Yesterday, my husband and I joined my friend and her husband to walk through the high school that Cheryl and I had attended. The school system shut down the building in 2010 (I think). It’s sat empty ever since. And now, a business has bought it, and they’re going to tear it down.
It was sad enough when Fort Wayne closed Elmhurst. It was a good school. The building was just old. But it was depressing when the newspaper reported that it’s going to be demolished soon. The company that bought it kindly led guided tours through it one last time before the building is destroyed. The four of us went, but the tour mostly covered the new section of the building that Cheryl and I had never been in. The only rooms we really remembered were the cafeteria, gym, and the offices.
I was never very active in school, wasn’t a joiner. I was more of a brainiac geek who loved my classes and did a lot of homework. But that school shaped me. I had one of the hardest and most wonderful English teachers in the world. If she assigned a five page paper, you were allowed five grammatical mistakes–one for each number of pages. If she hit a sixth error, she circled it and quit reading your paper. You got an F. I learned to pay attention to grammar. I took Latin for four years. My Latin teacher made a dead language and its myths come to life. I still love myths to this day. They showed up in my EMPTY ALTARS urban fantasy series and some of my urban fantasy bundles.
Lots and lots of people stood in line to take one last tour of Elmhurst. I know time moves on and things change, but it’s going to hurt the first time I drive past that corner, and the building’s gone. Some things have more impact than others. Elmhurst is a memory that made me happy. I’ll still have that memory…, but that’s all.
Judi Lynn 
‘Glad that English teacher taught you grammar. It’s almost as lost in our everyday lives as Latin, but hey, I hear Latin is coming back into the curriculum in some schools. Let’s appaud that. . Now what to do about basic grammar? Elmhurst was known for its outstanding teachers. You were lucky to have gone to school there.
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When I started college at IPFW, the first semester of everything was review for me. I’d already been taught it. Elmhurst teachers were phenomenal.
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We are shaped by our pasts and schooling has a large part. I went to many schools and every one left its impact. One of my clearest memories is of Mt. Gleason Jr. High in So. Cal, sitting in choir when the principal made the announcement that Kennedy had been killed, the complete silence as the school was closed for the rest of the day.
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Wow! What a memory. My John remembers that, too.
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I can’t even imagine what that announcement would have been like. I wasn’t a even a year old when JFK perished, but I have read numerous books about him and RFK as a adult. I was too young to remember them, but I’ve since become enthralled with their legacy.
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I admire both of them.
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I have to say that was an extremely tough English teacher!
It’s sad to see parts of our pasts fade away, especially those that had such a strong hand in shaping our lives. One of my old schools has been converted to businesses and a church, though the building is still there. I am often tempted to stop in just to roam the halls and reminiscence. I’m glad you got to see the building one last time, and that the company who bought it gave everyone that opportunity. They clearly must have realized the impact it made on many lives.
Also sounds like it could make a great plot thread in a book.
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LOL. I love the way your mind works. I hadn’t thought of using it in a book, but it WOULD make a good thread.
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Absolutely! 🙂
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