremony was almost entirely run by the students, who introduced all of the events, with very few interpolations by faculty or staff.

Gabrielle Cavalier and Jenney Abbott welcomed the crowd and introduced the national anthem, sung by Lindsay Toothaker, Ariel Clinch, Abby Abbott, Jenney Abbott, Olivia Jannace and Heidi Elliott.

Lindsay Toothaker and Ariel Clinch presented a memorial to the relatives of Odie Batchelder, a favorite son of Rangeley who passed away last year.

The graduates dedicated the 2013 yearbook to geography teacher Kelsey Orestis. As Orestis was settled into a comfy chair in front of the stage, Sam Straub pulled out his electric guitar, and with a strong backup chorus of seniors performed a song he had written in the teacher’s honor.

Continuing the musical theme, valedictorian Jenney Abbott varied the usual speech by singing a song she had written for her class, with the refrain, “Don’t be afraid to show your true colors.” Her twin sister, Abby, who had introduced her, joined in the chorus.

Keynote speaker Shirley Schrader, the school’s gifted-talented and Title 1 teacher, noted the uncertainty facing the students and the world.

“This is the time for young, creative problem-solvers like yourselves to sit across the table and break bread with uncertainty,” she said.

She briefly and affectionately characterized each of the 15 graduates, and saying we could all use a story, she sat with the students and read, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Suess as the lights dimmed and Seuss’s whimsical illustrations appeared on a video screen. “Be brave, be bold, but above all else, be kind,” Schrader concluded.