Over the last three decades, Linda Hall and Donna May have helped provide kids in Chester, Deep River, and Essex with a solid foundation at the CDE Preschool. With uncertainty looming for the school’s Deep River facility and the possibility of retirement beckoning, the duo has decided it’s time to close the doors of CDE and move on.

Hall explained that the Deep River Baptist Church, the preschool’s current home, announced in December 2018 that in the coming year it would be doing some major renovations to the building.

“With all the safety issues renovations pose and air quality issues, there would be times when the children could not be at the school. The CDE Board did try to find another location, but there just isn’t anything out there, so we all decided it was time to close the doors,” explained Hall.

“There is a lot of emotion around this decision. It’s been a huge part of my life for the past 30 years, but it’s just time. My husband has been retired for the past three years and its time for me to spend some time with him now and start enjoying other things,” said Hall.

However, she said she has never stopped waking up excited to got to work and be a part of her students’ lives and learning experiences.

“Even now, I am still excited to teach new things and learn each day from the kids. It has been a wonderful experience and I am very proud of all the work we have done here. I have loved all the kids.”

Hall will remain active in the area. She is on the Deep River Library staff, a member of the Library Board of Directors, and the director of the Region 4 Education Foundation. She will also keep busy traveling, continuing her dancing lessons, and enjoying time with family.

For May, she and her husband will head north for her retirement, getting closer to her grandchild and hoping for more in the future.

“What can I say, I have loved this job for the past 25 years,” May said. “My favorite part has been teaching the children, loving them, making them confident learners and smoothing their transition into elementary school. They didn’t even know we were teaching them because we always did it with love.”

May still enjoys bumping into past students at Adams or Walgreens.

“No matter how old they are, when I look at them, they are forever three or four years old, and I love that,” she said. “I think we have had a good run and we have helped a lot of kids and showed them how much fun learning can be, and I feel good about that. It’s now time to move on.”

The preschool has been a constant in the community for the past 70 years. It was started by Rita Samuels, who sold brownies door to door to raise the needed funds to start the school. It has always been a co-operative preschool, which means parents commit to regularly assisting in the classroom.

“We actually had two people, who went to school here, and were ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ at CDE, who grow up and got married,” Hall said, smiling at the memory.

Many parents and former students have noted the upcoming change.

“Mrs. Hall and Mrs. May were truly instrumental in my children’s early childhood education,” Deep River mom Jessica Spearrin said. “Their compassionate approach to teaching has made a life-long impact on my own children, as well as every child they have taught over the years. They are the best and they will be very missed by all of us.”

To commemorate this bittersweet ending, there will be a Spring Celebration and Retirement Party for Linda Hall and Donna May, held on Saturday, March 30, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Deep River historical Society’s Stone House at 245 Main Street, Deep River. There will be food, a silent and a 50/50 auction, and music by the Butter Jones Band. The event is BYOB. Tickets are $10. For more information, email cdepreschool@gmail.com.