SCHOOL DAYS Part 2

At the beginning of the second grade, a new elementary school, Tuckahoe, was opened in my neighborhood.  It was about a block or so away from Stewart Elementary where I started first grade.  The two schools became known as Stewart-Tuckahoe.  First, Second, Fifth and Sixth graders went to the new school.  The Third and Fourth graders stayed at Stewart. So I started second grade in a brand new school that had a library and a cafeteria.

The principle for Stewart-Tuckahoe was Gertrude Smith.  It's probably a little strange that I can remember her.  But she was someone you didn't easily forget.  She was a short, some what rotund woman with curly white or bleached blonde hair - I don't remember exactly which.  She seemed really old to  me.  I can still see her bustling around the halls of the school.

My stay at the new school didn't last long.  The faculty felt that the second grade classes were too big so another was created.  I was put in the new class that was moved back to the Stewart building.  However, we walked over to Tuckahoe for lunch and to use the library.  The classes that had to be divided must have been huge because in my second grade class picture there are 28 students.

I remember a funny, and maybe somewhat embarrassing incident, that happened to me in the second grade during recess  A night of heavy rain had left a large mud puddle at the bottom of the long, metal, sliding board.  My friends and I dared each other to go down the slide to see if we could clear the puddle.  Everyone did...except me.  I landed smack dab in the middle of the puddle. I was a mess, to say the least. My mother had to come to school to bring me a change of clothes. 

I stayed at Stewart through the third grade.  My fourth grade class picture was taken in the school cafeteria at the Tuckahoe building.  So there must have been some rearranging of class assignments that put the fourth graders at the new building instead of at Stewart. 

My older sister, Linda, has a personal claim to fame as a student a Stewart-Tuckahoe.  Gertrude Smith took her aside one day and told her that there was a contest to compose a school song for Stewart-Tuckahoe.  Miss. Smith wanted Linda to enter the contest.  Linda did and won the contest.  It turns out that she was the only entrant.  Linda thinks that Miss Smith told her that it was a contest to get my somewhat competitive sister to enter and that there may be really been no contest at all.  That song is still sung today by Tuckahoe students.

Stewart-Tuckahoe is no more.  The school is now Tuckahoe Elementary.  An online search for Stewart-Tuckahoe, revealed that in 1971 Stewart was donated to Arlington County Parks and Recreation. The Tuckahoe building had been expanded to accommodate all the students from both schools.  Stewart was torn down and the grounds are used today for soccer and other activities.