Students open time capsule
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DAYTON — Former students at Dayton School experienced a blast from the past last week when they opened a 13-year-old time capsule. A tube of roll-on lip gloss, a toy Jeep Cherokee, a $2 bill, a pencil, a package of “Rugrats” fruit gummies and a tiny plastic horse were among the treasures sealed in a time capsule and buried on Dayton School grounds. Students who attended Dayton Elementary at that time watched as former student Shane Leineke and former Dayton teacher Casey Love dug and used a crowbar to unearth the capsule on May 31.
Love used a GPS to find the location, technology he taught all his students 13 years ago. He admitted he didn’t sleep well the night before because he was worried about finding the capsule.
The students prepared the time capsule to celebrate the millennium and because teacher Casey Love thought this might be the year he retired from teaching.
Love said he’d kind of forgotten about the capsule when student Paula Broad called him in Lakeside, where he is superintendent, and asked if she’d missed the opening of the capsule.
Then a lady called from a car dealership. Someone had traded in a pickup, and as she cleaned the hay out of the bed, she found a book with pictures of the students and what they contributed to the time capsule. The woman knew someone who knew Love and got his number.
Love said if Broad had not called and the book hadn’t surfaced, the capsule might have been forgotten.
“That was just a good group of kids,” he added. “They were very close.”
GreyDon Jonhson was in second grade when the capsule was buried. He loved the school.
“It was free and open,” Jonhson said. “Everybody got along real good.”
Yvonne Leineke remembered a funeral held for a pet caterpillar.
“Mr. Love was the coolest teacher,” Rachel Doran said.
She recalled activities the Dayton kids got to do that other schools didn’t, such as visiting Bannock and panning for gold.
Over a lunch of fried chicken and potato salad, the students reminisced and looked at the contents of the time capsule.
Despite a little dust, everything survived, although Tanya Leineke’s lip gloss felt like oil, and Jonhson’s “Rugrats” fruit gummies were hard as wood chips.
And Love submitted his resignation the night before.
