Reminiscing: A Kindergarten Romance

Whenever my kids talk about boyfriends, I cringe just a little bit and I try to change the subject. The twins are not quite fourteen yet, Corliss just turned twelve, and Josephine is eight, but they’ve all been talking about boyfriends since they were in preschool and kindergarten. I know it’s inevitable that they’re going to talk about boyfriends, but I’d like to hold off as long as possible. Besides, it’s not like I was totally innocent in my own youth exuberance.

Reminiscing: Walking Into Friendship

One of the coolest things about growing up in Lockport throughout the 1980s was walking to elementary school every day and cultivating great friendships while doing so. Unfortunately, kids today have mostly lost this advantage when they started closing schools like Washington Hunt, and changed the mission of Emmet Belknap to a younger audience who can’t walk that far.

On the Historical Trail: Rogers Grove

Nathan B. Rogers founded one of the oldest and most prominent families of Lockport before there even was a Lockport.  Mr. Rogers walked from Massachusetts in 1817, and he built a cabin at what today is the corner of East Avenue and Cleveland Place.  He was one of the first men to clear the road from Cold Springs to Transit, today’s East Avenue and Main Street.

These Old Walkin' Shoes: Look at Me, I Could Be Centerfield

This week has been a disaster for me me with regard to my columns. My book review was a day late and I wasn’t sure what I was going to write for today’s “Walkin’ Shoes.” I had some plans in mind for both, but I couldn’t really make it grab my attention. I know that if it’s not grabbing my attention, it would be absolute torture for some of you to read. Then I walked my kids over to the Fosters’ house so they could board the bus for VBS. My column for today came to me in a sudden burst of clarity.

REMINISCING: I Went to Washington Hunt, Part 2.

Last week I began looking back at my time at Washington Hunt. I think I left off with a teaser about field trips, climbing ropes, and a little thespian interaction in the cafetorium. I forgot to add that I should talk about my time on Safety Patrol. So, stay tuned and we’ll get to all the good stuff. Because I went to Washington Hunt, and that itself is some pretty good stuff.

Washington Hunt cafeteria

Safety Patrol was the cool thing that the older kids in the school got to do. They stood at the crosswalks and driveway and made sure none of the students walked into the path of a car. It was the apex of power for a grade schooler, and I wanted to be a part of it. We got this cool, orange belt. It even came with a badge. What more could ask for? You could yell, “stop!” and they had to listen. Another perk? You got to leave class early so you could be on assignment when the bell rang and your fellow students burst from the building.

I think you could start being on the Safety Patrol in fourth grade. I know I did it for two years, but I think I quit for my sixth grade year. By that point, we were the big kids on campus and didn’t need to have a badge to be cool. By virtue of being sixth-graders on the verse of going to junior high(!), we on the top of the mountain.

Speaking of mountains, does anyone remember the huge pile of snow that used to be piled up on Harrison Avenue at the corner of Bud’s Liquor’s parking lot? That pile was monstrous, and on the walk home there would be a group of us who played “King of the Hill.” We’d climb the hill and hope to be at the top. Meanwhile, everyone else tried to pull you down from the peak as you protected your position. As a smaller kid, I went tumbling down the mountain quite a few times -- sometimes into the roadway of Harrison Avenue. Luckily, no one ever got hurt. Today you couldn’t pay me to roll around in the snow, but in those days, it was a daily requirement in the winter.

The great, old gym. The ropes are gone now.

For some reason, the gym had a series of climbing ropes tied up near the ceiling. On very rare occasions, those ropes would be let down for gym class. I was kind of afraid of those things and never got very high, but some of my friends would scurry up those ropes all the way to the ceiling. I had other favorites from that old gym.

Capture the Flag was my favorite game that we played during gym class. There was a strategy to keep away from the bigger, faster kids. Sometimes we were sent as a diversion so our star player could swoop in and grab the flag. Of course, if you were lucky, you could make it to some of the prisoners, hold hands, and get them safely back to your side of the center court. A plus was if you “saved” the cute girl. Yes, even in elementary school, I was interested in girls.

