Students – Past and Present – Commemorate the Wing School!
by Deb Landry, Principal – HT Wing School
On November 24th students were treated to stories, legends and lore from past students and retired and current staff members who taught and/or attended the Wing School as students themselves. Students enjoyed hearing about what the Wing School was like in the past by the people who were here. Students prepared many questions to ask our guest speakers. Fifth and sixth graders shared what they learned and wrote about it.
Interesting facts quoted from Grade 5 after listening to the speakers Eleanor Winslow, Judy Hendy, and Sarah Triplet.
- The top floor of Wing School was the High School.
- “Back in the day,” in 1937, three quarters of the building was not here.
- Mrs. Hendy was in pre-school here in 1937 and when she was a senior she was on the girls’ basketball team that won the Cape Cod Championship in 1949.
- Sarah had Mr. Bridges for a principal just like we did.
- Most students walked to school in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s because there were not a lot of buses.
- Girls were not allowed to wear pants, only dresses and skirts (not even through the winter!).
- If there was a forest fire, the boys would have to leave the school to help fight it.
- There was a spare room where nuts and berries were kept.
- If your pants got wet from snow on the way to school you could put on your gym clothes and get your pants dried in the boiler room!
Eleanor Winslow
Judy Hendy
Sarah Triplett – Judy Hendy’s Granddaughter
Mrs. Stanton’s Grade 6 shared these thoughts after listening to the speakers…
Thank you to Mr. Hoxie, Mr. Alvezi and Mr. Pierce!
From your stories, our class learned many interesting things about the history of the Wing School.
For one thing, we never knew that the multipurpose room was once a cafeteria, a gym, and even once was divided into two classrooms. It was also strange to hear that when you were at Wing that there was only one classroom per grade.
The way you described the playground was cool too. Most of us would have loved to join you on the seesaw and the merry-go-round even though they weren’t the safest equipment. You described these as unsafe, but we agreed that going on them sounded like fun!
Also, I don’t think any of us will forget Mr. Hoxie’s funny story about the kid who fell through the ceiling in the multipurpose room!
All of you described the Wing as a “family” and we feel the same way. Thanks for sharing some of your Wing memories with us.
Jim Pierce now serves on the Board of Selectmen. His grandsons have been students at Wing, too.
Ed Hoxie, a former teacher and student at Wing!
Walter Alvezi