I am writing a book about Emily Griffith Opportunity School and the students who have attended there. I have interviewed close to 30 former EGOS students who have shared their memories and stories. I would like to share the recollections of three students.
A picture taken in the 1920’s of Emily Griffith and two students depicts Miss Griffith pointing to a huge sign that says, “HELP ONE ANOTHER.” This philosophy infiltrated the school. On many nights, Emily discreetly handed a needy student the requisite coin for the streetcar fare home. One of her employees helped a young and poor Edna Milliken find housing. Studying typing, shorthand, English and spelling, Edna was a Wyoming transplant. Now 98 years old, Mrs. Milliken vividly remembers the 1927 event. “I went to the lady...who helped students get placement jobs. I told her I needed a place to stay and she placed me with her sister and mother...I lived there about a year and a half. They were awfully good to me.” The school staff, then as now, stretched their concern for students beyond the classroom walls.
Gabriela Bowman, an immigrant from Slovenia, enlisted the support of the school over the course of 17 years. She boomeranged in and out of Opportunity School like Generation Xers rebounding to and from their parents’ homes. In 1974, as a young single parent, she learned to speak, read, and write English. Upon the purchase of her first home, she took interior decorating. A few years later, she trained to become a dental assistant. Years later, brushing off the tread marks of a failed marriage, she rebounded to the school where she studied practical nursing. She also met and married her husband who was in the nursing program. The school brought two loves into her life, the love of her husband John and the love of her profession, nursing. Gabriela said, “Emily Griffith is my second home. I would do anything for Emily Griffith. This is the best school...All the things I have done in my life because of Emily Griffith.”
Another former student, Denver native Flora Gasser, 90, told how four generations of her family have been impacted by Emily. Her father-in-law, Lou attended shop classes while Emily was principal. He started a successful business designing bronze tablets and cremation burial urns. Flora, a community activist and writer, took cooking, nutrition, and floral design. Her husband, Ray studied metals. Flora’s daughter, Raymona participated in Parent Education Preschool with her three sons, Chris, Kent and Brad. As Flora stated, “Denver is sentimental about Opportunity School...This is the place where all the misplaced people go, looking for an opportunityÉEmily’s spirit hovers over the school.”
Carolyn Brink