Seniors share life stories with second-graders

Meghan Anderson was aghast.

Henry Wolfe, 80, had just told 7-year-old Meghan and 19 of her Brooks Elementary classmates that the country school he attended as a child had no art class, no gym class, no show-and-tell and no after-school activities. All they did in school, he said, was study.

“There was no fun or nothing?” she asked.

The second-graders learned about country schools, outhouses and other relics of a bygone era Thursday when they visited the Senior Services Center in DeKalb. The children had been sending lists of questions to the seniors who frequent the center throughout the school year, center director Mary Overbey said, and children and seniors alike were excited to meet.

“In second grade, our curriculum is how DeKalb has changed through the years,” teacher Kim Posega said.

“We talked about downtown DeKalb, and a lot of them didn’t even know what that was because they never come here. ...They sent questions like how far away was the mall and how many McDonald’s did DeKalb have.”

Overbey put some of those questions to rest when she welcomed the class to the center.

“We didn’t have malls, we didn’t have McDonald’s, we didn’t have computers and for a long time, we didn’t have television,” she said to a chorus of horrified gasps.

Some of the seniors had prepared a show-and-tell of their own, bringing items like a vinyl LP and a steel coffeepot. The children correctly identified Homer Grady’s box camera, but had a difficult time understanding why no picture was visible when Grady pressed the button.

“There was something called film you would have to put in there, and then you would take the film out and get it developed before you could see the pictures,” Posega explained.

Grady, 73, said the children’s visit was an exciting event for the center.

“We know a lot of things they don’t because of our life experiences,” he said. “But at the same time, they know things we don’t know.”

Beverly Tanner of Malta, who said she was “39 and holding,” joined Wolfe in telling the children about the rigors of country school. They also tried to explain life before indoor plumbing or refrigerators.

“I think this was a marvelous idea. I loved it,” she said afterward. “I told them I walked six miles every day for school, three miles there and three miles back. And you were never tardy or absent because everybody walked. You got there when your feet got you there.”

Learning about the way school was taught was one of the most interesting parts of the visit, Anaiah Rollins, 7, and Dasjha Eguasa, 8, said. The children also enjoyed looking at the memorabilia, including a bellhop monkey doll and a collection of old coins.

Posega said she was amazed at how still the children sat to listen to the stories.

“If we were at school, they’re so excited for summer I can hardly contain them,” she said. “Now look at them. They’re learning 10 times more.”

Overbey said she would like to expand the program next year so children could be matched with senior pen pals and correspond during the school year. Her goal, she said, is to build mutual respect between the generations.

“So many kids think seniors don’t know anything, and so many seniors think kids are nothing but a bother,” she said. “We’d like to change those attitudes.”

While it was good for the children to gain a sense of history, it’s also good for the seniors to have a new audience for their stories, Overbey said. One man, she noted, has been very sad lately over the failing health of his wife, but brightened up as he was talking to the class.

“It was the little children who were able to bring him out of his grief for a while,” she said.