Goodbye, Sunnyside Elementary

It has been an emotional week for me. My baby, Kiki Aru, finished up elementary school and will be attending middle school next year. Today we said "goodbye" to Sunnyside Elementary.

Kiki Aru was my only child who attended this school kindergarten through fifth grade. She knew no other school. Z2 and The Princess attended Meridian Elementary in Meridian, Idaho, besides attending Sunnyside.

Even though the building has changed, Sunnyside Elementary has a lot of history in our family. I know my dad's sister Ruth attended Sunnyside, and I assume my dad did as well. My brother, sister and I all attended Sunnyside Elementary. My mother was a teacher at Sunnyside for many years. That is what makes Kiki Aru's departure so emotional...there is a lot of family history associated with that school.

Kiki Aru had wonderful teachers during her years at Sunnyside. They were caring and really helped her learn a lot about, not only school work but herself as well.

I'd like to take a few moments to say thanks...

Kindergarten: Mrs. Cougher--Thank you for helping her learn to read well, and teaching her lots of fundamental skills that have stayed with her during her elementary school years.

First Grade: Mrs. Wick--You challenged her and pushed her to do her best.

Second Grade: Mrs. Ketchum--You care and are compassionate, and teach them, not only to be a good student, but a good person as well.

Third Grade: Mrs. Kilbourne--You found the unique qualities in her and helped her spread her wings, and also challenged her in many area. You also made it possible to see Sally Ride.

Fourth Grade: Mrs. Ketchum--Yes, the same teacher, just another year. You developed a special bond with your students, and treated each of them like they were your own special child.

Fifth Grade: Mrs. Lamphere: You were a perfect ending to her elementary school years. She loved your sense of humor, and you were a wonderful teacher. Thank you for a wonderful year.

Principal: Mr. Shepperd: Thank you for six wonderful years of working as a volunteer at your school, and helping with some wonderful projects. It is a wonderful school.

Goodbye, Sunnyside. We will all miss you, an hope to come back a visit someday.

Do you have any fun memories to share from your days as a students at Sunnyside Elementary...I'd love to hear them.

Who could forget the taste of smelter smoke?

My brother RaymondPert posted this yesterday, titled "Bringing Reality Into Being: I Grew Up In Miasma". He wrote about the pollution we lived with growing up in Kellogg because of the emissions from the Bunker Hill smelter.

I didn't know what it was like not having the smelter smoke in my life growing up. My strongest memory is playing on the playground at Sunnyside Elementary. Especially morning recess, because that is when it seemed the strongest. While running on the playground on a cool, crisp morning, you would see a dark cloud of smelter smoke hanging over the hills around Kellogg like a large smoke ring decending upon our town.

And you just took it for granted there would be a burning sensation in your throat as you played tag, or keep away, or hopscotch on the playground.

I was never really that physically fit as a child, but I do remember the one year I received the President's Physical Fitness certificate (no I didn't earn the award, just the certificate), and it was one of those cool, crisp valley mornings when I had to run around the field on the west end of the playground to get my time for the physical fitness test, and my throat really burned that morning.

It's funny the things you remember.

But it was just a part of my life. I grew up sitting in the chair in front of the big picture window in our living room on Cameron Avenue, and daily seeing, first the small smoke stack, and later, the two larger smoke stacks spewing forth the smoke that caused the hillsides to cease to produce anything green, and my throat to burn, and my valley to be assaulted with poison.

I remember dad joking about one of the Bunker Hill P.R. guys insisting it was just steam coming out of that stack.

My youngest daughter, Kiki Aru, is working on a documentary for History Day competition on the reforestation of the Silver Valley. She interviewed Ed Pommerening, who was the force behind the reforestation project.

He described the conditions that stunted the growth of the pine trees in the valley. He said when the smelter smoke would combine with the moist air, the two would combine to make a substance similar to battery acid. This would get on the small pine cones, and would destroy them so they couldn't reseed.

Even though the stacks have tumbled down, and "steam" no longer spews forth into the atmosphere, there are reminders. Last year, PKR took our dog for a walk up by the mine, and said he kicked up some dirt, and he could smell and taste the smelter smoke in the dust of the ground.

The EPA hasn't completely stripped it all away, from our landscape, or, more importantly, from our memories.