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09/16/2015 08:00 AMAfter more than three decades of helping little fingers trace handprint turkeys and turn ribbons around the maypole, Marion Burkhart—director of East Haven’s Old Stone Church Playschool—has retired.
“We will miss her,” says fellow teacher Joan Rizzo, who worked alongside Marion for the past 29 years. “She is caring and compassionate toward everyone and has dedicated so many years of her life to the children, teachers, and families at this school. She’s just a wonderful role model.”
Mary Varunes, who took over as director on Sept. 14, agrees.
“Marion and I have known each other a long time and have collaborated on so many projects, including early childhood workshops and community events.”
Established 53 years ago as a nonsectarian preschool, Old Stone Church Playschool emphasizes kindergarten readiness, literacy, and learning through play, modeling its programming on the Connecticut State Department of Education’s Preschool Curriculum Framework. The school provides morning, half-day, and full-day programs for children aged 3 to 5 from East Haven and surrounding towns, including Guilford, Madison, Derby, West Haven, and even as far as Old Lyme, Marion says.
Some of the school’s best teachers and role models are the children themselves, she adds, picking up not only social skills but also the three Rs.
“Recently, I had a five-year-old who had started to read and was now teaching one of the three-year-olds. They were sitting together with a book, going through it page by page, word by word.
“All the children are just beautiful,” she adds. “They come in every morning wanting to learn. And the faculty we have is like family. We’ve come together as a whole each day, over the years, helping and supporting each other personally and professionally. A few years ago, when my husband died after a sudden illness, the teachers rallied around me. I needed them.”
Likewise, Rizzo says, Marion has always understood the importance of taking care of family and friends.
“Whenever any of us had a crisis at home, when someone was sick or needed us, Marion always told us, ‘Go! Take care of it.’”
Like many of the children in her care, Marion is an East Haven native. “I was born in this town,” she says. “I mean literally—not in an area hospital, but right at home. My aunt was my nurse.”
After graduating from East Haven High School, Marion followed in her aunt’s footsteps. In 1982, she sent her older son off to Northeastern University, in Boston, and was substituting as a school nurse in Branford. “My sister was running the playschool at the time and asked if I could come help,” she recalls. “They needed a teacher. So basically around the time my son went off to college, I went to back to preschool.”
Marion, whose earliest graduates are now parents of preschoolers themselves, has fond memories of the families she’s known from one generation to the next.
“One little boy at the playschool shared the same birthday as me,” she says. “That was our special thing. And when he was nearing the time he would leave and start kindergarten, he sat up from his cot after a nap, looked at me with those big, brown eyes, and said, ‘I’m going to miss you.’ And I told him, ‘I’ll miss you too.’”
So, what’s next on the horizon? More time with the kids.
“I have three grown children,” says Marion, “and two young grandchildren, ages 8 and 10. I look forward to being with them.
“My family has always been very supportive of me, through long hours on the job.”
They’ve even pitched even with creative projects for work, she says, including once helping her stage a playschool regatta with pool noodle boats and tongue depressors as masts. “It’s time to give back.”
The Old Stone Church Playschool, 251 Main Street, East Haven, is currently registering students for the 2015-2016 program. Students must be two years and eight months by Sept. 1, 2015. The playschool, which accepts Care4Kids childcare assistance, offers morning, extended-day, and full-day programs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. For more information or to schedule a tour, call 203-467-0661.