Press Release

August 11, 1999

For Immediate Release

RETURN OF REFURBISHED STAINED-GLASS DOORS TO MARK THE BEGINNING OF 1999-2000 SCHOOL YEAR AT STEELE ELEMENTARY; CLASS OF 1939 RAISED MONEY FOR THE PROJECT

With just a few weeks before the school year starts, the community and staff at Steele Elementary School will celebrate the beginning of the school year by re-installing a set of colorful, stained glass doors.

The doors, which depict three nursery rhymes, have been a colorful fixture in the school for decades.

They will be re-installed Friday, August 13th, at 10 a.m.

"These doors represent the history of the school and how valuable it is for children," said Steele principal Gail Paige-Archambeau. "They just bring back so many fond memories."

The doors needed repair, however, and it was Steele's own graduates, Class of 1939, that came to rescue.

"We noticed how badly damaged those stained glass doors were," said Myrtle Ireson. "Those doors are a treasure that needs to be brought to the attention of students and parents to say here is a part of the history of the school that is significant."

But Ireson, who flew as a flight attendant at United Airlines for 26 years, didn't wait for others to take get matters off the ground. "I just thought 'how about if I write a letter to class members and see if I can't get some donations?' " she said. Her goal: $950. To date, she has raised all but $200..

One key in the process was finding those classmates; one fellow classmate of Ireson's jumped on the Internet to track down men and women from Montana to California. "I had my old school autograph books and we went through those and we came up with names we never could have remembered," said Ireson.

The restoration work was performed by Watkins Stained Glass Studio, where the pieces may have originated. Paige-Archambeau says that the technique and materials used in the doors indicate it was probably the work of the Watkins family, decades ago.

The doors now lead to the ECE. The same room once housed the kindergarten and, before that, served as the caretaker's living quarters.

Steele Elementary is located at 320 S. Marion Street. For more information, please call the DPS Public Information Office 720-423-3414) or Steele Elementary (303-744-1717).