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08/21/2013 12:00 AMAt Kathleen Spillane's 90th birthday party last month, the long-time teacher was celebrated by many of her past students.
Kathleen, a resident of North Haven for nearly 45 years, recalled all of the flowers and balloons adorning the room. But what was most impressive were the memories all in attendance shared; memories they had of Kathleen as their kindergarten teacher.
For some, their time in her Hamden classroom was nearly 60 to 70 years ago, but they remembered it like it was yesterday.
"To me, it's unbelievable," says Kathleen. "These people are 70 [years old] and are telling me what they remember in kindergarten. They remember every detail."
Some former students also shared those details in writing. In addition to the party, Kathleen received 84 birthday cards in the mail. The students didn't just sign the cards. Kathleen says most tucked long letters into those cards, detailing their kindergarten memories.
"It is overwhelming to me how life in kindergarten was a great beginning to their school life," says Kathleen. "What pleased me more than anything was people remembered. You don't think four- and five year olds are going to remember much."
Kathleen learned a lot about her former students through those cards. Among the senders, three of them became school superintendents, four became kindergarten teachers, and a few others became teachers of different grades. There are also some lawyers.
"They all seem to have achieved a great deal," says Kathleen.
Knowing that she helped these students build their educational foundation in her kindergarten class is very fulfilling to Kathleen, who retired from full-time teaching in 1982.
Kathleen always knew she wanted to be a teacher-a kindergarten teacher.
She was born in Massachusetts and moved to New Haven when she was four. Shortly after the move, Kathleen came down with the measles, whooping cough, and pneumonia-all at the same time.
"There were no antibiotics then. I was extremely sick," Kathleen recalls. "The doctor said I shouldn't go to school the following year" when she would have begun kindergarten then.
After recovering, Kathleen's mother took her to school, but the classes were filled. When she left the building crying, a 1st grade teacher took notice and asked Kathleen's mother if Kathleen wanted to stay in her class for the morning. She ended up staying for the entire school year.
"In 2nd grade, I was across the hall from the kindergarten. I decided then I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and that never changed," says Kathleen.
Kathleen attended the New Haven Teacher's College, which is now part of Southern Connecticut State University.
"When I went to teacher's college, it was known that a kindergarten class was difficult to get," Kathleen says, but before graduation, she was offered a position in the Hamden school system, where she worked for her entire career.
She was a teacher at Ridge Hill School when she retired early to care for her ailing mother. After her mother passed away, she volunteered one day a week at St. Rita's School in Hamden. She then volunteered at Ridge Road School in North Haven, where a former student had become a teacher.
"I was only 20 when I started teaching. The children were only 15 years younger," says Kathleen. "One of the boys in my class-now a lawyer-said, 'We have a kid teaching kindergarten.'"
Kathleen loved her students and they loved her.
"I loved the job and the children loved coming to school," she says.
Kathleen says she was able to communicate to the students how much she cared about them.
"I think I had the ability to let each of them know how important they were," she says. "They knew from day one they were loved. They knew that I really cared about them. They would do almost anything I asked."
Kathleen remembers a lot about her interactions with her students and all of the good times they had together.
"We had a lot of laughs and a lot of smiles," she says.