Photograph courtesy of Willys Peck
Elizabeth Biggers' seventh-grade class at Saratoga Grammar School smiles for the camera on May 13, 1936. Columnist Willys Peck is at far right in top row.
Saratoga Stereopticon
Grammar school picnic will be nostalgic affair
By Willys Peck
It was the late, great U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. who, upon seeing a beautiful girl when he was 90, lamented, "Oh, to be 70 again." To people under 70, that's a pretty funny line, but when you've already passed that point, the biblical threescore years and 10 loses some of its humorous impact. Having left this calendarial landmark behind seven summers ago, I'm having increasingly to accept the reality of pure, unadulterated old age.
The reality is being softened somewhat, or maybe it's underscored, by two events occurring almost back-to-back this summer. One, this past weekend, was the annual Saratoga Historical Foundation barbecue at Garrod Farms and Cooper-Garrod Vineyards. The poignancy here was not so much in the event as in the location, one of the very few properties in the area still devoted to agricultural uses. (Insert plug here for preservation of the Heritage Orchard.) The Garrod land itself has been in the same family for over a century, and has seen the transition from orchards to vineyards and riding trails.
However, to reach the place on Mount Eden Road, by way of Pierce Road, one is confronted with the wave of the future: monster houses propagating in a manner suggesting breeding in dark places.
The opportunity for really wallowing in nostalgia, feeling one's age, or whatever, will occur this coming Saturday at the annual Saratoga Grammar School reunion. I have written about this event in past columns, but it's always good for a few more paragraphs. One theme worth revisiting is the idea that its alumni hold an elementary school in high enough regard to make it the focal point of a reunion. High schools, sure, but an elementary school really had to be of special significance.
With Saratoga, part of this has to do with the system itself. The grades were first through eighth, with no kindergarten. Larger districts had kindergartens and junior highs, but not Saratoga. The graduates went from here to Los Gatos High. The school itself was small, fewer than 200 pupils during my time there, 1929 to 1937, and classes rarely had more than 20 pupils.
I expect that the reunion will inspire much reminiscing about particular teachers, and I am reminded of an incident which, though I didn't witness it, I have no reason to doubt. The teacher and my informant are long gone. So, I expect, is the protagonist.
The incident involved this kid who was given to mouthing off, only he did it once too often with this particular teacher. She hauled off and gave him a healthy slap in the face. According to my source, this one incident literally turned the kid's life around. He really shaped up and, some years later, had a distinguished military record in World War II, followed by a successful civilian career.
I leave it to the reader's imagination what the result of such an incident would be today.
A possible topic for reminiscence might be one of the non-academic subjects that was on our eighth-grade agenda: current events. Each week we had to get up before the class and report on a topic in the daily paper. I recall when this came to a dramatic focus in December 1936. The school had just gotten its first radio, a table model that could be set up in front of the class, and that was how we heard Edward VIII of England giving his formal abdication speech. After all, how current can you get?
Reunion time; senior moment time, groping for names; oh, to be 70 again.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
