About 25 people toured the hallways, getting a last look at the school.

About 25 people toured the hallways, getting a last look at the school.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Rodger Jones often described to his wife the walk from his Larchmont Avenue home to McKinley Elementary School as "five miles uphill, both ways."
"When she got here she said, 'It can't be more than three blocks,'" the Fayetteville, Tenn., man chuckled.
Jones was one of about 25 McKinley alumni touring their alma mater Wednesday morning. The school, built in 1918 on Elm Road, closed at the end of the school year and is slated for demolition as the district prepares for all new school buildings.
Many classrooms still feature wooden floors and slate blackboards.
Jones and his family moved from Warren to Tennessee in 1955 when his parents bought a hotel. He hadn't been back to the area until a visit this week. His uncle, Leonard Berry of Poland, informed him about the chance to come to the school, meander its hallways and reminisce.
Jones' childhood home looks a lot different than he remembers it, too.
"I tell them that y'all have had so much rain up here, everything shrunk," Jones said with a Tennessee drawl.
Talked about school days
He and others talked about teachers they remember and the way things used to be.
Bill Shuttic of Brookfield attended McKinley from 1941 to 1947 while living on Hollywood Street. He can rattle off the names of some of his former teachers and the maintenance man and remembers his duty as a traffic boy in sixth grade.
"You got to leave school 15 minutes early and you'd use a white pole to stop the traffic," similar to a crossing guard, Shuttic said.
Back then there were no snow days, one maintenance worker handled the whole building and the school nurse administered shots for diphtheria and other ailments.
It's kind of tough knowing that the old school that holds so many memories for his family is set for the wrecking ball.
"My dad was born in 1907 so he went here," he said. "My youngest uncle is 76 and he came here, all of my aunts and uncles did."
Tag sale
Lynn Gibson, school board member, said those items that can be used in other district school buildings will be sent there. Linda Metzendorf, board president, said board members are talking about a tag sale to allow members of the public to buy a piece of the school like a desk or a chair that can't be used in other schools.
Bruce Lampson of Warren started at McKinley in 1934, graduating from Warren G. Harding in 1945. His son and daughter also attended the Elm Road elementary school.
It's nostalgia that brought him back to the hallways of his youth.
"I just wanted to get one last look," Lampson said.