KEN GRABOWSKI: A pleasant memory from the past can come in all forms - Manistee News Advocate

Two brown bricks.

They sit almost unseen by the edge of my house near the back entrance. The odds are good that very few people who have visited me have ever noticed them or have even the wildest idea of why they are in that location.

To some they probably are nothing more than just that — old bricks with a little mortar still attached to the sides of them, but to me they are priceless.

So why are two very plain brown bricks so important to me? It's because they represent a symbol of my youth because they came from the old Washington School building that was located on Ford Street in Manistee.

When I look at those bricks it brings back instant memories of the time from kindergarten to sixth grade spent growing up while attending classes in that building. It reminds me of teachers like Claypool, Hanson, Dahlquist, Edens, Barber, Solberg and Walker all no longer with us, but who helped shaped me into the person I am today.

It also brings to mind my school principal and first basketball coach in sixth grade Jack Anderson whom I still see and wave to on many of my daily walks. I want to thank you, Jack, because you taught me more about teamwork, working hard for a goal and the game of basketball than any other coach right on through my days of playing on the varsity level.

There also are those memories of walking to school at the age of 5 years old with my mom doing a not so good job of hiding and watching to make sure I made it. Toss in on top of that all the fun things that were done over the years with my classmates.

But what it also brings to light is names like Hansen, Johnson, Chick, Bjorkquist, Smogoleski, Herrmann, Lauer, Bialik and so many more friends too numerous to name who shared the journey in that building with me.

When I pulled those two bricks from the pile that lay on the ground as the school was being demolished, there were other people doing the same thing. They attended the school like me and to borrow a phrase from the old Mutual of Omaha television commercial they “wanted a piece of the rock” of their childhood memories as well.

So what started me on this little trip down memory lane?

Quite simply it was a recent story in the Manistee News Advocate on the construction plans for the Manistee Area Public Schools bond project. Among those plans will be the demolition of Jefferson Elementary School and the old 1927 high school building.

Those demolitions are much needed to move forward in the local world of education today. But for many it will give a little tug at the heart when it happens because it’s more than bricks and mortar going down — it’s also part of our youth and the good memories that go with it.

Never having attended Jefferson Elementary School that building doesn’t carry those memories, but as for the old 1927 building that is a different story. My class entered that building as the first seventh graders to be in that location for the 1967-68 school year in what was known as the junior high at the time.

I had at least one class every year in that building right on up to when we graduated in 1973.

The memories are countless, including going up and down those old staircases, the old classrooms that were stifling hot in the warm months and complete with radiator heat in the cold of winter. There was memories of playing basketball against schools from other towns for the first time in eighth grade in that archaic gymnasium to what seemed at the time like an endless string of lockers down the hallways.

There were lots of favorite teachers, but it was also a time of great change in our lives and sometimes confusion. We discovered that girls were not the enemy, we were growing up, responsibility was being given to us and learning could be fun.

This fall they will be doing a re-make of the television show “The Wonder Years” about all the changes that occur in youngsters going from elementary to middle and high school. Well folks, my “wonder years” were spent in that building 40 some years ago, so you can see why there are lots of good memories.

So when the time comes for that building to go down I want two bricks from that 1927 building to add to my "memory lane of bricks.”

When MAPS constructed the current high school building they brought in some cabinets, lights and other things from the 1927 building that are located in the current media center and commons area. It was a great way to keep alive the spirit of all the students who walked the MAPS hallways before the current ones.

So why not keep that tradition alive in some form with the new elementary building that will be built in the space vacated by the 1927 building demolition? Maybe it could be done by simply using a few bricks from the Jefferson building around an outdoor sign like the one currently at the high school.

We only get one childhood, and it would most definitely keep alive all the good memories of those who attended Jefferson Elementary School. What it would also do is encourage those who will be attending classes in the new building to start creating good memories of their own for the future.

Buildings come and go, but memories last a lifetime and well beyond when I see you again Thursday.

Ken Grabowski is the retired associate editor at the Manistee News Advocate who spent more than 36 years in the newspaper business.

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KEN GRABOWSKI: A pleasant memory from the past can come in all forms - Manistee News Advocate
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