By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
MANSFIELD — Some might say it would be a miracle for 300 adults to keep a secret, let alone that many children.
But that’s exactly what happened May 7, when John Hydock Elementary School threw a surprise goodbye assembly for retiring school nurse Barbara Blair, who has been at the school for 25 years.
“The kind of the amazing thing about it,” said Public Relations Officer Marlene Walls, “was out of 300 kids, not one of them blew the surprise.”
That morning, Ms. Blair believed she was headed to a character education assembly. She said Principal Jennifer Ferro invited her to come see something the first-graders were doing, which she described as a fairly common occurrence.
“I came in. They leapt up and started clapping,” she said. “I was overwhelmed, I really was. And totally surprised.”
The assembly gave the students a chance to thank Ms. Blair for her work through songs, cards, and a slideshow of what Ms. Walls called “a lot of memories and a lot of good times” in Ms. Blair’s tenure at the school. She said the staff came up with the idea for the surprise.
Along with the school’s students and teachers, members of Ms. Blair’s family also came to the assembly. Her husband, Ken, joined the school in wishing her well, as did her youngest daughter, Janet Strusz, who is a teacher at the school, and her daughter’s husband, Don.
“I think, I just was like stunned for a while, and then when I saw my family I realized they were part of it too…” said Ms. Blair. “When I saw them, I just cried. I just realized, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and it just was amazing.”
Several retired teachers were also in attendance, as was the former superintendent, John Hydock, for whom the school is named. He had originally hired Ms. Blair for the position in 1983, Ms. Walls said.
In her retirement, Ms. Blair, a Bordentown Township resident, said she plans to spend more time with her grandchildren, and to go on longer trips to her second home in Vermont.
“As much as I want to retire to another part of my time,” she said, “I’m leaving behind some wonderful memories and great friends, and a job that I loved for all these years, so it’s a little melancholy.”
She said that the end of the school year is a reflective time, and praised the work of the school’s staff. “I’ve seen wonderful examples of real involvement with teachers,” she said. “Just like the teachers really work at times to make kids … able to learn.”
She said when she began as a part-time nurse the school had “maybe 21 teachers in the whole building.”
But “the district has grown so much,” she said, that there has “always been a family feel to the place. Everybody really cares about one another, supports one another, and it’s been a special place to be.”
