Back to Work:  A blog sabbatical that went into overtime has breezed by.  It feels like a breeze, no, a gale, no, tornado force winds blowing us all down the hill we are rapidly descending. 

Getting back into gear, this blog will be short and with no obituaries.   Inspiration grabbed me while looking through reunion photos stored on my computer.  I will share some of these in some forthcoming blogs.   (Well, this turned out to be longer than I thought it would.)

Scaffolding:  I recently drove down Donaldson Avenue and saw scaffolding wrapped around the tower, pictured below.  I suppose that is part of the $50 million bond issue passed in two segments a few years ago. 

The lawn was also totally torn up, the sod gone, as you can see in the photo below.  A workman told me it is utility work.  Wee Below.

Below is the before look. 

Things have changed inside the building.  Here is a bit of an orientation:  The arcade with the school name in the center fronts “Mrs. Hicks” rose garden.  At the end of the arcade on the right is the entrance for all visitors to the school.  Ring a bell for the door to be unlocked.  Then enter a vestibule and provide identification to a clerk behind a glass window.  She will log in your ID information and print out a name badge to wear inside.  She will then unlock the door for you to enter what was the Spanish classes wing when we were there.  Now it is completely administrative offices.  Remember how we had a Principal and a Vice Principal/Dean of Boys and a Dean of Girls and one counselor?  Now there are five Vice Principals and 4-5 counselors!  The enrollment, however, is about the same as when we attended—1600-1800.  There are still some lockers in the hall, if I recall, but a bunch have been removed and converted into show cases.

Back to the photo, the library is the second floor over the Admin portion sticking out.  The cafeteria is to the left at the arcade end.  I recall that third period Spanish classes were extremely popular because you could hustle down the arcade for an early place in the cafeteria line.  We had 25-minute lunch periods.

Without much news of the school, what I will most likely reminisce about is the school and our time there, plus our reunions over the years.  For starters, the first class graduated in 1932—an amazing 92 years ago!  Jefferson will soon be 100!!! Drive by and it looks unchanged, except that the stone or cement work over the brick walls needs power washing, which I understand is on the schedule in the next several years. 

What amazes me is that when we arrived on Jeff’s doorstep in 1951, the school was only twenty years old!  I doubt that any of us had an appreciation for the unique and beautiful school we were attending.  It is also difficult to realize that World War II had only ended six years earlier! 

Wrapping up for now, I have not been idle.  Procrastination and inefficiency have hindered writing this blog, but I have long been a bit of an activist and have been busy in my retirement community.  To wit, I co-manage our thousand volume library and write a monthly Library newsletter.  I also organize and write, with some help, a bi-monthly or quarterly newsletter about events within the village.  This is a 5–6-page effort.  With a weekly card afternoon, planned activities, and a lot of reading, time goes.  And that is the end of excuses for my absence.

If any of you are still on board with this puny effort at a blog and have a comment, a question, or a memory to share, please reply.