I went to Memorial the first day it opened. I believe Miss Blanchard was the principal, Mr. lynch was the Superintendent, Mrs. Marian Howard wad my first grade teacher, Eli,zabeth Livingston was my second grade teacher, and Mrs. Gagan was so kind! I think Ju!ia Connors was the nurse, she was so sweet!
Memorial School…in my day Mrs.. Garrity (I think that was her name) was the principal….sweet Mrs. Small was secretary. Mrs. Griffin was my 5th grade and FAVORITE teacher; it was in her class I learned JFK died. So many memories. Who remembers release time? Those of you that don’t it was when we were released from school and walked over, in quite the orderly fashion, to religion classes. I’m remembering we had nuns but maybe my memory is foggy. Imagine that happening now?! As a class, in that same orderly fashion, off we went to the restrooms and water fountain. At the water fountain one of us was chosen to be a monitor….the child would drink and the monitor tapped them on the shoulder when time was up. How the time was determined I’ve not a clue…perhaps we counted? My friend and I worked it out that when either one of us were in this ‘honored’ position we would give the other more time. KDubs…look at you the greeter in the video! You are, officially famous now….
Hi Doris,
I share your memories as Mrs Griffin was also one of my favorite teachers 😊. I think the principal was Mrs Gagon or something similar as I remember kids disrespectfully chanting Gagon the dragon… rumor had it she would punish by rapping your knuckles with a ruler.
We must have been in the same class, rotated to Mr Craig for social studies and a female teacher for math. I remember release time differently as I remember staying in the classroom as I was not Catholic, remember Lee Callahan and John Maguire staying behind too,
Loved that school and the memories…
The principal was Mrs. Gagnon. Mrs Griffin was a sweet lady. I’d see her many times after leaving Memorial. I had Miss Doherty. Truly a nasty lady. Release time was rather odd. Leaving school to walk over to attend religious classes. I guess it was a break from regular school work. I admit I did enjoy it. Lots of good memories at Memorial. Thanks for sharing the video.
Hi Bari….yes, that’s right Mrs Gagnon, I knew it began w/a G 😉…I do recall the chant and pleased to know I was never one that took part. I have fond memories of you too…going to your house, skipping rope.. I hope you are well. Oh yes, Mr. Craig…was the female teacher Mrs. Sandler? Maybe it was Miss? Sherry Frizzell and Susie Johnson (she had a transistor radio and that’s who told us about JFK, RIP Susie) as well as Bradley Schuler and Bonnie Prindiville were in our class…oh and Jeannie Langone. Jeannie and I would be allowed to use the Girl’s room….and we’d come back to class giggling and Mrs Griffin would make us come back in ‘like Ladies’. Ladies??….we were 5th grade giggly girls! Fond memory.. Mrs Gagnon lived off Center St I believe., not far from Bonnie. Don’t you love this site?!!
I attended Memorial School from 63-66. I can still see Mrs. Gagan. I did recite the, “Gagan the dragon with the meatball eyes. Pop them in the oven and you get fries!” I did this even though I was a second or third cousin to her. I remember mustering the courage to tell her that she was my cousin. She brought me into her office and we chatted. She agreed that we were, indeed, cousins. I was relieved because I also feared her. She did live on Center St. just a few houses up the hill from the old St. Margaret’s Church.
I remember a man principal who maybe relieved her when she retired. I remember that he would dress up in his military uniform on Memorial Day!
Mr. Barrows was the male principal in the late 60’s early 70’s…we’d walk across Winn Street from the high school to volunteer in the office…running the mimiograph machine and collating handouts…
Spent the first grade in the Union School Annex. The next year I went to the Memorial. Stayed there until the third grade. Left there to go to the new Wildwood school. Back to the Annex again. Back to Memorial again and Back to Wildwood again. Eight grade was at the Annex again and finally the new High School. Fast forward to 2002 and my wife was the manager of the cafeteria until she went to work in Billerica.
Doris such a good memory you have, it was Miss Sandler and I was fascinated by her bun… cheered with Melissa P. In High school, Bonnie lived down on the Winmere flats near me, Mrs Gagon lived on Center Street on the right, first or second house after the dirt road tight after the little white building at the fork of Winn and Center Street, saw her in her yard once as I was walking up Center.
