Remembering metal lunch boxes and maypoles
Hundreds Commemorate 80th Anniversary of Beloved Kensington School
By Ruby Cougler
On Saturday, Nov. 14, over 500 people walked through the doors of Kensington’s Benjamin Franklin Elementary and stepped back in time. They came to celebrate the little school that has educated over 8,000 San Diegans since 1929. This was the first event held by Franklin alumni and although many guests had pre-registered, organizers were astounded by the turnout.
Throughout a refreshment period preceding a presentation in the auditorium, a steady hum of friendly conversation filled the halls and classrooms. Former students recollected maypole dances, glee club meetings, and trips to Camp Cuyamaca. While sipping punch and nibbling tea sandwiches, they remembered bringing metal lunch boxes to school and buying milk from the cafeteria for a nickel. Some laughed and pointed as they tried to find themselves, and old friends, in class photos.
Barbara West, a sixth grade graduate from 1938, studied a bulletin board in the squeaky clean hallway of a school very different from the one she remembers. When Benjamin Franklin Elementary opened eighty years ago, it consisted of just three ramshackle temporary classrooms, three teachers, and one principal. It grew slowly over two decades and by 1953, it looked much the way it does today.
After the pledge of allegiance and a heartfelt rendition of America the Beautiful, the packed house rippled with laughter and occasional “aws” as 8-millimeter footage of wholesome school activities such as square dancing and costume parties flickered on a screen. Emcee Dennis Morgigno, Station Manager for channel 4 San Diego and Franklin graduate, listed the many luminaries that have called the school home: Major League baseball players, a Miss America, and retired San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender—class of 47. He joked, “There must be something in the water.”
Councilmember Todd Gloria, presented one of three proclamations bestowed on the institution that day and, Kensington neighbor and Franklin fan, Mayor Jerry Sanders attended the event saying, “The success of our communities is linked directly to the success of our schools.”
The committee dedicated the anniversary celebration to Louise Weller, the devoted and enduring first principal of Benjamin Franklin Elementary. In many ways, the event also celebrated the current principal and 1998 San Diego County Teacher of the Year, Jean Small who describes Franklin as a “wonderful community school.”
Franklin Elementary has no Parent Teacher Organization and relies on neighbors for extra help. Dixie Blake, one of the event organizers and longtime Franklin supporter explained, “As a result of the reunion, people are already calling, asking what they can do and pledging their support. Because of the huge response we got from the alumni we would like to resurrect the Foundation, called Friends of Franklin.”
In addition, each attendee paid a $10 registration fee and all the proceeds benefit the Franklin Associated Student Body Fund. Blake says, “There was such an immediate need for this money. The school had purchased an online reading guide program for 60 students who need additional help in literacy. The school district recently froze the budgets and the school couldn’t buy paper to print out the books.”
The celebration’s touching finale was a revival of the school’s much loved maypole dance, which was removed from the curriculum in the late 1970s due to budget cuts.
