by David Flint
As part of Stephentown’s bicentennial celebration in 1984, a time capsule was buried in the front lawn of the Stephentown Elementary School. The intent was to open it in 2034, the Town’s 250th Anniversary. With the school building and grounds now up for sale, that capsule, actually a full size burial vault was disinterred last week. [private]A ceremony had been scheduled for Saturday morning, but due to expected heavy rain Town Highway Superintendent Aldie Goodermote felt it prudent to do the excavation work on Thursday. Present at the excavation was Hall & Higgins Funeral Director Sam Catalano who inspected the vault and pronounced the seal to be intact. Seeing Catalano’s recognizable frame among a group of people surrounding the burial vault and a hole in the ground, a passerby stopped in to inquire what was going on. “Oh, it’s just some guy didn’t pay his bill so we had to dig him up,” Sam responded smartly.
So the cleaned up 7 foot long blue vault was ready as the backdrop for the Saturday morning ceremonies attended by about 60 people. Of the attending group, five were members of the 1984 fifth grade class that worked with the Stephentown Historical Society to organize the project and fill the vault with memorabilia from 1984 – Jarrid Brazie, Kristan Cummings Simpson, Dena Brown Duvall, April Geerholt Smith and Mike Williams. According to newspaper articles at the time, and Historical Society records, the many items in the vault include a menu from the Picolo Mondo restaurant, a calendar from the F.N. Brown insurance agency, a State Trooper’s uniform, Dave Desormeaux’s order book, dog biscuits, a railroad spike, an “I like Ike” pin, horseshoes by Charles Giumarra, an Agway newsletter, some white-out, Mr. Lewin’s ice skates, a Wheaties box, a stamp book, a Post Office badge, a Taconic Telephone book, 1980 Olympics stamps, school books, a Rubix cube, some Dove soap, Kay Hoffman’s Girl Scout pocket calendar, fifth grade artwork, a Teen Titans comic book from Nancy Reagan, Bazooka Squeeze bubble gum and Becky Gutermuth’s report of an interview with local residents and their speculations about transportation change.
An announcement of the event from the Berlin School District indicated that the time capsule would be opened on June 8 and the contents relegated to the care of the Stephentown Historical Society. However the Historical Society and the Town Historian determined from polling the members of the 1984 fifth-graders that the consensus of those who responded was that if the capsule’s seal had not been damaged, the vault should be returned to the ground to await the originally intended opening date in 2034. The Town Highway Department will store the vault temporarily and in the near future take care of reburying it on the grounds of the Stephentown Memorial Library. A stone with a bronze plaque that marked the location of the capsule on the school grounds will also be relocated to the new burial site.
Historical Society President Bill Zimmerman introduced guests at the Saturday ceremonies. They included the fifth grade teacher Victor Lewin, who was Head Teacher from 1976 to 1990, David Sicko, who was Principal of the Berlin elementary schools at the time, current Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, Berlin School Board President James Willis and other former teachers at the school.
Jarrid Brazie recalled writing some of those letters and helping to fill the capsule to the brim with carefully bagged articles. He also recalled Mr. Lewin as “the scariest teacher – but very well respected. All you had to do was look at the kids…Now that my kids are in school we appreciate guys like you.” Someone asked whether Mr. Lewin’s infamous paddle had been put in the time capsule. Lewin, who in 1984 had six more years to serve at the school, said, “No, I had to keep it for a while.” Lewin did say that he had placed in the capsule something special for each one of his fifth grade students, but he would not reveal what it was.
Jim Willis remembered Mr. Lewin’s paddle. “I never got the business end of the paddle, but I saw it happen once, and I didn’t want nothin’ to do with it,” he said. “Smart boy,” rejoined Lewin.
David Sicko gave a brief history of the school. He noted that it opened in 1948 and at that time another time capsule, in a small metal box, was placed in the corner stone. That capsule was opened and the contents displayed on the occasion of the school’s 50th anniversary in 1998. Additional articles were added at that time, and the box was then resealed.
Willis now turned this box over to the Historical Society to await its reopening in 2048.
Larry Eckhardt recalled being a student at Stephentown Elementary School from 1962 to 1968 under Head Teacher Guy K. Harris. There could be pandemonium in a classroom, but all Mr. Harris had to do was clear his throat and “he would instantly bring that room to pin drop silence,” he said. “He also seemed to have eyes with x-ray vision.” Eckhardt added that more important than artifacts “are the memories of teachers, fellow students, parents and staff that are embodied in this time capsule.”
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