Coinciding with the true beginning of spring weather, the Alki Elementary School Centennial event on Thursday evening, March 28, 2013, was a smash hit.
The event, co-sponsored by the Alki Elementary PTA and our Southwest Seattle Historical Society, drew hundreds of former and current students and staff to the school to enjoy a variety of speakers, photos and artifacts, a timeline, one-on-one video interviews, a 100th-birthday cake and, best of all, the opportunity to reconnect.
Kicking off the event was a marvelous group photo taken by Jean Sherrard, the “now” photographer for Paul Dorpat’s venerable and venerated “Now and Then” column in the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine. Exactly 216 people appeared in the photo. To download a high-resolution version of the group photo, Click here.
The photo also appeared on the West Seattle Herald and West Seattle Blog websites. The Herald and the Blog posted many other photos as well, and the event also drew in-person coverage by Lori Matsukawa of KING and KONG TV news.
Big thanks to the volunteers from our historical society who helped make the event a success: Sarah Baylinson, Joan Stover, Kathi Ishimaru, Inez Lindsay, Suzanne Hartley, Alan Peterson, Ann Anderson, Kerry Korsgaard, Mark Jaroslaw, Trish Cosgrove, Andrew Jones and Meg Eals. Also big thanks to Amy Bannister, Alki PTA event chair, and other Alki PTA volunteers and staff who created an engaging evening for all who attended.
Stay tuned for more photos and video of the event!
Clay Eals, executive director
Southwest Seattle Historical Society
