How Will the Children Find Peace?

My family was ahead of its time. Mine was not the idyllic late-sixties childhood. I was a latch-key kid a decade or more before there was a name for such a thing.  But even before my latch-key days I was ahead of my time. I attended a unique private school in Culver City, CA which provided both before and after school care.

It began in my pre-K year. I must have been four years old.  My mother and I would get up early in the morning, while it was still dark, to get me dressed in my uniform.  I ate my breakfast, and then we were off to work.  Mom would pull the car up to the curb in front of the school.  There Mrs. Aiken was waiting to escort me through the glass double-doors of that two-story building. It all seems so ritzy in retrospect - as if I were the daughter of a president or a celebrity. At the time it felt ordinary.

Inside those doors they taught the little ones, pre-K and Kindergarten, to sing in French.  They taught us to use paste, and not to eat it. They let us play, too, in the miniature wooden kitchen, and with a little wooden train set.

When we reached 1st Grade we wore different uniforms through those doors.  Gone were the neat stiff blue-jeans and checked collared shirts. Big kids, we wore navy jumpers, white blouses and saddle shoes, and navy cardigans with a crest over our hearts.  Now we were taught that if we were not busy with an assignment, we were to sit silent and still, hands folded and two feet on the ground.

They also taught us to dance.  It was an escape for little girls like me, from sitting still, and from sports. On Monday, Tap.  On Tuesday, Ballet. On Wednesday, Tap.  On Thursday, Ballet.  And so it alternated five days a week, every week of the school year.  Ballet was the great joy of my early school years.

We also learned Spanish, and English, and Math, and spelling.  I worked hard.  We all did. To do otherwise was impermissible. As the hours passed we were ushered from one room to the next to learn each subject in a group organized not by grade-level but by our ability and personal progress.

I learned fast and well behind those doors.  I also worked late.

This school not only provided morning supervision before classes, but after-school care, decades before such programs would become commonplace.  As a result, I would arrive at school between 7 and 7:30 in the morning and remain behind those doors until 5:30 or 6, depending on how long my mom remained trapped in L.A. traffic.  At certain times of the year it would be barely light when I was dropped off and dark when I got picked up to finally go home.  I still remember the desolation of sometimes being the last child left, dark windows in my periphery, waiting to go home.

And so, I remember my first day at Sunday School.

It was shortly after my mom remarried and we moved to a different town. For some reason, my mom got it into her head to join the Lutheran church up the street.  Perhaps we always went to church, but this is the first I remember of it.

As we got out of the car, Mom handed me a quarter, and I burst in to tears.

"What's the matter, Laurie?"

It was money for the offering plate.

But I thought it was lunch money. I thought was being sent off for another day of school, on the weekend. I was heartbroken.

Sadly, aside from felt-boards and smells, that first moment is all I remember of the years of Sunday School that would follow.  I would never love it, because it would always represent for me a theft from the few precious unscheduled hours of my life.

And so, today, forty years or more later, when I see mommies and daddies rushing kids from here to there, from one scheduled, supervised activity to the next, my heart breaks a little.  How will those children ever view church as anything but another thing on the already-full schedule?  How will they ever recognize Christ as anything more than an add-on to an already-full life?  How will they ever have the quiet moments to recognize the beauty of God's creation, to commune with their own souls, to count their blessings and reckon with their sins?  When will they consider life and beauty, death and eternity?

As I consider how pressured I felt back then, how precious my unstructured down-time was to me, I think how much worse things would have been if I also had the technology available to me that kids have now. Would I have ever read a book just because I wanted to, drawn a picture just for the joy of it, or prayed in the quiet emptiness of my own room?


Comments

24 Corners said…
Hello Laurie, I was searching on the web for something about The Genevieve Horton School and came upon your blog post...this is Jessica Mike (now Carlson), we went to school together there. I was so thrilled to see your post, I have very fond memories of the school, it was a special place, and I have very fond memories of you too, I believe I spent the night at your house once or twice. Anyway, your blog is fantastic...and it's been a joy to find you. I also have a blog but incredibly, this past year has been an extremely difficult one and my last post was almost one year ago, I should remedy that! Blessings to you Laurie...xo Jessica
Laurie M. said…
Jessica! I DO remember you. I remember spending the night at your home too! This is so amazing. I can picture your face. I will look at your blog and I will look for you on Facebook. Hopefully you are there. I have wondered about you many times. We went to the TeePee Club together too, I think.

I am still so grateful for the years I spent at Genevieve Horton, and only wish I had stayed longer, rather than leaving after 3rd grade. I still draw on the lessons I learned there. I left the 3rd grade nearly ready for junior high. What a fine education!
24 Corners said…
Laurie, how wonderful that you remember me too, and that you remember spending the night (which I'd love to chat with you about, do you recall any drama?). I've thought of you often as well, it's funny when you think about it, we actually only knew each other a few short years but the memories of that time seem to have stuck for both of us, no wonder we were buddies (does pricking our fingers and becoming blood sisters ring a bell?)...and I thought you and I were in TeePee Club together, I'm so glad you confirmed it, another special and unique place that I have fond memories of. The building is still there (I google mapped it) but the pool is gone, as is the big parking lot next door where the tether ball and all those little school buses used to be, that's an apartment now, but everything else is the same.

So much to catch up on and remember, we'll have to email.
I followed you on facebook and left you a message which they said would be in your 'other' folder (or file) since we weren't connected yet.

I'm looking forward to visiting with you Laurie...hope you've had a lovely New Years weekend!
xo
Kathy E. said…
I'm so glad to have found your post about the Genevieve Horton School. That was my daughter's first school, starting at age 2 1/2 in February 1970. Your description is exactly as I remember it and brings back so many wonderful memories of that school. I think I even remember a "Mrs. Aiken" that you mentioned, but am not positive. Again, thank you so much for this post. There is nothing else online about that school, not that I've found, so it's really nice to have found your reminiscences.
Laurie M. said…
Kathy, I'm sorry to be so late in noticing your comment! It's been a busy year, so busy, in fact, that I only just realized I haven't written a single post so far.

