LEDGER LAND by T.J. Furman
When most people address Alice Holden, they call her “grandma.”
Many of those people are of school age, but none actually is one of Mrs. Holden’s grandchildren.
Mrs. Holden has been working at Benjamin Franklin School on Princeton Pike in some capacity since the start of the 1960-61 school year. She is wrapping up her 40th year of service at the Ben Franklin, where she started working as the school chef when the building first opened during the closing months of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency.
For the last 13 years, Mrs. Holden has been a volunteer aide in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms three days a week following her retirement from the kitchen.
Last week I talked with the woman some people in the Lawrence school district call a legend. Just before our conversation, Bernie Bricketto, principal at Ben Franklin for the last seven years, told me about the first time he met “Grandma.”
“When I was first assigned here, I guess it was one August afternoon, I was just working at my desk, new to this position here and in comes Alice Holden, who says to me, ‘I’m Alice Holden. Who are you?’” Mr. Bricketto recalled. “’I’m Bernie Bricketto, the new principal.’”
Mrs. Holden joined Mr. Bricketto in reciting the last line to the tale.
“‘Yeah, well I’ve seen a lot of them come and a lot of them go, and I’m still here.’”
“And that’s the darned truth,” Mrs. Holden continued. “They go in and out, in and out, and here I am.”
“And she’s been helping me run the school ever since,” Mr. Bricketto added.
Mrs. Holden started working in the Lawrence Township School District in 1953 at Eldridge Park School — before I was “even thought of or (my) mother and father were together,” according to Mrs. Holden. (Actually, my parents hadn’t been born yet.)
After a stop at the now-closed Lawrence School No. 4, she came to Ben Franklin to stay in 1960 (my parents had been born by then). Back then, everything was cooked from scratch, Mrs. Holden said. I’m told stories of her spaghetti are still recited in the halls of the township’s schools.
She was out of the district for only a few short months following her retirement in the ’80s. Carol Caruso, a teacher at Ben Franklin, gave Mrs. Holden a call and asked her to come back as a volunteer. Mrs. Holden considered the offer for a while before accepting. Since then Mrs. Holden, a Berwyn Place resident for more than 40 years, has been helping teachers keep children on task during lessons, answering questions, reading to students and opening bottles and milk cartons during lunch.
Mrs. Holden says her decision to become a volunteer aide is the best thing she’s ever done.
“I’m glad I did it,” she explained. “I became a widow for one thing. I don’t know, I always like to be active. I’m not the kind to sit around and read a book.”
Unless it’s a book she’s reading to the students in Mary Rice-Sheffield’s first-grade class. According to Mrs. Sheffield, that’s one of her class’ favorite activities when Ms. Holden is in the room on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.
“She really is such a help and the kids just love her to death,” Mrs. Sheffield said. “It’s good for the kids to see Grammy. She’s a great role model. Many of the kids don’t have grandparents.”
The women have developed a rapport during their five years together.
“She really is helpful with keeping the kids on task,” Mrs. Sheffield said. “At this age they’re a bit fidgety and she’ll say, ‘Gregory, you should be on No. 3,’ or ‘Hey, it’s subtraction and not addition.’ That really helps.”
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m going too far,” Mrs. Holden responded, “but she’s the kind that would say to me, ‘I’d rather you wouldn’t do that.’”
The children are always doing things that either amaze or amuse her. Mrs. Holden couldn’t recall a particular story from the 40 years at Ben Franklin that stood out as the funniest or as the most memorable. During our talk, she did recall one from the past week that brought gave us a few laughs.
While she is in the cafeteria, Mrs. Holden is often asked to help get the lids off of bottles. Recently, one little girl in the school has helped Mrs. Holden a couple of times.
“I have very weak hands, with my age and arthritis,” Mrs. Holden explained. “I couldn’t get the top off the thing and she came over and said ‘Grandma, give it to me, I’ll do it.’”
Mrs. Holden has noticed that many of the kids in the school are very curious. They have asked her about her age, but she quickly changes the topic with them.
“I’m old enough to be Grandma, now eat your lunch,” she responds.
“Every once in a while one of the kids will ask me, ‘Are you a real grandmother?’” Mrs. Holden said. “Yeah, I’m real.”
She is indeed a real grandmother, and a real great-grandmother, too. Her only child, Barry, lives in California, so she doesn’t see him or her two grandchildren or two great-grandchildren very often.
She says she misses being able to put her arms around them to give them a hug. Mrs. Holden makes up for that with the kids at Ben Franklin.
Before our talk, Mrs. Sheffield asked the kids in her class what Grandma meant to them:
• “Grammy’s my special friend. If I ever need a Band-Aid, Grammy will put a Band-Aid on my cut. If I need Grammy to give me a hug, Grammy will give me a hug because she’s my special friend.”
• “She’s kind and she makes you feel better.”
• One boy told Ms. Sheffield that if he’s feeling sad and doesn’t know why, Grammy will give him a hug and he knows everything will be OK.
Working at the school keeps Mrs. Holden feeling OK, too. Her doctor has told her the volunteer work at the school has been a major factor in keeping her healthy in her older age.
Mrs. Holden says she doesn’t think she has done anything special over the past 40 years at Ben Franklin, yet when she sees people around town that she either cooked for or helped teach over the years at Ben Franklin, they all seem to know her name.
I’ll let Mrs. Sheffield explain why Mrs. Holden has, indeed, been doing something special over those four decades.
“She’s a great role model,” she said. “It’s nice for them to learn respect. It’s nice that she tells stories or read something to the kids. She’s not only ahead in years, but she’s ahead in wisdom.”
Then, turning to Mrs. Holden, Mrs. Sheffield added, “You really do give a lot to the kids.”
T.J. Furman is the managing editor of The Lawrence Ledger.