In April of 1992, my wife got a phone call with news we thought we’d never hear. A vacancy had opened at St. George’s preschool. Would we want that spot for our daughter?
We accepted immediately and came to describe that call as the time “we won the lottery.”
Back then, St. George’s was so popular that the director had stifled a giggle when my wife had asked, a few weeks earlier, if we could be put on a waiting list. She kindly took our phone number, but there was no waiting list — unless you count the scores of parents who, we were told, camped out the night before yearly registration just to qualify for a drawing for the few seats available, some advance-registering children from birth.
With green lawns, cheerful classrooms displaying brightly colored toys on spotless rugs, a play-yard of well-kept equipment and raked sand, and highly qualified teachers and staff, St. George’s provided everything a parent could wish for.
The values taught there, simply at the preschool and later echoed in LCF schools and programs, represent the highest aspirations of our community: to share and cooperate, show courtesy and civility, tolerance and respect, remain curious and strive for truth.
I am sad it is closing, of course, but mainly I am grateful to St. George’s and to its members for creating such a strong, loving, integral piece of the city’s cultural fabric. St. George’s will always represent the best of La Cañada Flintridge.
Martin N Burton
La Cañada Flintridge
First published in the April 13 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
