Medlock Memories: Saying Goodbye to a Neighborhood School

As an arch of balloons fluttered in the breeze outside , graduates showed up and reminisced, peered at colorful pictures on the wall and stood shoulder to shoulder for one last picture.

It was a day of remembering favorite teachers, childhood friendships and swapping memories of childhood soon to be shuttered when the neighborhood school closes at the end of the school year due to dwindling enrollment.

Dale Miller, who taught kindergarten at the school from 1977 to 2005, enjoyed A-list celebrity status Saturday, greeting former students and colleagues and remembering joyful days in the classroom.

"This is a most special school," said the white-haired Miller, who was the school's first kindergarten teacher. Two of her former students returned to become assistant teachers in Miller's classroom, and many former students would visit her home nearby on Halloween. "I feel blessed that most of my career was here."

Saturday, Miller was dispensing warm hugs and memories. Former student Kirstin Woodall says she "loved having her as a teacher."

"Whenever there's a password security question, and they ask who your favorite teacher was, I always say Miss Miller or Miss Christopher," says Woodall, now a Tucker hairdresser. (See video for more memories.)

Marcia Christopher (Woodall's other fave) attended Medlock Elementary, went to college, and returned and spent 35 years teaching at the school. The school's gymnasium is named in her honor.

David White (graduated '84) remembered sledding down the snow-covered slope in front of the school. Growing up in the neighborhood, White said, kids would roam around and make their own fun.

Natalie Goodyear, 65, and Judy Polinsky King, 64, met in first grade at Medlock Elementary and remained friends for years. On her first day of school, she got her nickname when a boy named "Sonny" asked her name, and then said he couldn't pronounce it, saying "I'm gonna call you J.P." And J.P. she remained through her years at Medlock, Druid Hills High School, the University of Georgia and a decade working for Ted Turner. (See video for more memories)

Kaye Smith, a former PTA president, said her son had done a history of the school for a class project, and reported that the school filled up soon after it was built, and had to add an addition, that quickly filled up, giving the school nearly 1,000 students. Now, the school's enrollment is 302, said Medlock Elementary Principal Fred Hammonds.

During the Vietnamese conflict, White remembers teaching brothers and sisters of the Ly family, and proudly notesd that all attended college.  When young men, on the brink of being deployed to a foreign conflict, would show up in uniform to say goodbye to their former teacher, White says she prayed she would remember their names.

"I did," she said.

Patrick Greer, a eighth-grader, wore a T-shirt that said "Medlock: where everybody knows your name" in honor of his former school.

"It's sad" that the school is closing, said Greer. "But it's nice to see all the teachers. I'm sad. I had a lot of good times here."

"This is a bittersweet time for us," Hammonds said.

"It's like losing a friend," said retired teacher Christopher.