We traveled all around the Island Sunday and Monday expecting that on Tuesday we would hang out at the beach on the Cay, do some more snorkeling and relax, but this is what we saw when we woke up, so......
......it was back to the car to try one more time to find St. Dunstan's Episcopal School that Marc and Susan attended in his 6th and her 5th grade. We were told the general direction it was supposed to be in, but after exploring in 5 different directions at a 5 way intersection we decided to stop at a McDonalds where an older worker we asked knew exactly where the school was. It was up the next street a quarter mile from where we were. Finally......success!
This is what we found when we got there. A broken sign and an abandoned school, but at least we knew we were in the right place.
This picture is of St. Dunstan's Episcopal School when Jim Yeich (a teacher from my high school) came to St. Croix in 1966 to be the Summer Headmaster. That is when Jim met Marc's family. It looked a lot different then. The next year Marc would leave St. Croix halfway thru 7th grade to go live with Jim in the states and finish 7th grade at Blue Ridge High School in Pennsylvania.
Marc standing in front of the school as it looks now.
What was once the school office...
.........and what it used to look like back in the 60's when Jim was there for the summer.
This is the door to Marc's 6th grade class room # 7.
Some pretty foliage is still growing on the school grounds reminding us how nice is must have looked at one time.
Just an old play horse, but it made me think of the children who must have enjoyed riding on it. Maybe even Marc's sister Susan who was a year younger than Marc.
A real horse was tied up there at the school. While traveling around the island we would often see horses tied up in a yard, or along the road on long ropes, but we never saw them fenced in. Marc said that on St. Thomas when he and Debby had horses Susan got stuck with the donkey and when they tied one up the other two wouldn't go far.
Looking the other direction from the entrance.
Finding so many old friends, three of his former homes and the two schools he attended brought back so many memories to Marc of his life here in the Islands. I heard new stories, made new friends and was grateful I got to experience the beauty and uniqueness of the life Marc used to live as a young boy and also in the summers as a teenager down here in Paradise!
I don't know how he could have left all this to come back to the states, but young love makes you do crazy things and I am grateful we have had 42 years together so far.
More old pictures: Marc's family working to restore the "Liza" on the Cay.
Barbara, Debby, Susan, Bill and Marc
In this picture Jim Yeich is working on the front of the Liza with Bill.
This is Marc boating over to get Jim who would tutor Marc at the house on the Cay.
The family dog, Schnapps sailing with Marc on the North Star.
This is a picture of the scale house (yellow building on the right) as it is today and .......
..... how it looked in the 60's. There was a huge scale inside the building.
The white building below used to house the Alexander Hamilton Hardware Store.......
.....and it looked much the same back in the 60's, but look at the old cars lining the street.
King's Alley used to be the place to shop in the 60's. Now there are lots of new shops and places to eat.
Kings Alley again...a long time ago
We shopped for a few things and then went back to the Hotel. I swam in the pool and we later took the rental car back to the dealer and were picked up by Don Kimmel who took us to his and Judy's condo. Their condo was right on the beach and we got the grand tour.
The front has a large protected porch and a door to go out to the beach that locks for privacy and security.
Beach front to the right.
Beach front to the left where they do a lot of snorkeling.
The living room faces the beach and so does the kitchen in the pictures below.
The condo has two bedrooms, two baths and is very modern with the work the Kimmels have done to it. Nicely decorated and right on the beach. They use it for a month in January and rent it out the rest of the year. It would be a wonderful place to rent for anyone wanting to visit St. Croix.
We went out to dinner with the Kimmels who are delightful and fun to be with. It was so nice getting reacquainted with Judy and getting to know Don for the first time. What a great end to our day. We couldn't believe our vacation time was almost over. Back to the hotel to pack.
Hello! I enjoyed reading about St Dunstan's and the photos you shared. I went there in the early 1960s and was thinking about looking on a map to see what it looks like from a satellite photo. In that quest for its address, I came across you post and glad I did.
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