Small world closes after 34 years
June 17, 2006
By JOSEPH M. DELEON News-Post Staff
jdeleon @ fredericknewspost . com
FREDERICK — Tiny bodies squirmed as their rhythmic voices recited the alphabet. Eager hands cut shapes out of a kaleidoscope of paper. Tiny feet dashed across a field as hands passed "it" to laughing playmates. That's what children experienced from 6:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at A Small World Nursery School for more than 34 years.
The center closed its doors Friday.
When Rebecca McKenzie, 80, opened the center in 1972, a forest crowded the property west of the center. The only development nearby was farmland.
"It's a sad day, but happy in a way, too," Ms. McKenzie said. "Now I can stay in my jammies, no more snow or ice to fight."
She made the decision to close the center about a year ago. Hip surgery in May and her age influenced the decision.
The center operated in the educational wing of the Frederick Alliance Church on Opossumtown Pike north of U.S. 15.
Ms. McKenzie's daughter Darlene Basham, 58, helped open the center. Ms. Basham's daughter, Tammy Harris, 36, was practically raised at the center.
Ms. Harris raised her children Sarah, 14, Alivia, 7, and Alex, 4, at the center too.
"I remember sitting on this floor playing Barbies, and now my children are doing it," she said.
Patricia Stitely worked as a teacher for the center for more than 30 years. She said none of the children was ever hurt in that time.
"I think I used only about five Band-Aids over the years," she said. "Our eyes were always on the children."
Ms. McKenzie remembers the games children used to play.
"They would run races up and down that hill before there was a fence there," she said, pointing to chain links that surround Fort Detrick.
She remembers children would write their name on a postcard and attach it to a balloon.
"The one that got the furthest would get a prize," she said. "I think the furthest one got out to Ocean City."
Ms. McKenzie remembers some scary days, too.
"I remember a yellow VW came around back, and a man wearing a mask got out," she said.
The man had just robbed Frederick Iron and Steel on Seventh Street. He carried a sawed-off shotgun wrapped in a towel.
"I was fast enough so that I could lock the door," Ms. McKenzie said. "I told all the children to get on the floor."
The man fled to the nearby forest.
A police helicopter landed in the parking lot as FBI agents scouted the area.
"It was a good getaway because there was nothing but woods here," she said. "He got through Detrick, but they stopped him in Thurmont."
A modest garden at the entrance of the educational wing was planted in memory of the center.
Ms. McKenzie walked with deliberate steps as she supervised the farewell cookout Friday. Her voice was stern but loving, and her passion for children shone clearly in her eyes.
"So we have all this to think about," Ms. McKenzie said. "It's a lot of memories ... a lot of memories."