THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9510310089
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
It was wartime, and they were the homefront.
As students at Larchmont Elementary School, they bought war bonds and collected scrap paper and tin foil to help the war effort. They practiced tucking their heads between their knees while crouching on the floors of the school corridor in preparation for air raids.
They thought they'd been invaded when a bomb, being loaded at the nearby Norfolk Naval Base, exploded.
``It rattled the windows of the school so hard I thought they'd break,'' recalled Barbara Barker Hull, a Virginia Beach resident who graduated from the Hampton Boulvard school in 1945. ``We didn't panic. The teachers were very calm; we just continued what we were doing.''
But when President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, ``It affected us all,'' recalled Chauncey Olinger, another Larchmont student. ``After his death was annouced, I remember one of the girls in the class just cried and cried and cried. We were all so overcome by grief.''
Despite the war and all its horrors, the students of Larchmont's graduating classes of June 1945 and January 1946 remember the time they spent as students at the school as some of the happiest - and most carefree - days of their lives.
About 40 former classmates gathered at the school Oct. 27 for a 50th reunion tour and get-together. For many, it was the first time they'd seen the school and their old friends in decades.
``Doesn't the school look wonderful?'' Pat Morrow Johnson asked her childhood friend Ann McCoy Gibson as the two women sipped cherry punch in the school's old cafeteria, which has since been turned into a media center.
``It really does look the same; it's been so well-kept,'' Gibson agreed.
Although they'd corresponded for years, Johnson and Gibson had not seen each other in more than 35 years when they met at the reunion. Johnson flew in for the weekend from her home in Casper, Wyo., and Gibson drove in from Chapel Hill.
``Do you remember Mrs. Taylor's dance classes?'' Johnson asked Gibson as the two reminisced about their days together as Larchmont schoolgirls.
``Oh, yes,'' she recalled with a laugh. ``And how about Teen Canteens on Saturday nights in the auditorium? I've still got all my old dance cards.''
After school on Fridays, a local dance teacher and her husband would hold classes in ballroom dancing for the students. The cost was 50 cents a lesson and ``just about everyone'' took them. Then, on Saturdays, the school would host dances for the students, called ``Teen Canteens,'' so they could practice their new steps.
``There are so many memories... walking home from school, in class,'' added Carlotta Duncan Bell, a Larchmont grad whose daughter now teaches at the school.
``Remember the cafeteria smells?'' Bell asked Olinger as they walked through the center, reminiscing.
``Oh, yes, and the crayons,'' he fired back.
``I also remember when my mother would substitute teach, how I hated it. It was so embarrassing because she'd always call on me.''
``She was just trying to see if you'd done your homework,'' Gibson quipped.
A New York City investment broker, Olinger masterminded the reunion after so many of the classmates expressed a fondness for Larchmont during Maury High School reunions. Most of the Larchmont students went on to attend Maury.
``I'd never heard of an elementary school reunion before,'' Olinger admitted. ``But we thought we had a great group then. . . and it's still a great group. We had so much fun, and since the school is still here, we decided to get together again.''
The Rev. Gus Tuttle flew in for the reunion from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He graduated in the January 1946 Larchmont class.
``In those days, students started school mid-year, depending on their ages,'' the Episcopal minister explained. ``I was selected as the president of the class, and I remember it was my first calling in recognizing my leadership abilities. I was sickly as a child, and to have that recognition was a big boost in my life. I also remember the wonderful teachers we had. They taught me a lot, even at that young of an age. I've been very grateful for the development I got at Larchmont.''
Many of the former classmates who returned to the school stressed that time hadn't erased the strength of their childhood friendships, even though five decades had passed since they'd been together. Sharing so many memories, especially wartime ones, creates a lifetime bond, they said.
``Having a neighborhood school makes a diffence in the kinds of friendships you made,'' explained Gibson. ``In those days, you went to school with the people you lived with. These are the kids I went through kindergarten and high school with. There's no way I'd miss being here to see them again.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
This was the Larchmont Elementary School class of 1945 ...
Photo by VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot
... and these are class members on the same steps 50 years later.
by CNB