In sixth grade I caught the acting bug for a very short time. Back before the district remodeled the building, the cafeteria had a fully functioning stage. Later, the stage was closed off to increase classroom space. I had the honor of acting on that stage in a performance of “King Arthur.” I was Merlin, and my magical robe was a robe that I borrowed from the Porth/Stuckey clan from across the street. I memorized most of my lines, but used my spellbook to hide some of the dialogue that I couldn’t remember. We definitely had some fun with that, and I did pretty well, along with my fellow actors and actresses. The performance was during the school day so we just had some parents sitting in the lunchroom part of the cafetorium.

I acted on this stage before it was closed off

The cafetorium was also where we met for Cub Scouts. My dad was Den Mother for one year and we put on a performance on that stage once, too. This time, I was intimidated and did not have a very good performance. From that point forward, I decided that acting was not for me. Still, the school hosted various Cub Scout events, including the Blue and Gold Banquet, Pinewood Derby, Raingutter Regatta, and the Arrow of Light Ceremony. I spent far more than just my school day at grand, old Washington Hunt.

During my time at Washington Hunt, we went on several field trips around the area. We went to the Buffalo Zoo, the Buffalo Museum of Science, and Old Fort Niagara. During the Old Fort Niagara trip, we were eating lunch after our tour of the fort out on the soccer fields. There was a big ditch that ran along the field where we were eating and running. Someone dared me to jump the ditch. It looked like it was empty and fairly easy to jump. What I didn’t know is that the lawn had recently been mowed and a thick layer of grass was covering some stagnant water. Needless to say, I didn’t make it across and ended up thigh deep in the murky water. No one wanted to sit next to me on the ride home.

My family in what was my 2nd grade classroom with
Mrs. Xapsos, and the twins' kindergarten classroom
with Mrs. Mattina.

I had a lot of great times during my time at Washington Hunt. I still have great friends that I met there. When we decided to buy a house in Lockport, one of the biggest considerations was being able to send our children to a neighborhood school like Washington Hunt. As fate would have it, Wendy and I moved into the same neighborhood in which I grew up, which meant that our kids would attend Washington Hunt.

Three out of four of my kids were able to attend Washington Hunt. The twins went there kindergarten through third grade, while Corliss went there for kindergarten and first grade. When they closed Washington Hunt, we were all pretty sad. Since 1930, the brick house on Rogers Avenue taught several generations of Lockport’s children. My kids were a second generation there. Some families have had three and even four generations attend Washington Hunt. We were all family. We still are.

Leaving Washington Hunt for
the last time.

When Ultimate Physique held an open house for all of us to tour the school before they began their renovations, I took my wife and kids over to walk through one last time. The rooms were empty. It was hard to see that old school devoid of students, teachers and parents. I got to tour parts of the building that I had never seen before. I took lots of pictures, some of which I have included in this week’s and last week’s columns.

I miss Washington Hunt. It was a great school. I’m sure many of you have great memories and great stories from their days there. Last week, several people commented on some of their memories. I hope that some more of you read this column and think about some of those great times. Please don’t be shy about commenting. I enjoy reading about your experiences just as much as I enjoy reminiscing about those good, old days.

 

I leave you with this message left behind by parents, students, and former students of Washington Hunt. It echoes my sentiments exactly:

 

 

Next Week: My first job!!

Craig Bacon loves writing these columns. He hopes you like reading them as much as he does.

REMINISCING: I Went to Washington Hunt, part 1.

I went to Washington Hunt. I am a proud alumnus of that little, brick school from behind the hospital. Three out of four daughters were privileged enough to roam the halls of that old schoolhouse as students. Unfortunately, my youngest missed out, and all the girls were transferred to Roy B. Kelley on High Street. With the closing of Washington Hunt, the good, old days of neighborhood schools were effectively over, although that is a story for another day. I’m here to reminisce about the good times at the Rogers Avenue School.

When I started kindergarten on that warm, fall day in September, 1979, I had no idea that the others kids I met that day would be lifelong friends. Thirty-seven years later, I still count Ben Benedetti, Brian Stevens, Adam Wertman, and Joey Anderson among my group of friends. There have been moments that we get together and the laughs just don’t stop. There have been a couple times while at Mills that Brian and I laughed so hard we were both almost crying.

