West Elementary reunion filled with memories, laughs and a few tears
Mar. 26—WORTHINGTON — Nearly 20 educators and staff gathered inside the heated garage of Midg and Darlene White's home early Friday evening to reminisce about the years they worked across the street, at the former West Elementary School.
The gathering included numerous teachers, a custodian and Larry Noble, who served as principal at the Worthington school during the 1990s. Noble organized the gathering as a final goodbye to the building that nurtured so many young minds and holds many fond memories for the teachers and staff who worked there.
"I kind of wanted the opportunity to come before the front door was gone," Noble said. As it was, people could look through the front door of the building and see the gray sky on a blustery March day.
The shell of the building is essentially all that remained last week, and Noble said the building would likely be gone within a few weeks.
"The building is tangible — what's left are all the memories," Noble said. "There was no other place I worked where people were more family-like."
He recalled hours-long meetings where they worked out plans on where to go with their influx of students prior to the construction of Prairie Elementary, and antics with the school mascot, Charlie Wood.
Noble told the teachers in attendance that, "sometimes we forget the impact we had on kids," which resulted in several teachers recalling times that someone came up to them and asked "Do you remember me?" A note to those students — please just tell them your name.
While Noble said he didn't know if they won all of the battles, there remain many success stories of people who had their educational start at West Elementary.
Teachers attending the gathering ranged from those who started their career in the district in the 1960s through the 1990s.
Rich Besel, who joined the district in the 1980s, spoke of the courtyard that once existed at West Elementary and the times Brent Mielke "the Zooman" would bring his reptiles into the courtyard to show to students. Mielke was also a long-term substitute teacher at West, and was the subject of an attempted prank by some school students one day.
As Besel shared the story, the kids kept trying to get Mielke to open the bottom drawer of a desk. When Mielke finally did so, he found the drawer stuffed with grass and a "four-foot snake" inside. Little did the kids know Mielke's fascination with reptiles. He picked up the snake, talked about what kind it was and then told of the snake's unusual smell as he asked which student had put the snake in the drawer.
Mielke apparently asked the students to smell their hands, and when he arrived at one young boy sitting on his hands, he said, "You're the one!"
Besel said a lot of teachers came to West Elementary to learn to be teachers, and younger attendees gave credit to some of those experienced teachers who preceded them.
"There are children of teachers I hired who are now teachers," quipped Noble.
Maggie Kraemer, who recently lost her husband, shared a phrase, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened," a sentiment she said was true of the people who once worked at or attended West Elementary.
The time capsule that was buried at West Elementary never has been found. If anyone has any idea of where it was buried, please contact Besel.
