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Lloyd community says farewell
By NATALIE SCOTT
Lloyd Elementary School was filled with laughter and memories April 17 during its farewell celebration for past faculty, students, and any members of the community who wanted to reminisce about the school.
After 58 years of serving the Austintown community, the school will be closing this year and the students will be merging with students from several other elementary schools to learn in the newly-built Austintown Elementary School.
“This really is bittersweet for me,” said Thomas Lenton, the principal at Lloyd Elementary School. “This is the second building closing that I have been a part of and it’s definitely hard. It’s a great thing to see the community come share this evening with us and share their memories.”
Many members of the community joined in celebrating the experiences at this school, including Dorothy “Lloyd” Hood, whose father donated the land that the school is built on.
“My father owned the whole farm and they were looking for land just this size to build a school on and my father said OK as long as they agreed to name the school ‘Lloyd,’” said Hood. “My father was truly a jolly person — a really great person to be around.”
Margie Kemble, one of the first students to be educated in Lloyd Elementary School, helped Hood explore the school and shared some memories of her own, including bringing her great-grandfather’s chuck of meteorite to school for show-and-tell as a child. The two are great friends and have been for some time.
“We met about 10 years ago,” said Kemble. “We both lived in Canfield and she was looking for someone to help her take care of the house and I took the job. I realized who she was and told her that I went to Lloyd Elementary. We have been friends ever since.”