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Terril (Terry) Shewmaker
As this weekend at last begins, another elementary-school story, if I may...
Three elementaries before Montezuma, there was Arroyo Elementary, up in Pomona (where most of my maternal relatives, including my British great-grandparents - who came to Canada and then California more than 100 yrs ago - are buried)...
My mother (92 yrs young!) and I were there in April for a family funeral; and the next day, before driving back to SD, we went looking for the house we'd lived in and I wanted to see my old elementary school (knew from its website that it was still there)...
I must tell you, it was a moment to set eyes on that house and that cul-de-sac again - 61 years to the month since we'd moved into it. We met the current owner, a very friendly fellow named Kendrick, and showed him the B&W photos we'd brought along from family scrapbooks, that clearly showed the five of us (as we were then) living there. Only my mother and I still remember it, though (siblings were too young). He called his neighbors over to see, too! We felt almost like celebrities. The housing tract was remarkably intact, and those big shade trees (you need 'em, for a hot Pomona summer!) either were little sprouts or perhaps not even planted yet, back around 1957-59 or so...
Yes, I promised an elementary-school story. Here it is:
From home, I used to ride my bicycle over the then-San Bernardino Fwy (now Interstate 10) every am to get to school; so it was a lot easier with a car and a Triple-A map! It was a Saturday, so school was not in session as we pulled up. I was taken aback, to see how mostly-intact it still was, how well it jibed with my memories. A few things were different, though - notably, and sadly, the black metal fencing that surrounded it, that nobody would've ever thought necessary back then. Pity. I would've liked to walk around campus a little...
As sad as it is, here in 2018, to know that Montezuma is long-gone (though its footprint remains) and Jackson eventually closed (unsure about Darnall, where my sibs also went for awhile) - it's comforting to me to know that at least one of the five elementaries (and one jr high) I went to between nursery-school and 6th grade is still in existance for students to come to, and make (and hopefully keep) friends, and to learn... Something to consider, perhaps, about this ever-inconstant world of ours; as this weekend at last begins... Best, Terry S
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Cathy Felice Brundage
