Memories from Stephanie Hammond (Smith)

Saw your Hilltop blog. My name is Stephanie Hammond and my older brother Paul and I lived on Chisholm at the end of the circle.

I think I was in Kindergarten when you guys came through. Hilltop closed after 2nd grade and then we went to Reed for 3rd. I'm 1989 grad Here's my thoughts...

Although I live in Minnesota now, my St Louis visits include a swing by the old neighborhood. Someone really nailed my sentiment when they said it was a neighborhood not just a school. With an older brother with older friends, I was a frequent tag-along and heard lots of stories from the upper classes. We spent lots of time up on the playground, playing ball, lava creatures, tennis, basketball. It was a park in the off hours. No adult supervision -- just fun. Our time in the Timberman's fort (right across from the school) was a favorite until somehow a fire got started there and once again my parents created some boundaries. We'd run the backyards of all the houses up to the school just like tons of kids did. (Later when we started bus rides, there was a stop at Alice/Hilltop, Chisholm/Hilltop, Comstock/Hilltop, Arrowhead at the curve, at the school and then out of the neighborhood. I would miss one of the stops and would need to run to catch the bus. This helped make me ready for HS track team!)

Running through yards was just as natural to run in yards as staying on the streets. No one minded. We'd cut through the bushes behind Nicole Hammond's house to get to Brightling. I remember when they closed off Chisholm to Collingwood by a chain and stop sign and I couldn't understand why. And the huge windstorm that ripped up the sidewalks when so many trees along Collingwood were toppled. I remember when they cut the trees down behind the school and it became a Star Wars hideout. Not sure if the trees were damaged first but I just remember them being down. We played with light saber sticks until my Dad finally found out where we were playing. That's when Star Wars was first released and I hadn't seen it yet but everyone dressed like one of the characters from the movie in the Halloween parade. What an awesome tradition!!

I have pictures of the bike parade for 1976 bicentennial and I just remember so many people houses had US flags out and came outside for our parade. And it was a good year for Halloween because I got to go out with Paul for the first time. Came home loaded! Every house on every street north of the school was fair game. No x-rays. No adults driving along in their cars. Neighborhood trust. You knew houses by who lived there not their numbers. I wish my son had an experience like Hilltop. I remember dirt clod wars on bikes. Riding to the recycling center and across the railroad tracks back by the bagel factory and all the Dielman industrial area. Then we learned the path to Indian Meadows and the post office by cutting through the parking lots and head past Dielman school. As we got older we were given more distance. Then we could finally cross Olive which opened things up like Burger Chef!

The lunch room at Hilltop was awesome because all the classes ate at the same time. You saw the older kids and knew their names. You wanted to be like them. I remember taking pennies to school to buy a milk card. Lunch boxes were IT. Dukes of Hazzard. Disney characters. Oh yeah, star wars... We did a school musical in May in the lunch room/cafeteria. Still have the 1978 program. Kenny Black and my brother played the piano. Mr. Quarells was the story teller and the first graders did the Peter Rabbit portion of the program that is really vivid. The boy scouts met there and they did Hansel and Gretl. We spent hours making the candy house out of cardboard and sweets.

The all-school race around the perimeter of the school was a favorite day of the year for me. I loved beating the older kids and got my first running medal and it's engraved with the school name on the back. Mrs. Giles took our artwork (somewhere?) and entered them in a contest. The day she came back and handed out the ribbons to so many in my class really stands out. Birthday parties were with kids on my street not my classmates necessarily. I had lots of big brothers and sisters in the neighborhood.

And a bunch of random memories: Mom walking me to school at the top of our street on my first day of Kindergarten...voting booths in the library...climbing the tree to get balls and frisbees off the roof, jumping down the back stairwell landing...dodgeball...square dancing in gym...chanting "girls base" from the white jungle gym while we taunted the boys...learning cheers from the older girls...watching Letter People in the 3rd grade classroom where the TV was.... catching lightning bugs in jars...playing Indian Bat Ball at the end of the circle...A class petition to get Coach Probst? fired because he was so mean to the kids...Mr Schlamb's Davey Bones locker and my hope that someday he'd be MY teacher too...letters from Mrs. Baron over the summer welcoming me to her class and encouraging me to read...the bookmobile coming to the school parking lot and spending hours there...my first kiss...the day we learned that Hilltop would close and that our class would be split up between three third grade classes... feeling like the kids in Indian Meadows on the after school activity bus were a lot like the Hilltop kids and not like the rest...learning that people shopped at THE mall rather than at Kmart and Venture and Grandpa Pigeons or mom making my clothes...school being vacant on Jewish holidays...the day the busdriver Phil dropped me off MY house...the day I figured out that my parents were "lower middle class" and that there was something different about our side of Olive Blvd...

After Mrs. Moore taught our K year, she moved to California because I remember her pointing the state out on the map. We had Mrs. Baron for 1st and 2nd grades and they combined us for the last year before our transfer to Reed. I was pleased that we had a Hilltop picture taken at our 10th reunion and plan on it again for our 20th.

Thanks for creating the blog. Stephanie