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Fairfield School is Turning 150!
How old is the oldest school in the Davis school district? The answer is Fairfield School at 150. Apparently, there is a 150th Anniversary celebration coming up on Saturday, May 7, and everyone’s invited. So I will be there.
Fairfield as seen on my last visit in March 2016
The party begins promptly at 1 pm at the school on 26960 County Road 96 west of Davis. Mrs. Neu will be honored in a special ceremony, along with the late Ernie Pfanner and Barbara Stroeve Nichols, who also passed away in March -- plus many others who’ve helped make the school a nurturing environment for students these past two centuries.
Going to need to learn the story of Ernie Pfanner and the sandbox.
According to The Davis Enterprise:
“Deputy Superintendent Clark Bryant will read a proclamation, students will perform the Fairfield School song and all will enjoy contradancing with a professional caller. At 2 p.m., cake and fresh fruit will be served, along with lemonade and sparkling cider.
Following the ceremony and refreshments, all are welcome to socialize, admire the grounds and artwork, add data to the Fairfield School timeline and sign the school’s guestbook.”
They say that RSVPs are appreciated, at http://tinyurl.com/Fairfield150th. For more information, email volunteer coordinator Lis Harvey atlovely@gmail.com or leave her a message at 530-758-2667, ext. 152.
Can someone indicate in the comments what the Fairfield School timeline is all about?
Food Fairy Columnist Features Mrs. Neu
Mrs. Neu was featured this past week in Food Fairy Julie Cross' column in The Davis Enterprise:
“I met Mrs. Neu through Carrots in the Classroom, of course — she would never miss an opportunity for her class to learn something worthwhile. I had known of her for years already, as several honorary nieces and nephews attended Fairfield School. The children always said her name in the vaguely hushed tone usually reserved for rock stars or winning athletes.
Mrs. Neu deserved that tone. She ran her classroom with equal parts love, passion and firmness. Her students — kindergartners and first-graders, mind you — were always well-behaved while still being excited and involved — an almost magical state for that age, as any parent will attest.”
Julie also captures well how Mrs. Neu taught both children and adults in her classroom:
“As far as I could tell, she applied the same formula to anyone who walked into her classroom, without regard to age. I think from her perspective there was very little difference between a kindergartner and a brand-new instructor. If she saw a chance to teach, she taught.”
She also honors Dorothy Peterson in her column, who also recently passed away. Dorothy started Carrots in the Classroom, serving up cooking classes to hundreds of Davis kids over the past 15 years, including my Mrs. Neu's classroom at fairfield. May they both rest in peace.
Iconic David Enterprise Columnist Bob Dunning's Goodbye
My family wanted to publicly thank Bob Dunning for his heartfelt goodbye to our mother. Even under deadline and without us getting back to him with more background info on time, the Wary I got it right:
“Barbara Neu taught with great passion and purpose and was a true gift from God to all of us … she will be missed …”
Viewing the Barbara Neu Memorial Video
Several people have asked if they could view the Barbara Neu Memorial Video that was shown at the life celebration event at the Davis Community Church. If you missed it, or, you just want to see it again, we've posted it on YouTube (at least for a limited time). Here it is ...
This is the video shown at Barbara Neu's Memorial Celebration on April 3, 2016. It is produced in loving memory of my Mom (March 19, 1940 - March 30, 2016).
Thanks to Fairfield alumnus Stephen de Ropp for his video editing assistance.
Thank you for your support
Thank you to all who donated and left comments on the Donationto site. Thanks to you, we raised $4,750 at post time.
Mrs. Neu would thank you, too
As a next step, we are happy to confirm that the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship Fund of Yolo Community Foundation is now set up and ready to accept tax-deductible donations with 501(c)(3) status. We will be donating all the funds collected (so far, and going forward) to this newly-established endowment scholarship fund and work with the Yolo Community Foundation to set up the scholarship particulars later in the year (we still need to reach the $25,000 goal to finalize the endowed fund).
If you would like to make a donation to the fund directly (and get the tax deductibility), the fund has been added as an option to the online-giving page of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation (of which the Yolo Community Foundation is an affiliate), for donors who wish to gift by credit card. If you go to their website at www.sacregcf.org and click on GIVE NOW in the upper right-hand corner, it will take you to their donation page (https://ssl.charityweb.net/sacregcf/). Under “Please use my donation for,” there is a pull-down menu, and you may select the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship (it's the second option on the list). Donors who wish to donate by check can make their checks out to YCF-Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship and mail them to:
Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship Fund of Yolo Community Foundation
c/o Sacramento Region Community Foundation
955 University Avenue, Suite A
Sacramento, CA 95825
How to select Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship on the SacReg Community Foundation web form
We'd like to thank Raphael Moore for his help in introducing us to the local community foundations, as well as Babs Sandeen, Executive Director of the Yolo Community Foundation and Fran Baxter-Guigli, Donor Services Officer, with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. But, most of all, we thank all of you for your support and donating to an idea that we fortunately stumbled upon to memorialize my mother, Barbara Neu, that just seems right.