Monday, May 4th, 2009
25-year-old time capsule opened at Celina East school
By William Kincaid
Photo by William Kincaid/The Daily Standard
Celina East Elementary School teacher Barbie Germann - a member of the Celina sixth-grade class in 1984 - reveals the mementos and artifacts enclosed in a 25-year-old time capsule opened Saturday.
It was 1984 all over again for a group of former teachers and students who unearthed a time capsule on Saturday containing relics and mementos from 25 years ago.
Buried 36 inches from the wall of Celina East Elementary School and 36 inches from the north curb of the parking lot, a school custodian used a metal detector to locate its exact position before the dig.
What did the class of 1990 put in the time capsule back when they were in sixth grade?
A Rubik's cube, Garfield eraser, Smurf, "Where's the beef?" pins, a Cabbage Patch doll birth certificate, pictures of E.T., Michael Jackson and a space shuttle, a lunch menu and more.
The opening of the time capsule came about due to a call from Celina resident Linda Ford, whose son Ben, now of Fairborn, was in the class.
Ford recently found a letter her son gave her 25 years ago. He was one of two students from each sixth-grade class in 1984 that was selected to contact the school on May 1, 2009, and assist in digging up and opening the capsule.
"The sixth grades at East are burying a time capsule to be opened in 25 years, would you believe 2009," the decades-old letter says. "Would you please put this note somewhere that it will be safe for 25 years?"
Ford placed the note in her Bible. While flipping through the book a few months ago, she found the letter and delivered it to school officials, who then organized the day.
At the event Saturday were all four teachers of that sixth grade, Virginia "Jinny" Curry, Phil Long, Terry Householder and Diane Westgerdes Hinders, and the principal, Mark Springer.
"She's really the one who started the whole thing of burying it," Long said about Curry, now 85 years old.
"The kids did - they chose the things they wanted to put in here," Curry added.
The nostalgic day was like a class reunion, almost a time to cry over, said Curry, who still lives in Celina. The sixth-grade class of 1984 was the last one Curry taught before retiring.
"I remember they were all good kids and I think about them today," she said.
Long - who still teaches today - found members of the class and invited them to the capsule opening.
"It was my first year teaching in sixth grade and it was a great class," he said.
Kim Fetters Gause and Barbie Germann - members of 1984 sixth-grade class - are now both teachers at Celina City Schools.
"What's the chances 25 years ago they buried something and now they work here?" said Tim Cox, 36, a member of the class.
Also on hand was Spencer Grimm, 37, who came from Indianapolis to witness to the excavation.
"I just remember we put some toys in there, something cool at the time," he said.
While shooting the breeze, Grimm and Cox recalled an area by the school where they used to play football at recess.
Beside some additional fences and the designation of the building as a kindergarten through fourth-grade building, Grimm said it has remained much the same as it was in his time.
Photo by William Kincaid/The Daily Standard
Celina students and teachers of the sixth-grade class in 1984 reunite to open a time capsule they buried outside the East Elementary building 25 years ago. All teachers and even the principal made an appearance for the opening on Saturday.