I too remember the Nurses office with the dental chair and Mrs. Andruskie the nurse. Living in Orlando Florida now but visit Burlington once a year and can’t believe the changes…
Oh of course, Melissa P…Bonnie was her sister…..I remember Miss Sandler used to wear her sweaters w/the buttons in the back – I was fascinated w/that – a backwards sweater. Yes I remember you and Melissa were cheerleaders…and you guys were good! That little white building in middle of the road was the old St Margaret’s. In the way back days I believe it was called St Mary’s. Hmmm…I don’t recall the dental chair. Are you sure you Mrs. Andruskie was school nurse at Memorial? I remember Jeannie’s Gram…Mrs. Connors was the school nurse at Memorial. Mrs. Andruskie was High School Nurse….no? But maybe you are right, Bari. Yes, Burlington certainly has changed drastically. Heck I recall being in (early) H.S. and would meet people not knowing where Burlington was….rather they presumed I was from VT. I’d always say, no, once I’d mentioned the Burlington Mall they’d know. Don’t you think the Mall put Burlington on ‘the map’… then the rest followed. Lots of good memories!
Hi Doris,
I do remember the button down the back sweaters and her bun…I asked her how she did it and she showed me a donut thing she shaped her hair around 😊. I think Mrs Andruskie was the nurse at least part of the time we were there as I recall her daughter had a milk allergy and remember thinking it would be convenient to have a mom for a nurse and at your school…
Burlington did used to be obscure, when I started working in Cambridge in ‘75, one of my coworkers grandparents had a “summer cottage “ in Burlington and another’s parents had a summer place in Billerica…lol
Memories are funny aren’t they; w/me they get distorted over time. Oh, I certainly remember Mrs. Andruskie and her daughter….just not at Memorial. Do you recall having to get under our desks as a drill for …. hmmm…. I believe it was the ‘atom’ bomb. Like hiding under our desk was somehow going to protect us – from what exactly? I can also remember Mrs. Connors coming around and giving us TB tests as well as looking for lice in our hair. Like you, I thought it cool that Jeannie had a Grandmom that was school nurse. Remember our elementary school plays? (I was an exclamation point once…very, very talented gal that I was I should have received an award). When Senior Class (my sister Cheryl’s) were getting ready to perform their Senior Play, The King and I, Mr. Lussier was rounding up ‘children’ to be in it; by having us sing the scale…..needless to say, I did not get chosen. How about that song that Mr. Lussier or was it Mr. Deacon, made up ‘Go Colonel Glenn, ride that rocket, Go Colonel Glenn our hopes are in your pocket! Go Colonel Glenn our hopes are high – prepare to tear a hole in the sky’. OMG the things I remember. I swear WHEN I am an old lady I’ll be the one in nursing home singing ‘jump rope songs and silly songs. Along with other superfluous bologna…OY! Can you imagine, nowadays, saying ‘let’s go to Billerica to Nuttings Lake for a vacation’? Not knocking Billerica or Nuttings Lake but certainly not a vacation spot, at least in these days. Imagining it as such is difficult; yet in the day I am sure plenty of people had a nice respite from their daily life in the city splashing around in the lake. Hmmm…I didn’t know Burlington was a summer getaway. When my parents moved to Burlington (approx.1943…they were from the city)….my Mom seriously thought she was going to get attacked by Indians. She said she was so busy w/4 kids that she didn’t have time to cry as she missed the city so much….imagine she went onto have 10 more YIKES!
I went to Memorial until grade 4 then we moved to Woburn for a few years. I remember Miss Andruskie and the yearly head lice inspection and throat check, also we were in the “Crest Test” where we got to brush our teeth at our desks! There were three different types of toothpaste T-4, T-6, and T-8 and we had dental exams at the beginning of the school year and at the end. This required student volunteers to distribute cups of water, napkins and spit cups for the class. In my class no one would volunteer for spit cup retrieval mostly because you had to dump the contents down the drain one by one, so we were reluctantly assigned. This happened every day like clockwork. We also had to brush at home with our assigned toothpaste.
