Time capsule contents restored

As a second-grader at West Grove Elementary School in 1976, Sheri Derringer still remembers the letter she wrote to be placed in a time capsule buried outside of the school.

The capsule was supposed to be unearthed 24 years later in 2000, but when that year came and passed with nothing done, she wasn’t certain she’d ever find out what became of the letters she and hundreds of fellow students had written.

“Every time I’d drive by the school I’d think about it,” Derringer said. “I didn’t think anyone would dig it up. It was really neat to have it happen.”

A four-hour search organized by another former West Grove Elementary School student, Tom Britt, led to the capsule being uncovered in November. Trees that had been intended to mark the location of the capsule had been removed, which meant they had to use a sonar device to locate the container.

The items recovered from the capsule included a pair of audio cassettes and a stack of moldy papers, since the container hadn’t been properly sealed, Britt said.

Britt mailed the cassettes to a pair of restoration companies, but neither was able to get them to work, he said.

At first glance, the papers, which were stuck together in one stack, didn’t appear to be salvageable either, he said.

But Britt spent the next four months carefully drying out and separating the papers, and was eventually able to save about 400 of the letters students had written more than 40 years ago. As the papers started to dry, he would gradually peel the stack apart into smaller and smaller chunks. Once they were dry enough, he used a dull butter knife to separate the individual letters.

He estimates that more than 90 percent of the papers were saved. At a reunion last week, Britt gave out letters to former students, with plans to mail ones to those who have moved away and weren’t able to attend.

The messages the elementary students had written on the letters were simple, following a format of giving their name, grade and some information about their family or pets, Britt said.

Derringer now has her letter framed and hanging on a wall at her home.

“It brings back so many memories of how life was then compared to now,” Derringer said.

Using newly-learned cursive writing, Derringer had written her maiden name, Sheri Bray; the date, April 20, 1976; and that she was a second grade student in room B.

Britt never found a letter from himself. He thinks that he might have been at the doctor’s office the day the letters were written, but he did find the one his younger brother wrote.

The interest that’s been generated by recovering the capsule is leading to the possibility of more being dug up in Johnson County. Another capsule at the former West Grove Elementary School, which is now Southland Community Church, is buried under a sidewalk. Britt said they have permission from the church to dig up the capsule as long as they are able to restore the sidewalk afterward.

Britt also plans to talk with a former principal of North Grove Elementary School, which has a capsule dating back to 1966, when the school opened, he said.