EDUCATION LASTS; 1927 PULASKI ACADEMY GRADS WILL BE AMONG THOSE AT ALUMNI BANQUET.(Neighbors Oswego)

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) June 20, 2002 Byline: Fred A. Mohr Staff writer Their smooth, open faces peer out of the Crimson and Blue, the Pulaski Academy yearbook. website pulaski high school

Golden Lynn and Mildred Olmstead were the associate editors. Ella Calkins was a Lincoln Essay Medal winner and appeared in two plays. Orla Rood was senior class secretary. Melba Rogers was in a play, “Kyan’s Proposal.” A poem next to Frances Nichols’ photo described her as “small of stature and quiet by nature.” The six are all that remain of the 24 members of the Class of 1927 at Pulaski Academy, when kindergarten through 12 grades were housed in a two-story brick building on South Jefferson Street that now houses a heating, plumbing and electrical contractor.

Three – Golden Lynn McChesney, 92; Ella Calkins Webb, 91; and Mildred Olmstead Drake, 93 – say they’ll carry on a 75-year tradition June 29 when they attend the 113th annual Pulaski High School alumni reunion.

A broken leg will keep Melba Rogers Van Arsdale, 93, home in Central Square. Assorted ailments make it unlikely that Orla Rood Skinner, 92, will attend. Nichols, 95, who taught elementary school in Pulaski for 30 years, also said she will not attend.

“It’s a time for our little group to get together,” said McChesney, who along with Skinner lives at Springbrook Apartments, a senior citizens complex in Pulaski. “We’ll tell a lot of the same stories.” “And see who’s gotten another hearing aid,” added Drake. That brought a laugh from four of the group, who gathered recently at Springbrook to talk about life as schoolgirls in the 1920s.

Just getting to school was a challenge in the days before big yellow buses.

Webb, a long-time Sunday school teacher and organist at Fernwood Baptist Church, recalled getting up at daybreak to catch a train at Daysville, near Selkirk Shores, to get to school.

“You had to get there by 7:19 or you were out of luck,” she recalled.

Others walked. McChesney lived near Port Ontario and faced a 3 1/2 -mile hike along the Salmon River, “unless I could get a ride on Mr. Litz’s milk truck,” she said.

Skinner said she sometimes caught a ride with a third-grade teacher, or took a train from her home near Richland to Pulaski.

All laughed when asked about snow days.

“Dear me, no,” said Drake. “We were snowed in all winter, but you just went to school anyway.” All agreed that discipline was paramount, as was the emphasis on what are now called the core subjects: math, English, social studies and science.

“Our principal, Mr. Irving Gladstone, was very formal,” said McChesney. “When he passed you in the hall, he always addressed you as Miss or Mr.” All four agreed that a return to basics in education would help today’s students.

“They teach too many subjects,” Webb said. “We should get back to the four Rs.” But then as now, the Class of 1927 found time for fun and mischief.

Drake recalled a day when the strict Principal Gladstone was absent from school.

“The boys in study hall hung toilet paper and drew mustaches” on busts of famous men on the classroom shelves, recalled Drake. All agreed that none of the girls were involved in the escapade. go to website pulaski high school

Webb and Drake also fondly recalled a senior class trip to an amusement park at Longbranch Park in Liverpool. The ride park closed in 1938.

“I remember Mrs. Sharp, she was the class adviser, she just screamed all the while she was riding the Ferris wheel,” Webb said.

Webb, Drake and McChesney said they were looking forward to next week’s reunion.

“We’re going to keep going just as long as we’re able,” said Webb.

Pulaski alumni dinner Pulaski high school graduates who have not made reservations for the June 29 alumni reunion dinner and would still like to attend can call Patricia Ingraham at 387-3777. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 per person.

For more on the Pulaski Academy Class of ’27 – Page 4 Broken leg sidelines active ’27 grad – Page 4 CAPTION(S):

PHOTO Dennis Nett/Staff photographer GRADUATES OF the Pulaski Academy class of 1927 are among those who gather every year for an alumni reunion. This year marks their 75th anniversary. Pictured are (from left) Mildred Drake, Golden McChesney, Orla Skinner and Ella Webb. They say some of their male classmates are to blame for the toilet paper and mustaches that ended up on busts of famous men in their classrooms one day when the principal was absent.