To this day, I can still remember almost all of my teachers there. I have questions about my first grade teacher. The class photo I have says her name was Mrs. Kunzmann, but I believe she was a long-term substitute for the actual teacher I was assigned at the start of the year.

Kindergarten Mrs. Gala

1st grade Mrs. Kunzmann

2nd grade Mrs. Xapsos

3rd grade Mrs. Veltman

4th grade Mrs. Dellaccio

5th grade Mrs. Cardone

6th grade Mrs. Moran

Of course, there were some favorites who I’m sure many of you will remember. Miss Calhoun was the gym teacher who lived right across the street on Rogers Avenue. Mr. Stefano was the art teacher. And who could ever forget Herb, the custodian? He was a great guy.

From the earliest days of kindergarten, all the way through the end of sixth grade, we walked to school everyday. It was very rare that we actually got rides to school. By my mother’s rules, there was only one way to walk home -- all the way down Harrison Avenue to Walnut and then home. When we got older, we would sneak down Massachusetts or Autumnvale to get home, but it was almost always Harrison for the walk home. One time in kindergarten my neighbor, Mark, walked me home down Massachusetts. He was trying to be a good older friend. Boy, did the two of us ever get in trouble for that walk home!

Those were the days that we had the opportunity to walk home for lunch. Since my mom didn’t work, I was one of those kids who occasionally went home. I’d run all the way home, down Massachusetts (shhh!--don’t tell my mother!), to have lunch each day at home. Then I’d run all the way back to the school. Sometimes on the way back I’d sneak over to the gift shop at the hospital.

We could get candy and soda at the gift shop. I think for those reasons alone we were not permitted to go there. Still, we’d try to sneak over once in awhile to get some treats. Some of us did it on the run back to school after lunch. Some brave souls would jump the fence during recess. Inevitably, some snitch would tell on us and we’d have to face the wrath of our respective teachers. Still, no matter how many times we were caught, we’d still take that illicit trip over the fence in the never-ending search for goodies.

Looking down the hall to the gym.

It was at Washington Hunt that I fell into really hard “like” for the first time. I liked this girl so much that I told her mother that we were getting married. When asked how I could support her daughter, I told her we could live in my parent’s basement until I was old enough to get a job and rent a place of our own. I had all the answers. That girl’s name? Shannon Salmeri. I have no idea what happened to her after she moved away in second grade, but if anyone knows her, tell her I said “hi.” I doubt she even remembers me, though. It was a long time ago.

Probably the best memory I have of going to school at Washington Hunt was the playground. That was one of the greatest playgrounds in the history of playgrounds. Of course, today we’ve gotten smarter about letting children play with or on dangerous things, so that grand old playground has since been replaced. We all survived the old one with minimal scarring to remind us of the good, old days.

Remember the tower of tractor tires that was the highlight of the playground? The higher on the tires you were, the more powerful you were. We used to jump off the top, if we dared, or hide inside the tires when they were dry. After it rained the tires were generally full of water, and sort of smelly after a couple days.

It's through teary eyes that it's time to go.

There used to be a pair of concrete culverts set up to be twin tunnels. Racing through them was always a cool adventure. These culverts were the one time I ever saw a kid get hurt on the playground. I remember someone with a bleeding head, but I have no idea who it was. It happened at lunch time. That’s about all I remember.

Speaking of playgrounds, it used to be a real treat when our gym class went across the street to Rogers Avenue Park. They had a basketball court, the taller slides, and the dreaded merry-go-round. I only say dreaded because, before and after school, it was an instrument of torture. The idea was to sit on the iron bars while a group of your so-called friends pushed the thing as fast as they could get it to go. And then they’d stand just inches from the spinning death machine, occasionally adding a little more speed as they saw fit. It’s a wonder none of us never died, especially small kids like me who had to hold on with all our might.

There are so many great stories about Washington Hunt that I’ve decided to make the story of my alma mater a two-parter. Join us next week when we discuss climbing ropes, field trips, and my debut on stage in the Washington Hunt cafetorium. I’m sure the suspense will keep you checking our website for an unexpected update. Maybe it will happen.

Next Week: I went to Washington Hunt, Part 2

Craig Bacon once accidentally really punched a friend while trying to fake a fight to impress a girl -- at Washington Hunt. He does even more stupid stuff on Twitter at @hippieboy73.