Unfinished Business
Grand Times Ahead!
If you're looking to learn the history of the Grand Community School, you can find it on display at a small museum in the old bank building in Boxholm, Iowa, population 178. You also might borrow a 280-page hardcover book showcasing its legacy and photos of its graduating classes, from 1915 to 2005.
But maybe you'd like to gain a glimpse of what the future holds eight years after the last students left the building? On January 7, 2023 the doors to the past opened wide, and the Grand Heritage Community Center took its fledgling steps toward creating a wealth of new memories for generations to come.
In an earlier column (A Grand Experiment, November 21), I wrote about how the gym and one-story addition to the former Grand Community School were saved from the wrecking ball by a grassroots volunteer group. The original two-story school, built in 1917, was razed in July.
The first order of business has been asbestos mitigation. Finalizing the legal agreement between the City of Boxholm, the reorganized school district, and the 501(c)(3) Grand Heritage Foundation also has been time-consuming. The Grand Heritage Foundation plans to take the reins of ownership by March. But it's close enough now that volunteers were invited to the school on January 7 to help remove unwanted items and supplies. No one was sure what the response would be. Sure, there had been a groundswell of enthusiasm during the public meetings and Facebook campaign to save the one-story addition. But who would show up on the first Saturday morning in January to work in a building without any heat or running water?
Welcome to the New Community Center
Approximately 65+ volunteers streamed in the door and signed waiver forms. Almost anything of significant value had been removed years ago by the reorganized school district, including the four basketball backboards! But volunteers filled six trash bins to the brim in the parking lot, along with several flatbed trucks.
I expected to see familiar faces, but there were a surprising number of unfamiliar younger faces. Volunteers from eight communities ranged in age from 78 years to 3 years old. As they arrived, it was fun to overhear the conversations between strangers who shared only one singular experience. The most common question: "When did you go to school here?" was followed by "When was the last time you were in the building?" As room by room was cleared, the initial awkwardness evolved into lively conversations: "This used to be the band room, “one said. "Oh, I remember it when it was the kindergarten," another replied. A 13-year-old girl volunteering with her 4-H club turned to me and asked," When was the last time this was a school?" When I replied, 2014, she looked horrified to learn of this ancient history!
The mix of volunteers included many alumni; the last graduating class was 1985. As they became parents, some chose to open-enroll their children to a neighboring school for reasons of convenience or proximity to their employment. As a former school board member, I recognized a few individuals who had brought grievances before the board. We looked at one another, silently checked this shared history at the door, and greeted one another cordially. It was a long time ago--let bygones be bygones. Today we had come to make the best of the loss of our local school, and to create a place for future generations to generate their own memories of basketball and volleyball games, wrestling, pickleball, wedding receptions, alumni reunions--and more!
Younger volunteers may have attended only a few years as a K-6th grader, or later as a middle school student in a newly reorganized district. They may have reluctantly open-enrolled out after a prior sharing agreement ended, or a new reorganization began. But they had their memories, too. They were there because they wanted their children to have access to a recreational center close to home--a place where their parents or grandparents had spent their formative years. I recognized one young man who had started school with my daughter. She had declared that he would be her future husband--when they were kindergarteners. Would it have happened if their parents hadn't sent them to different schools? Not likely!
Thick clouds of memories, mingling with dust from the gym floor, swirled throughout the building that morning. Not surprisingly, many memories welled up from the gym floor. The first basketball game was played here on the new gym floor on December 20, 1955 against Boxholm's arch rival, Pilot Mound (five miles down the road). Many recalled district tournament basketball games decided in overtime, season-ending injuries, as well as songs played in the pep band, or cheers of "Let's Go, Grand." You could almost hear the roar of the crowd!
Gym was Grand's Central Station
As my husband, Stan, and I stood in the gym, watching kids peering into and crawling back into the storage cupboards beneath the gym stage, he recalled the day when his teacher, Miss V., had crawled into the storage area to roust out rowdy students hiding there. "Somehow, Miss V. ended up locked into the storage," he said.
Since I wasn't a student here, many of my Grand Times at the gym occurred while watching our daughters play grade school basketball. Stan, along with his lifelong friend, Rich, who also was volunteering that day, had coached the 5th and 6th-grade girls' teams for several years. Imagine Stan's surprise when Rich's daughter, Mary, handed him a faded photocopy of our younger daughter's basketball team, along with their coaches, Stan and Rich. She had found it in the athletic office behind the gym.
So many other events took place in the gym, including vocal and band concerts and school assemblies featuring Accelerated Reader Awards. One event was a celebration of the first 100 days of the school year. Students were asked to bring 100 items to school: coins, paper clips, barrettes, race cars--and more--and line them up in rows across the gym floor. Our younger daughter brought 100 dinosaurs from her collection. International Friendship Day was another great time, featuring new "friends" from China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, India, and Malaysia. Kids learned about outer space from an inflatable Skylab brought into the gym in 2001-2. Excitement bubbled up as student inventors buzzed about the gym during Invent Iowa later that year.
Our older daughter participated in a Pennies for Pete campaign. A classmate needed a heart transplant. The entire student body collected pennies, covering the gym floor, and donating the proceeds to his family.
Winter Carnival Revival Ahead
It wasn't all work and no play that day. There were light-hearted moments among volunteers, and joking between generations. Back in the room behind the team locker rooms, one young mother found a couple of wrestling singlets. She tossed them at my husband and Rich, along with a pair of gym shorts, "Try them on!" she urged.
Only a day afterwards, I wished I'd have saved one of the 12-inch colorfully decorated CHARACTER COUNTS pillars stored there. It’s a wonderful program that teaches students the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
Behind the stage, volunteers discovered the school's homemade winter carnival games. Year after year, parents and children streamed into the gym for the mid-March carnival, sponsored by the Grand Boosters. They bought ticket for the Bakewalk, Lollipop Tree, Egg Hunt, Plink-O, Tic-Tac-Toe, Duck Pond, Fish Pond, and Bean Bag Toss. Senior citizens and parents participated in Bingo, raffle drawings and silent auctions. What fun! "Save them!" Marva Jean shouted. "We're planning to have a school carnival here next winter. It'll be a fundraiser.”
One of the most memorable events in the gym also was the saddest: the funeral of kindergarten teacher, Char Challgren. The beloved teacher was killed in a car accident when she was 47 years old. The gym overflowed with students, parents, and members of the community. Our older daughter sang "Friends" at the service. Our younger daughter, who was only a first grader, showed her drawings of Miss Challgren to The Des Moines Register columnist John Carlson, who included them in his beautiful story.
A small memorial for Char was created at the entrance of the school. It's fallen into disrepair, so our 4-H club is applying for a grant to build a bench and add new landscaping. "We feel that this would be a priority for the community," said James Hawcott, the Foundation vice-president.
The next big step is taking bids for a new heating and cooling and plumbing systems for the building. "We still have a long way to go and many more hurdles, but we'll persevere," said board member Linda Trudo. A pie auction is set for Feb. 15.
Dave Sherry, the Foundation's nonprofit consultant, was encouraged by the response from volunteers on January 7. "Based on the turnout, I think the chances are the Foundation will be able to make a go of this," he said.
Out-of-state Grand Community alumni are following the progress vicariously, through photos and posts on the Grand Heritage Facebook page. "I can almost hear the basketballs bouncing and the pep band playing Rocky,” commented Paul Tabor.
Now, if we can track down the whereabouts of the scoreboard control panel! Stay tuned!
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I am always interested in what is happening with old schools around Iowa. Some have been upgraded, some restored, and some made into apartments or condos. Thanks for sharing.