The latest example of this occurred at a recent farewell party for Marybarbara Zorio, the principal at Saratoga Elementary School, who is leaving to teach at the university level. The event, a buffet supper and a short program of tribute, was held at the school on Oak Street.

In writing this column over the years, I have included many references to and descriptions of this school and its influence on my life, so I hope this isn't too repetitious. But on this latest visit, I couldn't get over certain aspects of the campus and how it has changed. By way of background, I started first grade there in September 1929 and graduated in June 1937. It was an eight-grade school with no kindergarten, and the graduates continued on at Los Gatos High School.

On a positive note, the original 1923 building, though altered, has been essentially preserved, and the additions have pretty much maintained the modified mission style. This preservation is due largely to Marv Steinberg, principal some 35 years ago when it was determined that the building did not meet earthquake safety standards and it would either have to be replaced or substantially beefed up. For a time, it looked like the former would happen, but Steinberg led the successful effort for preservation and renovation.

The changes that struck me particularly had to do with the playground. It seemed to be essentially bare land, which is fine for ball games and such. There is some play equipment in the kindergarten area, but I didn't notice any for the bigger kids.

In my day, we had playground equipment that would have gladdened the heart of a personal-injury lawyer. For one thing, there was what we called the giant-strides. This was a vertical pipe some 10 or 12 feet high with a rotating bearing at the top, to which were attached 10 or so chains with handles at the end so the kids could grab hold. Then when they'd run, hanging on to the handles, and centrifugal force would lift them off the ground. The faster they went the higher they'd go, and I'll never forget the time I saw one kid who was very nearly parallel to the ground.

I don't remember anyone losing hold and sailing off through the air, but the potential was there. The swings were pretty much in the same category. A large pipe frame supported two swings that were of metal, not the flexible kind you see now, and a rider could stand up on one, grab the chains and pump away to great heights. I remember seeing one kid who would continually pump high enough to look into the window of the adjacent second-story classroom.

Another piece of equipment, which probably had a name but I can't think of it, had parallel horizontal bars about six feet off the ground on vertical supports. It was a long structure, and along half its length the bars had ladder-like rungs between them that kids could grab and work their way along. They could also climb on top and try walking along the bars.

There were also horizontal bars between some of the eucalyptus trees that graced the campus. All those trees are now gone, to my and a lot of people's regret. These horizontal bars were good for hanging by the knees, where one bent those leg joints over the bar and hung down, with the head just inches above the ground. All the playground equipment had sand boxes underneath, for whatever good that might have done in the event of a fall. However, in my eight years there, I don't remember any injury accidents on any of this equipment.

We did have playing fields for baseball and speedball, a variety of soccer, but on a much smaller area. A lot of today's playground space was orchard back then, and retrieving an out-of-bounds ball could be something of a chore.

Getting back to the subject of kindergarten, the aforementioned Marv Steinberg hired my wife, Betty, to open up the kindergarten program in 1973. I thought it appropriate that her room was the same one where I started first grade 44 years earlier. Betty has summarized her experiences in a book, Kindergarten Education--Freeing Children's Creative Potential, published by Hawthorne Press of England.