At the beginning of every school day Mrs. Gagan (my next-door neighbor) would lead us in the pledge of allegiance over the loudspeaker (every room had one) and then the stretching exercise with music from a really scratchy record she would play from her office phonograph. I still have that awful song in my head to this day!
My sister was a grade ahead of me, but they always combined us with other classes for school plays. I remember as a second grader Mrs. Murphy applying her red lipstick to 20 of us before we went on stage dressed as Teddy bears! My sister relentlessly making fun of me for wearing lipstick.
I remember when Mr. Lussier would show up unannounced at the classroom with boxes of musical instruments, the class would suddenly close their books in unison and hoped the session would last all day! and it seemed like the good students (not me) would get first crack at the good stuff like tambourines and I always got the wooden blocks.
My grandfather Mr. Kilroy was a custodian there and my uncle the other Mr. Kilroy was a substitute teacher, but I still never caught a break, well maybe a little in the lunch line.
I love this site and can’t wait to read more.
Thank you!
Billy
I was a “walker” going to the Memorial School int he early 70s. We lined up outside the school in the mornings before being “allowed” into the building. Fond memories of the teachers strikes and the “portables”. Mrs. Garrity (1st grade), Ms. McCauley (2nd grade), Ms. Sabbath (3rd grade) and Ms. Rubin (4th grade). Also remember the cafeteria in the basement. Always seemed so dark in there.
I think it was 71 my family just moved back east and i started the 6th grade at memorial. They had a new experiment called the open room they had open the walls of thrre classroms making one big room for the 6th grade We had all classes together moving around the room. I dont recall the teachers names of faces now it was so long ago. Later the new high school had simmial open room like this. I was class of 78
i was at the old white building in memorial. school from k to 5 . i t had two baseballs in front and one in the back i was there. i was the class of 90 in high school. i had teacher from the old memorial school that ran in the Boston marathon here name was pat Meade, i do not here name now.
I remember going there in the 4th grade. It was new then.
I went to Memorial the first day it opened. I believe Miss Blanchard was the principal, Mr. lynch was the Superintendent, Mrs. Marian Howard wad my first grade teacher, Eli,zabeth Livingston was my second grade teacher, and Mrs. Gagan was so kind! I think Ju!ia Connors was the nurse, she was so sweet!
Memorial School…in my day Mrs.. Garrity (I think that was her name) was the principal….sweet Mrs. Small was secretary. Mrs. Griffin was my 5th grade and FAVORITE teacher; it was in her class I learned JFK died. So many memories. Who remembers release time? Those of you that don’t it was when we were released from school and walked over, in quite the orderly fashion, to religion classes. I’m remembering we had nuns but maybe my memory is foggy. Imagine that happening now?! As a class, in that same orderly fashion, off we went to the restrooms and water fountain. At the water fountain one of us was chosen to be a monitor….the child would drink and the monitor tapped them on the shoulder when time was up. How the time was determined I’ve not a clue…perhaps we counted? My friend and I worked it out that when either one of us were in this ‘honored’ position we would give the other more time. KDubs…look at you the greeter in the video! You are, officially famous now….
Hi Doris,
I share your memories as Mrs Griffin was also one of my favorite teachers 😊. I think the principal was Mrs Gagon or something similar as I remember kids disrespectfully chanting Gagon the dragon… rumor had it she would punish by rapping your knuckles with a ruler.
We must have been in the same class, rotated to Mr Craig for social studies and a female teacher for math. I remember release time differently as I remember staying in the classroom as I was not Catholic, remember Lee Callahan and John Maguire staying behind too,
Loved that school and the memories…
The principal was Mrs. Gagnon. Mrs Griffin was a sweet lady. I’d see her many times after leaving Memorial. I had Miss Doherty. Truly a nasty lady. Release time was rather odd. Leaving school to walk over to attend religious classes. I guess it was a break from regular school work. I admit I did enjoy it. Lots of good memories at Memorial. Thanks for sharing the video.
