Center School hosted a program last Friday to celebrate “80 Years of Change.” The school opened in 1934 as a 1st through 12th grade school but has had many grade iterations since, including its most recent one as a 3rd through 5th grade school, which goes back some 30 years.
The final three grades have been phased out of Center School in the past three years during which time no new grades have entered the school. The Kindergarten through 5th grade population has thus now been divided between Mile Creek and Lyme Consolidated Schools.
Next year Center School will take on a whole new persona as it becomes both the administrative offices for the District housing the superintendent and his support staff and the home of the District’s Pre-School program.
Friday’s celebrations included a rendering of “Happy Birthday” by the Pre-K students, a speech by former student and teacher Kevin Cole and a maypole demonstration by students from the final four classes at the school.
Alumni of the school were honored with boutonnieres and, along with students, parents and members of the public, they listened to the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School band play under the direction Ms. Carrie Wind and Mrs. Herel’s class sing the Center School song.
One alumnus, Jim Fafalla (pictured above), who attended the school from 1948 to 1956, told LymeLine he has fond memories of his days at Center School. When he attended the school it housed 1st through 12th grades and he recalled the best thing about the school being that, “Everyone looked out for each other.” He also explained that, at that time, the younger grades were on the right hand (south) wing of the building as you walked into the school and the older grades were on the left (north) side.
Fafalla mentioned that six generations of his family have lived in Old Lyme and members of three of those attended Center School and even now, in its swansong era, his granddaughter Lauren Belville is there.
The school’s gymnasium had effectively been converted into a museum by the Celebrate Center Committee with a wonderful display titled, “Through the Decades.” Display boards filled with photos and information of each decade that the school had operated were on display along with memorabilia and artwork associated with the school.
The boards and museum exhibits were lovingly planned, designed and built by a dedicated group of eight Center School students who worked weekly, sometimes daily, for months to put together the exhibit. The members of this club also each spoke at the celebration as did various other teachers, alumni and the school principal, Lori Susi.
Also on view were the 2015 time capsule that has been created, a memory wall, a timeline and a video including memories shared by alumni and former staff members.
What Lymeline failed to mention is that the display boards and museum exhibits were lovingly planned, designed and built by a dedicated group of 8 Center School students who worked weekly, sometimes daily for months to put together this exhibit. The members of this club also each spoke at the celebration and were not mentioned at all in this article. What a shame but certainly not a surprise.
We have added your comments to our story, OLMom. We were not aware of those details and appreciate you sharing them with us.
Thank you very much
Wow. I attended Center School from first grade through sixth grade, then entering the “scary” high school in 7th grade! I cherish my memories of Center School – had Mrs Plimpton, Mrs Lieberman, Mrs Carlson, Mrs Knapp and Mrs Fitzgerald, who literally helped shape my life to love history and writing, I have been an editor/writer my entire adult life, mostly a magazine editor, which I credit to Mrs Fitzgerald’s class where we had to do major “reports” on ancient countries, organizing stories, photos and illustrations to tell the story. I felt warm, safe, and inspired at Center School. And the privilege of going to a small, beautifully historic school in such a small town .. bliss. I still have dreams about being on the playground there. Some of my best friends in the entire world are people I met there. I have a gang of Old Lyme friends that I still share my life with, and I’m 52 – and most of them I met at Center School. Kudos to a great school throughout the ages! Very Best, Kristen Gould Case, LOLHS 80
Just one correction – over six generations of my family lived in Old Lyme and 3 generations attended Center School. Enjoyed Friday’s celebration very much. Jim Fafalla, class of l961 Old Lyme High school.
Thanks so much for sharing that, Jim. We’ve corrected the article accordingly. It was a real pleasure to meet you last Friday.