Memories of Lindbergh linger

Elia Powers

It has been nearly 25 years since Lindbergh Elementary School in

Costa Mesa last held its “Red, White and Blue” celebration, timed

most often with President’s Day.

Longtime teacher Garlan Wetzel still remembers the pageantry.

“We would talk about the accomplishments of Lincoln and Washington

and other past leaders of the country,” said Wetzel, now 82. “We had

flag salutes and a music teacher teaching different songs. The

superintendent was very interested in love-your-country activities.

“We were very patriotic in those days.”

Students wrote reports on various presidents and read their

passages at an all-school assembly. Some painted their faces, waved

small American flags and donned pinstriped shirts.

Wetzel remembers Lindbergh School for its cohesive, patriotic

environment.

Former teacher Jean Gilbert, who taught mostly first-grade

students, has fond memories, as well.

“It was a neat place,” she said. “Everyone was very helpful.”

From the beginning, it was a school that appreciated historical

accomplishments. When students were asked to choose the school’s

name, they overwhelmingly elected to honor aviation pioneer Charles

Lindbergh, who recently had completed his 1927 transatlantic flight.

“He was the big national hero then,” Wetzel said.

The school opened in 1931 on 23rd Street and Orange Avenue. There

were 223 students, from kindergarten through fifth grade, and many of

the students’ fathers helped construct the brick building.

The school withstood a major earthquake in the spring of 1933 that

badly damaged nearby Main Elementary School. When Main closed for

repairs that year, Lindbergh took much of the student overflow,

creating a classroom shortage.

Teachers at the school displayed their patience over the years,

once agreeing to put their paychecks on hold in order to help the

school work out of a financial crisis.

Classrooms were added to Lindbergh throughout the 1940s. Wetzel

arrived in 1955 to teach fifth and sixth grades.

“It was the largest school for some time,” he said. “But it didn’t

have all the amenities schools have today. There was no multi-purpose

room. Students ate their lunches outside. There was no air

conditioning.”

In 1963, after the city of Costa Mesa deemed the original building

unsafe, a new facility was constructed on the same site.

Still, Wetzel said the atmosphere is what made the school

attractive.

“I was so enthusiastic about the way kids learned back then,” he

said. “They were receptive to everything.”

Wetzel fondly remembers school field trips, where he said the

administration gave him carte blanche. Students packed into their

parents’ cars, and the class visited spots such as the NBC studios in

Burbank and El Toro Marine Base.

Last year, nearly 40 of Wetzel’s former students who graduated in

the late 1950s came to visit him for his 82nd birthday.

Lindbergh closed, due to low enrollment, in 1982, one year before

Wetzel retired from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, where

he had taught at numerous schools.

“I didn’t imagine the school would ever shut down,” he said. “We

were such a great community.”

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