Promise ... kept
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on May 19, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Beth Carr, left, watches as her former elementary school student Davis Jones digs up a time capsule he and the rest of his class buried 11 years ago, to be unveiled right before their graduation from high school this year.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Mrs. Carr checks to ensure that the time capsules are still intact.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Luke McAlduff and his former elementary school teacher, Beth Carr, laugh as they read a letter Luke wrote to himself in the time capsule.
Beth Carr has a special place in her heart for the group of students she taught more than 10 years ago at Rosewood Elementary School.
In what would be her last year at the school, 2003-2004, it was a poignant one personally -- her father died that February and her own children were graduating from high school and college.
She had also been given a unique situation as a teacher.
"We had looped the first grade, continued to teach the same group of students for an additional year," she said. "This class was just really special. Of course, they all are."
To commemorate the time together, they created a time capsule.
"I told them they could bring something, whatever they wanted to bring, to put in," she said. "I promised them when they graduated I would have them over and we would dig it up."
That day came Sunday.
All those 8-year-olds are now preparing to graduate high school.
She said she was fortunate to locate 18 of the original 22 students.
"We found the majority of them are still at Rosewood," she said. "I have one at Princeton, graduating from Princeton High School, two at Wayne School of Engineering and one at Wayne Country Day School."
Including the "mapkeeper," Sara Lewis, now a senior at Rosewood High.
Mrs. Carr had drawn a map of the buried time capsule -- beneath a treehouse on the family farm -- and gave one to each student.
Now 58, the retired educator estimated she spent 18 to 20 years at Rosewood, 31 in the school system.
She continued her career, first at the central office, followed by a stint at Wayne Country Day School. She later took on a role as part-time tutor at Grantham, where she remains today.
But she has never forgotten that special group of second-graders, or the promise made to reunite all these years later. She did, however, forget where she put her treasure map.
So when she ran into Miss Lewis a few years ago, she asked about the map. Sara, who said she kept a scrapbook of memorabilia from elementary school, produced a copy of the map, which Mrs. Carr promptly "taped inside my kitchen cabinet door."
She recently printed up invitations with the second-grade class picture and an important assignment for her class -- inviting them to gather to unearth the time capsule, followed by a cookout at her home.
She even hand-delivered some of them, she said.
"I see them quite often, at Walmart, or I see their moms, some of whom are friends on Facebook," she said. "The thing about looping, you become part of a family. You have a real relationship with them and their parents and their families."
Fourteen attended the gathering late Sunday afternoon.
"She was so excited. She called me all excited," said Susan Kornegay of her daughter, Emilee Howell, now 18 and preparing to graduate from Rosewood High.
"You can't forget her," Emilee said about Mrs. Carr.
Jackson Warren, graduating this week from Wayne Country Day School, fondly recalled his "best teacher."
"I remember doing the time capsule," he said. "I don't remember what I put in it. I want to find out."
Jordan Dubose admitted she had forgotten about the time capsule until recently, and was excited about the resurrection.
But before that was to happen, Mrs. Carr reverted to teacher mode -- seated in the center of the circle, surrounded by her former students, a hardback book in hand.
For one precious moment, she basked in having an audience with students she had once ushered into elementary school, now on the threshold of going out into the world with one last message, one last story.
"You're going to come upon seasons after seasons. Whether you're going off to college, staying here, getting a job, it doesn't matter," she said. "I pray for you and I will continue to pray for you. No matter where you go, nobody looks after you like God does."
Then she produced the hand-drawn map, where "X marks the spot" and enlisted the help of Warren and Davis Jones to each grab a shovel.
Within minutes, they hit paydirt -- two jars wrapped in plastic, one marked "boys," the other "girls."
Most of the baggies included photos of them as second-graders, with handwritten messages about their lives then.
Warren and Jones laughed at the recollection of their favorite book, "Captain Underpants," and their favorite singers, Snoop Dogg and Clay Aiken, respectively.
Jones produced a miniature red car, his contribution to the time capsule.
"I think I forgot to bring my item to school that day so I just drew something," Warren said.
Sidney Cox, now attending Wayne School of Engineering, had looked forward to seeing what she had submitted.
"I wrote down all the special people in my life," she said afterward. "It was nice because I think about it, they were my best friends and they kind of still are."