Memories on display as Lemoore Elementary reveals contents of 1967 time capsule

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Approximately 200 persons showed up at the Lemoore Elementary School’s cafeteria to see displays of art, old newspapers, messages from students, teachers’ letters, and even vintage baseball cards – from a different world and time – all spread out for former students and onlookers to peruse.

Jeanine Simas was in awe as she perused the contents of the 1967 time capsule.

It was a time machine of sorts, a way to remember and reflect on an era of innocence, long since passed.

“I’m really excited to see this,” said 62-year-old Randy Rhoads, who attended the Lemoore Elementary School (known as Washington School) in 1967 and remembers the day the time capsule was buried. “I never thought I’d be here to see it, but I really appreciate it that I did.”

Rhoads, a seventh grader at the time, remembered the big crowd on hand as students and staff celebrated the opening of the new library and the expected placement of the time capsule. The capsule – more like a buried trash can that contained the collected works of every class at the school, placed in cigar boxes and then enveloped in a large plastic bag – rested silently for fifty years before somebody remembered it was slated to be opened in 2017.

“Everyone put in the stuff they wanted to put in, and we watched them close it and pour cement over it, and then they put a sign on it saying that in 50 years they were going to open it up.”

Rhoads, like several other students, placed a collection of baseball cards in the time capsule. He got to retrieve them, as did another student who retrieved his cards, a collection comprised of Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Vada Pinson, and Curt Flood.

Jeanine Simas, another Washington School alum, initially couldn’t remember if she placed something in the time capsule. “Did I put something in it? What was it? I was trying to remember,” she asked herself. “The only thing I could remember was a picture – and that was in there.”

Simas was an 11-year-old fifth grader, and she said opening the time capsule and viewing its contents brought back memories.

There were letters too, written by teachers and employees reflecting on that day April 5, 1967, perhaps unaware that their letters would be read 50 years later. Lemoore Elementary Principal Amy Garcia, the spearhead of the time capsule opening, read several letters penned in 1967, including one from a teacher and Navy wife who wrote thoughts about the school and her husband, a Naval aviator who had flown missions over Vietnam.

Garcia relished the role she had in opening the long-hidden time capsule. “I loved it,” she said. “I’m a history buff, and I love anything that has to do with history. I especially loved to be able to open each of the boxes with our parent volunteer, Patty Avila, who was a student here, and was able to tell me something about some of the students and the teachers as well as her memories, which made it even more special.”

She plans to use the time capsule as a teaching moment for her current students. “Just to be able to have that knowledge and be able to share it with our current students about the school and how the buildings were built and the purpose behind the time capsule was very exciting.”

Garcia said that if former students want to retrieve contents from the time capsule, they will be able to. They’re asked to contact the school’s office and a time will be set up for them to re-discover their memories.

She also said students will get a chance to view the time capsule’s items on Monday (April 24). “We also are looking into possibly being able to put it on display … so that this history can be preserved.”