Hi Bari….yes, that’s right Mrs Gagnon, I knew it began w/a G 😉…I do recall the chant and pleased to know I was never one that took part. I have fond memories of you too…going to your house, skipping rope.. I hope you are well. Oh yes, Mr. Craig…was the female teacher Mrs. Sandler? Maybe it was Miss? Sherry Frizzell and Susie Johnson (she had a transistor radio and that’s who told us about JFK, RIP Susie) as well as Bradley Schuler and Bonnie Prindiville were in our class…oh and Jeannie Langone. Jeannie and I would be allowed to use the Girl’s room….and we’d come back to class giggling and Mrs Griffin would make us come back in ‘like Ladies’. Ladies??….we were 5th grade giggly girls! Fond memory.. Mrs Gagnon lived off Center St I believe., not far from Bonnie. Don’t you love this site?!!
Hmmm….anonymous…nope that’s me, Doris. Maybe as I am on phone?
Hi Doris, do you remember sticking folded paper in the water fountain to make the water shoot higher 😉🤣.
I attended Memorial School from 63-66. I can still see Mrs. Gagan. I did recite the, “Gagan the dragon with the meatball eyes. Pop them in the oven and you get fries!” I did this even though I was a second or third cousin to her. I remember mustering the courage to tell her that she was my cousin. She brought me into her office and we chatted. She agreed that we were, indeed, cousins. I was relieved because I also feared her. She did live on Center St. just a few houses up the hill from the old St. Margaret’s Church.
I remember a man principal who maybe relieved her when she retired. I remember that he would dress up in his military uniform on Memorial Day!
Mr. Barrows was the male principal in the late 60’s early 70’s…we’d walk across Winn Street from the high school to volunteer in the office…running the mimiograph machine and collating handouts…
Spent the first grade in the Union School Annex. The next year I went to the Memorial. Stayed there until the third grade. Left there to go to the new Wildwood school. Back to the Annex again. Back to Memorial again and Back to Wildwood again. Eight grade was at the Annex again and finally the new High School. Fast forward to 2002 and my wife was the manager of the cafeteria until she went to work in Billerica.
Doris such a good memory you have, it was Miss Sandler and I was fascinated by her bun… cheered with Melissa P. In High school, Bonnie lived down on the Winmere flats near me, Mrs Gagon lived on Center Street on the right, first or second house after the dirt road tight after the little white building at the fork of Winn and Center Street, saw her in her yard once as I was walking up Center.
I too remember the Nurses office with the dental chair and Mrs. Andruskie the nurse. Living in Orlando Florida now but visit Burlington once a year and can’t believe the changes…
Oh of course, Melissa P…Bonnie was her sister…..I remember Miss Sandler used to wear her sweaters w/the buttons in the back – I was fascinated w/that – a backwards sweater. Yes I remember you and Melissa were cheerleaders…and you guys were good! That little white building in middle of the road was the old St Margaret’s. In the way back days I believe it was called St Mary’s. Hmmm…I don’t recall the dental chair. Are you sure you Mrs. Andruskie was school nurse at Memorial? I remember Jeannie’s Gram…Mrs. Connors was the school nurse at Memorial. Mrs. Andruskie was High School Nurse….no? But maybe you are right, Bari. Yes, Burlington certainly has changed drastically. Heck I recall being in (early) H.S. and would meet people not knowing where Burlington was….rather they presumed I was from VT. I’d always say, no, once I’d mentioned the Burlington Mall they’d know. Don’t you think the Mall put Burlington on ‘the map’… then the rest followed. Lots of good memories!
