The pictures of ballerinas and shoes came down and the car pictures went up to welcome boys back to New Cottage. There was still Skating and Gymnastics at the school. Larry Smith was our new dorm parent – he had a large room downstairs with no bathroom and kitchen. He had to share the kitchen and bathroom with the students and he made sure that they were spotless – that is the bathroom and kitchen. Larry was a local artist and also worked at a frame shop downtown. He still works there 30 years later and now manages the shop. Our three Deans were Roger Shoemaker, Nancy Fraser, and Juanita Tumelaire. As the dean of students Juanita was great to work with and fully participated in so many aspects of school life. It was in 1990 that she shared her expertise in calligraphy with the school and wrote out the school song for the yearbook – see below. We were sad to see the Tumelaires leave this year.
Do you recognize our faithful Laure Smith who still works in the office!!!
A few artists in the dorm this year and the white bannisters had tell tale grey streaks from charcoal engrained hands and the students were encouraged to wash their hands after drawing. When the carpets in their room looked like a grey speckled canvas all painting in the dorm then stopped!!
Willy B. spent a year at WHS and Mr. Reid loved to try out his French accent on him. Some of our students were soccer fans so there were a few student/faculty games. The students were quite good and in one game Mr. Shoemaker got tired of being tackled so he just picked up Alberto under his arm and ran in the opposite direction. It was a lot of fun.
Alec D. was a visual artist and I remember his very large painting of campus which hung in the dining hall for many years until the kitchen was renovated.
Back then we still had soda machines and the New Cottage students would collect the cans and then Mr. Reid would take them to a recycling business and the students would buy pizza with the money. There was also snack bar at night in the dining hall and many nightly junk runs – those were the days!!!
The Bandeleros still entertained us at school functions and were cheered on by the female students as they ran down the theater stairs for the Christmas concert complete with Santa Hats.
This year there were six boys in the group including former NC Jamie G. and Jono D. Bill Wright did a great job as their teacher. I also remember the “snowfall” trick on stage one year.
Warmer weather brought in water pistol challenges from Clark – oh those boys.
This year we had lots of seniors graduating who were either past or present New Cottage students. Fernando Z., Jose A., Ted N., Adam W., and Jono D.
A quote from Adam’s senior page – “A farewell is necessary before you meet again. And meeting again after moments of lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”
