Dan's Papers - October 12, 2007

The girls were gathered around the lunchroom tables at Pierson High School this past weekend and chatting up a storm. "So and so did this" and "did you hear about that," "look over there, is that him," and so the conversations went. It resembled lunchtime during any day at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor. But this day was special because everyone in the lunchroom was over 80 years old, and all had attended Pierson before World War II.

The school, which opened in 1907, was celebrating its 100th anniversary with various alumni gatherings and an aerial photo that was taken at 3 p.m. on Saturday. According to Joe Markowski, class of 1961 and whose family settled in Sag Harbor in the 1830s, the school and grounds were once a wooded area. Mr. Markowski's great grandfather's farm was on Harrison Street and this man still lives in the area.

The grandest dame of them all among the 80 years and older alums at the event was Alice Miller Hand, 99 years young and a proud member of the class of 1925, who currently lives in East Hampton. While attending Pierson, Ms. Hand lived on Prospect Street where she would walk to school through the "girl's entrance," as the girls and boys entered on opposite sides. Her father worked at Joseph Fahy's, the watch factory on Route 114 that is now known as the Bulova complex. She remembers when the old factory was humming with production machinery and her dad worked there. She credits Ethel Brookstaven as the oldest living alumna, who is a week older than her, but could not attend. Ms. Hand applauds former teacher Jane Bartlett for convincing her to attend Smith College in the fall of 1925. Not many women went to college back then. In those days, according to Ms. Hand, a woman was supposed to "teach school or become a nurse." But she went on to be a CPA.

At another table sat five women who all graduated in the 1930s. Earle Wright McGowin, class of 1939, remembers being the tallest girl in the school, and that there were only thirty-five students in her class. She currently has a great grandson attending Pierson High School named Cooper Schiavone. Her biggest memory was being on the top floor of the school during the 1938 hurricane. She recalled, "I saw the Whaler's Church steeple move fall and then crumble. It landed upright and then just broke to pieces." She also remembers all the windows blowing out of the school.

Muriell Lyons Raynor, class of 1939, also remembers seeing the Whaler's Church steeple fall as she watched from her kitchen window. She is proud that she designed the emblem for the school paper back in 1937. She also remembers thinking that Paul Babcock was the best looking guy in the school back then.

Betty Wright Engster, class of 1935, talked about going to school in Sag Harbor during the depression. "Nobody had money, it was tough, but nobody complained." Her father was a fisherman and hunter, so they ate venison, fish and lobster and were never without food. Her favorite teacher was Eugene Hallenbeck. She said with a smile, "Hated Math, but loved the teacher." She pointed out that although the town looks the same, during the Depression there was no money to paint or fix broken windows. The same was true during the war, but she remembers that after World War II when the soldiers came home, "the boys cleaned up, repaired and painted the town."

Also attending Pierson High School during the Great Depression was Francis Mendicino, class of 1933. She lived on Franklin Street back then and seventy-four years later she still lives on Franklin Street, but in a different house. She recalled a very bad fire in 1928 and knew of one speakeasy located off Division Street.

Then lunch was served to the alums and the sound of chitchat buzzed through the lunchroom. Some things never change.