Hi Doris,
I do remember the button down the back sweaters and her bun…I asked her how she did it and she showed me a donut thing she shaped her hair around 😊. I think Mrs Andruskie was the nurse at least part of the time we were there as I recall her daughter had a milk allergy and remember thinking it would be convenient to have a mom for a nurse and at your school…
Burlington did used to be obscure, when I started working in Cambridge in ‘75, one of my coworkers grandparents had a “summer cottage “ in Burlington and another’s parents had a summer place in Billerica…lol
Hi Bari,
Memories are funny aren’t they; w/me they get distorted over time. Oh, I certainly remember Mrs. Andruskie and her daughter….just not at Memorial. Do you recall having to get under our desks as a drill for …. hmmm…. I believe it was the ‘atom’ bomb. Like hiding under our desk was somehow going to protect us – from what exactly? I can also remember Mrs. Connors coming around and giving us TB tests as well as looking for lice in our hair. Like you, I thought it cool that Jeannie had a Grandmom that was school nurse. Remember our elementary school plays? (I was an exclamation point once…very, very talented gal that I was I should have received an award). When Senior Class (my sister Cheryl’s) were getting ready to perform their Senior Play, The King and I, Mr. Lussier was rounding up ‘children’ to be in it; by having us sing the scale…..needless to say, I did not get chosen. How about that song that Mr. Lussier or was it Mr. Deacon, made up ‘Go Colonel Glenn, ride that rocket, Go Colonel Glenn our hopes are in your pocket! Go Colonel Glenn our hopes are high – prepare to tear a hole in the sky’. OMG the things I remember. I swear WHEN I am an old lady I’ll be the one in nursing home singing ‘jump rope songs and silly songs. Along with other superfluous bologna…OY! Can you imagine, nowadays, saying ‘let’s go to Billerica to Nuttings Lake for a vacation’? Not knocking Billerica or Nuttings Lake but certainly not a vacation spot, at least in these days. Imagining it as such is difficult; yet in the day I am sure plenty of people had a nice respite from their daily life in the city splashing around in the lake. Hmmm…I didn’t know Burlington was a summer getaway. When my parents moved to Burlington (approx.1943…they were from the city)….my Mom seriously thought she was going to get attacked by Indians. She said she was so busy w/4 kids that she didn’t have time to cry as she missed the city so much….imagine she went onto have 10 more YIKES!
I went to Memorial until grade 4 then we moved to Woburn for a few years. I remember Miss Andruskie and the yearly head lice inspection and throat check, also we were in the “Crest Test” where we got to brush our teeth at our desks! There were three different types of toothpaste T-4, T-6, and T-8 and we had dental exams at the beginning of the school year and at the end. This required student volunteers to distribute cups of water, napkins and spit cups for the class. In my class no one would volunteer for spit cup retrieval mostly because you had to dump the contents down the drain one by one, so we were reluctantly assigned. This happened every day like clockwork. We also had to brush at home with our assigned toothpaste.
At the beginning of every school day Mrs. Gagan (my next-door neighbor) would lead us in the pledge of allegiance over the loudspeaker (every room had one) and then the stretching exercise with music from a really scratchy record she would play from her office phonograph. I still have that awful song in my head to this day!
My sister was a grade ahead of me, but they always combined us with other classes for school plays. I remember as a second grader Mrs. Murphy applying her red lipstick to 20 of us before we went on stage dressed as Teddy bears! My sister relentlessly making fun of me for wearing lipstick.
I remember when Mr. Lussier would show up unannounced at the classroom with boxes of musical instruments, the class would suddenly close their books in unison and hoped the session would last all day! and it seemed like the good students (not me) would get first crack at the good stuff like tambourines and I always got the wooden blocks.
My grandfather Mr. Kilroy was a custodian there and my uncle the other Mr. Kilroy was a substitute teacher, but I still never caught a break, well maybe a little in the lunch line.
I love this site and can’t wait to read more.
Thank you!
Billy
I was a “walker” going to the Memorial School int he early 70s. We lined up outside the school in the mornings before being “allowed” into the building. Fond memories of the teachers strikes and the “portables”. Mrs. Garrity (1st grade), Ms. McCauley (2nd grade), Ms. Sabbath (3rd grade) and Ms. Rubin (4th grade). Also remember the cafeteria in the basement. Always seemed so dark in there.
I think it was 71 my family just moved back east and i started the 6th grade at memorial. They had a new experiment called the open room they had open the walls of thrre classroms making one big room for the 6th grade We had all classes together moving around the room. I dont recall the teachers names of faces now it was so long ago. Later the new high school had simmial open room like this. I was class of 78
i was at the old white building in memorial. school from k to 5 . i t had two baseballs in front and one in the back i was there. i was the class of 90 in high school. i had teacher from the old memorial school that ran in the Boston marathon here name was pat Meade, i do not here name now.