The bridge of Harvey Firestone’s bronze nose has been rubbed raw to brass.
It’s tradition at his namesake West Akron school — Firestone High — for students to touch the rubber baron’s schnoz for luck whenever they pass by.
On Saturday, about 50 members of the first two classes to graduate from Firestone — the classes of 1965 and 1966 — gathered around Harvey’s bust for a final touch of good fortune before Harvey moves next door to the Firestone Community Learning Center, still under construction, and their alma mater is torn down.
“Wait a minute, you’re Lynda? I’m Sande,” Sande Levinson Brecher said, recognizing a woman who walked into the school’s home-ec room behind her. “I was just telling my husband about you, this girl in my home room who had the most wonderful collection of sweaters.”
Lynda Leeper Kellerman said she was surprised anyone would remember her clothes. Her family, she said, didn’t have much money and she mostly shopped in the basement of Polsky’s downtown for bargains.
Brecher, who lives in the Washington, D.C., suburbs now, said all of her school clothes came from her dad’s store, Levinson’s, which evolved into the Cuyahoga Falls uniform store by the same name.
“And, believe me, that store didn’t have anything as nice as what you had,” Brecher said.
Walking through Firestone — its trophy cases, wall art, books and computers stripped and packed to move next door — triggered a cascade of memories, both good and bad, for the group.
“They haven’t painted these lockers in 50 years!”
“I remember running up and down these steps a million times to learn typing and shorthand.”
“We never realized how good we had it, what a beautiful school this was.”
The classes of ’65 and ’66 moved into Firestone High while it was still under construction. With no lockers yet installed, they stowed their coats and books on tables near the entryway.
Judith Resnik — who went on to become an engineer and a NASA astronaut before being killed when the space shuttle Challenger was destroyed during launch in 1986 — was among them.
Members of the Class of 1966 lingered Saturday in the school library in front of a white wall-hanging of Resnik’s likeness, some taking pictures with cameras or computer tablets.
“She was one of the smartest people I ever knew,” said Becky Schaal Tompkins, who helped organize Saturday’s tour.
About two hours into the tour, all but about a half-dozen women had left the original Firestone High to tour its replacement.
Those left behind reminisced in the lobby under the watchful eyes of Harvey Firestone.
One remembered “Bermuda Day,” the one time students were allowed to wear shorts if they paid 25 cents.
Another said she was sent home from school because her skirt was too short — it didn’t touch the floor when she kneeled, alone, in a male principal’s office.
And Lyn Schlitt said culottes were a no-no, even if they reached below the knee.
As the other women followed their classmates to the new school next door, Schlitt lingered, lit a cigarette and stood at Firestone High alone.
School, for her, had been miserable.
“All of these people remembered me today and said I was nice,” Schlitt said, taking a drag on her cigarette. “I was not nice.”
When a man in a car pulled to the curb to pick her up, Schlitt said her Firestone classmates could undo a fib she’s told throughout her life, something apparently meant to bolster the image of her not being nice.
“They’re the only people in the world that know I didn’t graduate on 6/6/66,” she said, sliding into the passenger side seat of the car before riding away.
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.