Would you be willing to share you daughter's name? I and 24 Corners, both attended GH during that time. We would have been ahead of your daughter. I would have been in Kindergarten in 1970.

I still have my yearbooks from those days. I might be able to share them with you.

If you like, contact me via email. (I believe you can email me if you visit my profile.)
Wabbit said…
Jessica Mike! This is a Tanya Hutchison....do you remember me??
Laurie M....are you Laurie Pierce???
Wabbit said…
Tried leaving message earlier. Hope you received. This is Tanya Hutchison. Do you remember me?
Wabbit said…
Were you Laurie Pierce??? This is Tanya Hutchison. Do you remember me?
Wabbit said…
Jessica, this is a Tanya Hutchison. Do you remember me?
Brent Sweet said…
Hi Laurie, My Name is Brent Sweet. I went to Genevieve Horton from 1969 to 1975. How can any of us not remember our time at GH. I also remember waiting after school until my mom could make it from work and pick me up, sometimes long after dark. Were you Laurie Pierce back then?
Laurie M. said…
Tanya, I definitely remember you! I'm so glad you found me here.

Please feel free to email me or to friend me on Facebook. Look for Laurie Pearce Mathers.

I'm sorry to be so slow to respond. This is an old post, so I didn't receive an email notification, and I haven't been attending to my blog lately.
Laurie M. said…
Brent,

I remember you!! I think I remember you and I playing together a lot in Kindergarten or so. I hope you are well. Please, if you are on Facebook, look me up: Laurie Pearce Mathers.



Apologies for being so slow to reply. I've been away from my blog for far too long.
Wabbit said…
Hello Laurie!
How neat to hear from you after all this time (all these decades!). I looked for a Genevieve Horton page on Facebook many times. I'm surprised nobody has put one together. I'm in a Mar Vista group and a woman there drove by and took photos of the old school and posted them. All decrepit and fenced up now :-(.

I hope your life has been lovely and fulfilling. You were one of my nicest childhood friends. Why do I remember you had a horny toad or something like that?? Are you still in LA?

Looks like Jessica Mike didn't post again here. Bummer. I even remember Brent Sweet who posted here, but probably more from the little yearbooks we had. Yes I still have them, but I'm not s hoarder, I swear! Just pictures and records ;-)

Hope you write again soon. I'll look for you on FB. I know we are very different from each other, but that's ok!

Take care,
Tanya
Unknown said…
I too was a student there in the early 70s. When I left and went to a public school in another town, I thought i was in the kids class that all rode the short bus, lol.

Lance
Laurie M. said…
Lance,

I'm going to have to look you up in my yearbooks. Thanks for commenting!
Laurie M. said…
Lance,
Are you Lance O'hara?
If so I found your picture.
Unknown said…
I heard the name Genevieve on the TV just now and thought about going to Genevieve Horton prior to 1970..my memories include sneaking into the dance area and trying on tap shoes. I and others got in trouble by a gorgeous woman, whom I would assume may be Genevieve Horton. She patiently scolded me for trespassing. I also remember penmanship with a teacher who always sounded like her nose was plugged up and she had terrible breath. Overall, I have fond memories in the short time I attended. Thanks for the post and the memories.

Susan Fisher
Laurie M. said…
Susan, thanks so much for sharing your memories! My first yearbook from Genevieve Horton is dated, if I remember correctly, 1968. I'll have to look and see if I can find you in one of those.
Anonymous said…
Hello! What a nice memory. I attended GHS from 1968- 1973. My name is Angel. I was very engaged there in dance classes. I even attended summer school. The structure was great. I remember almost every teacher and some of you who wrote. Wishing you all well.
Laurie Mathers said…
Angel Applegate, I presume? I remember you well! You were one of the older girls en pointe that I looked up to. I hope you are well!
Wabbit said…
Angel Applegate! Of course Laurie and I would remember you (didn't we both look up to the beautiful dancers, Laurie??) What a gift it is to treasure and share memories of Genevieve Horton. Thanks for having this blog, Laurie. Who knew it would turn into a GH "Reunion" page (of sorts...sure would be neat if other kids from back then could find your blog.)

Tanya (Hutchison)
Suzie Gruber said…
Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for this thread. I have deeply fond memories of going to Genevieve Horton from 1972-1977.

Ms. Blanco teaching us tap and ballet. I still have my toe shoes which never, ever fit right. Mrs. Whitacre teaching us music. Mrs. Messina and Mrs. Guerrero. Mr. Onishi and his mom, Mrs. Onishi were absolutely wonderful. I wish I had my yearbooks from there. I still have my blue sweater with the Genevieve Horton patch on it. I wish I could post a picture here! I have often wondered where everyone went. James Hecht and Derek Ego were the only other two people in my sixth grade class when we all graduated in 1977. Lisa Klafein was the only fifth grader that year. So, so many memories. Brent, I remember you. Angel, I remember your name too.

I feel really grateful for the independent learning. It's where I began my love of science which I continue to follow until this day. I wonder what became of Mrs. Horton. It would be fun to create a Facebook group for us.
Laurie Mathers said…
Suzie,

I'm so glad you found us.

There is a Facebook page for our little group. I am its administrator. It doesn't get a whole lot of traffic, so I sometimes forget it's there. Search for Genevieve Horton Alumni.

In the meantime, I'll need to search for you in my yearbooks. Is Gruber your maiden name?
Unknown said…
My husband Kevin Leech attended in the late 60's.

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