Geggie Elementary School has been a vital hub in Eureka for the last 60 years, current staff members said.
The school, 430 Bald Hill Road, was built in 1965 on the late Robert T. Geggie’s farm, and decades of growth may be seen around the school’s grounds.
Subdivisions have sprung up around Geggie, and recently, the city renovated the nearby Lions and Legion parks and built a new government center near the school.
While there have been many changes around Geggie, some things have remained constant, such as school secretary Deborah Holtmeyer.
Holtmeyer, 70, of Eureka has worked at the school for 38 years, and she said the school has always been a close-knit community that comes together to help families, staff and the city.
“We are a unique school and truly blessed,” she said. “We always come together during tough times, building resilience with an outpouring of affection, support, and prayers, as we embrace each other to show that we care.”
In the nearly four decades she has worked at Geggie, Holtmeyer said she has helped enroll more than 2,000 children. She said the school typically has between 500 to 650 kindergarten through fifth grade students.
Holtmeyer said one of the latest changes will be her title next school year, when she will be classified as an administrative assistant. However, like her duties of recording student attendance, enrolling new students, updating the web page and writing newsletters, she said many things will be the same. Especially the school’s distinct culture, which she said is nurtured by everyone in the building.
“I could have retired six years ago, but I love the people I work with and the things I do,” Holtmeyer said. “I’ve never been anywhere else, but people share that this is a unique school. It’s not one person, from the custodian to the cooks to the teachers, everybody plays a role, because everybody’s willing to chip in.”
Celebrating
Geggie celebrated six decades of education during its 14th annual 5K run/walk on April 26.
The event that began as a practice run for the school’s Girls on the Run club has grown to include nearly the entire school and many Eureka residents.
Proceeds from the registration fee go toward Girls on the Run and various programs at Geggie, said physical education teacher Rachael Fonke.
This year, about 680 participants participated in the 5K. They started at Geggie, went through Shaw’s Garden, Drewel Park and the Flat Creek trail before returning to the school for a celebration in the gym.
Geggie PTO vice president Elyse Powell said 5K participants and other community members perused historical displays and had opportunities to take pictures in a photobooth during the anniversary celebration.
Third grade teacher Mary Ann Lee, 48, of Wildwood has taught at Geggie for 24 years. She said the 5K event is just one example of how the school community supports the students.
“The family feel, the community and the kindness, along with the camaraderie with the staff, I wouldn’t ever want to move schools,” she said. “It’s everything I’ve wanted as a teacher, and it would be hard to move and not have the same.”
One of the highlights of Lee’s school year is reconnecting with high school graduates she once had in her classroom. Eureka High School seniors return to Geggie at the end of the school year and walk through the halls of the school where their Rockwood School District journey began.
Lee said it is special to reconnect with former students during organized events like the seniors returning to Geggie.
“I get to know families, and I’m even watching some of my students become teachers,” Lee said. “It’s fun to see where my students go with their lives and fun to see how I’ve played a part.”
Geggie Elementary School is named after Robert T. Geggie, a local farmer who served on the Rockwood Board of Education for more than three decades. The school was built on the site of his old farm on Bald Hill Road.
History
Robert Geggie was born in 1891 on his parents’ farm in Eureka, according to the Eureka Historical Society. His farm is now Bald Hill Road, and he was a 31-year member of the Rockwood Board of Education, from 1939 to 1970.
Lee said Geggie has evolved since being built in 1965 with the addition of a kindergarten wing and classrooms.
The school underwent a major renovation project in 2018 thanks to a $95.5 million bond issue voters approved in April 2017. Rockwood spent just more than $4.5 million to add eight classrooms, seven full-size rooms and a smaller room to the building’s north side and to renovate and expand the school’s library/media center.
Lee said one of the biggest changes she’s seen in the classroom is the shift from conventional chalkboards to SmartBoards. She also said each student having a laptop or iPad has been a big change.
“I think technology has been the biggest shift in education,” Lee said. “The curriculum has changed a lot, and the expectations have changed a lot for kids over the years.”
Holtmeyer said that school has evolved over the years, so has her role at Geggie.
She began working as a substitute in the cafeteria for three months before splitting her time working in the front office and cafeteria. She helped the school create the position she is in now.
“When I was first here at Geggie, we had only six rotary telephones and computers for the office,” she said. “Now all the rooms in the building have phones and laptops for the entire staff. (Before working at the school) I was a computer programmer. I was on the leading edge of that, and that was probably one of the most important things when I first was hired that I was capable of doing.”
Holtmeyer said some of her favorite memories at Geggie are from participating in field day activities like tug of war, sack races and the water balloon toss. She also enjoyed dressing as Big Bird, Mrs. Frizzle from the “Magic School Bus” book series, Smokey the Bear and Cat in the Hat for school events and reading books to each classroom during Reading Week.
Holtmeyer said she is an “artsy person,” and she painted several murals around the school featuring the Geggie tiger mascot. She’s also painted a map of the United States and a fish aquarium on the skylight.
Unfortunately, many of her murals have since been covered up during renovations, she said.
“God has truly blessed me, and I love what I do,” Holtmeyer said.