A ribbon to the past

By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- Sitting in her wheelchair, 95-year-old Mabel Creed was just the right height to lean over and hug 9-year-old Nathan Jacubec.
She was also closer to eye level with the 750 other Struthers Elementary School pupils who welcomed her at their newly built school Monday.
Creed, a lifelong Struthers resident, cut the red-and-black striped ribbon to officially dedicate the school, which opened in August.
A brick from the old school, mortared between new ones at the Elm Street entrance, is set above a plaque: "This brick is a link to the past and a dedication to the Lyon Creed family."
"My father donated this land," Creed said as she smiled and waved at children who filed by her in the school entrance. Arthur Lyon and his wife, Grace, donated the land where the school sits to the Struthers Board of Education in the early 1900s, said Tom Creed, Mabel's son. His grandfather had owned property along Fifth Street that was developed into homes, but the "Lyon plat," where the new school sits, was deeded to the school district and preserved for education.
"Never did I think this would happen," Mabel said, as she looked up at the open second level of the two-level school.
Family members
Tom Creed was at the ribbon-cutting with his wife, Marion. Also attending was Nancy Creed, wife of the late William Creed, another of Mabel's sons. Her third son, Richard (JoAnn) Creed was out of town.
"I love Struthers. I've always loved Struthers," Mabel said as she watched the children. "Just look at what we've got. And, I'll tell you, something: More people are moving back."
The first Lyon Plat Elementary was built on the site in 1913. The second Lyon Plat school, built in 1958, was demolished to make way for the new school. As Mabel Creed sat in the hallway a woman stopped to shake her hand. "I went to the first Lyon Plat, and I have to thank you."
"God bless you," Mabel said.
Saying thanks
Also offering thanks were current pupils who made a sign reading "Thank You!" in balloon letters filled with child-size hand prints.
Kaylee Moore, 10, and Lauren Eckman, 9, helped hang the sign inside the school with several other fourth-graders after the ribbon event.
"I like it," said Kaylee, who used to go to the Sexton Street school. "It's really big. You can also make a lot of new friends."
"We used to go to different schools," said Shomore Mims, 9, who had attended Lyon Plat and Center Street schools. "Now we're going to the same school."
All of the district's kindergarten through fourth-graders attend the school.
They came from the district's former four schools. Lyon Plat has been demolished; Sexton Street and Center Street schools are to be demolished; the Manor Avenue school will be mothballed for later use as district offices.
The $11 million school is part of a $34.7 million district overhaul, also to include a new high school and renovations to the middle school and field house. Through the Ohio School Facilities Commission, 86 percent of funding came from the state with the rest funded through a bond issue approved by voters in 1999.
Changing emotions
Principal Betty Washington said her emotions have been changing since she saw the old school destroyed and watched the new one go up.
"I was faced with the wrecking ball, and I sat in my car and cried as I faced all the memories," she said. "Now I look at this building and I think of all the memories we will be creating."
Washington and June Logan are co-principals at the new school.
Dr. Sandra J. DiBacco, superintendent, said she, too, was emotional.
"We will never forget the four elementary schools we combined to become Struthers Elementary School," she said, pointing out the T-shirts children wore naming each of the schools in a Wildcat paw print.
"Today is a new beginning for us; it's a new beginning for the city of Struthers. We now have a facility that is the envy of surrounding communities."