Newton Highlands Congregational Church’s new office manager, Annemarie Rom-Weisenbach, came across a Boston Globe article by George M. Collins from December 17, 1965, that reveals some of the history of a Weekday Church School in Newton Highlands.
According to the article, the school was a joint project of Newton Highlands Congregational Church, UCC (NHCC), and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, located nearby, on Walnut Street. Students ranged from age three through grade 9. The program opened in September 1965.
“The joint effort came about over a period of several years as the result of far-seeing lay leaders and unusually cooperative clergy,” the article states. Senior ministers the Reverend John M. Balcom (St. Paul’s) and the Reverend Paul G. Pitman (NHCC), “became convinced that ‘we could have a much more professional school by combining forces.'”
Mrs. Paul Pitman and Mrs. Arthur (Marianne) Talis were among the teachers at the school.
Longtime church member Helen Lowery shared memories of her time as a teacher at the Weekday Church School. She started teaching first grade there in the late 1960s, when her children were toddlers, and continued until the early 1970s. The Reverend Dudne Breeze was the NHCC pastor by that time; he had been selected by a search committee that included Mrs. Lowery and her husband Bill.
“We had a good time teaching,” Mrs. Lowery said. “We really enjoyed it!
Mrs. Lowery explained the organizational structure of the Weekday Church School. It ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays (early release days for public school children) for one-and-one-half to two hours. Children were grouped by age and attended one of the two days. Some were affiliated with one of the two churches, and others were not. Classes were held in the basement of NHCC and at Dewey House, behind St. Paul’s.
Mrs. Lowery recalled that babysitting was provided for the teachers’ children in Dewey House, behind St. Paul’s. She taught on Tuesdays, and one of her students was David Nauss, who is now a design builder and restoration contractor. (Mr. Nauss’s firm has done several projects for NHCC, including building the tech area in the back of the sanctuary and removing the step in the baptismal area.)
According to Mrs. Lowery, teachers used a combination of purchased curriculum and activities that they developed themselves. One year they helped the children put on a play called “The Good Samaritan.”
NHCC also housed the Weekday Nursery School. That program, exclusively for preschoolers, was incorporated in March 1971 and closed in 2018. It was open to children from all over the community.
