At 93 years old, Anne Backus Wanzer ’50 still carries Harley with her—clear as day, vivid as ever. She started at Harley in 1936, just four or five years old, stepping into a world that would shape her life for decades to come. Except for two wartime years when gas rations forced her family to temporarily enroll her in Webster Public School for 5th and 6th grade, Harley was home from kindergarten through graduation.
Anne remembers being painfully shy as a child, but Harley opened her world. Her older brother, Dick ’40, was the first to make the leap; their father wanted him to study Latin, which Webster didn’t offer and Harley did. So, the entire family, Dick, Priscilla “Puss” ’41, and Anne ’50, transferred—scholarship students surrounded by extraordinary teachers who brought their liberal arts backgrounds and high expectations into the classroom.
Some of these teachers became lifelong inspirations. Emily Neal (Math, Latin, Physics, Head of Upper School, 1933-52), a Wellesley graduate and single woman working in an era when few women pursued such paths, made math feel expansive and empowering. She later married Bill Biscoe (Lower School, 1940-42). Biology teacher Cliff Whiting (Science, Physical Education, 1933-57), a Bates College graduate who also ran a summer camp in Maine, brought science to life. And Madame Windholz (French, 1919-23. 1926-74) introduced Anne to the beauty of French language and culture.
By the time she was in Upper School, Anne had grown into a confident leader and was elected president of Student Council. She proudly recalls carrying the American flag during Friday assemblies—an honor reserved for the student with the highest marks in Upper School. Back then, everyone gathered weekly, and each class marched in with their banners. “The school was pretty small then,” and she says those assemblies were a wonderful way to pull all the grades together.
Lunch took place in what was then called the “New Building,” and before eating the students recited Shakespeare together. Anne still remembers the lines from Hamlet she and her classmates spoke each day:
“This above all: to thine own self be true…”
Anne remembers Harley as quite a progressive school and cultural enrichment was a key component. She recalls music classes where students were given blank paper while classical music played—“we drew whatever the music inspired.” She remembers the annual Spring Maypole dance on the front lawn done by the low primary grades, and the sound of recorders playing old English music.
Harley’s progressive spirit showed up in other ways too. Spring meant “Work Day”—no classes, just students and parents pitching in to paint, landscape, or repair the school. “The school didn’t have much money, and we loved helping.”
Some memories are etched deeper than others:
• Mrs. Edna Broadbooks (Lower School, 1931-49) in the Lower School, teaching math with handmade puppet shows.
• First grade “cooking class” with classmates, used as a way to not only teach the kids how to cook, but also to learn arithmetic
• Report cards that were pages long, carefully describing each child’s growth.
• A beloved classmate who moved to Ithaca—and the entire 3rd grade took the Lehigh Valley Train to visit him.
• Ms. Florence McGlashan (Lower School, 1930-45), who mesmerized children during rest time with original stories that she made up each day about “Mr. Weatherbee and his Flying Crate.”
• Nature study was often done right at Allen’s Creek—just as it is today. And with Harley’s informal culture, students sometimes called teachers by their first names.
• Her class—21 students—was considered one of the largest. And traditions were alive and well: when a new student body president was elected, the “hazing” ritual involved tossing them fully clothed into Allen’s Creek from the bridge. Anne laughs remembering how it happened to her, too.
• She loved sports—especially field hockey—and treasured the old pavilion behind the school where PE classes and athletics were held on rainy days. She also mentioned that her brother Dick ‘40 played six man football.
• She also loved music. “We performed Oklahoma! and the Mikado in Upper School!”
• The seniors had a smoking room (!!) where she was taught how to inhale by a classmate. She exclaimed, “Chesterfields! Horrors!”
After Harley, Anne went on to Smith College and jokes that she may have been “one of the last generations to go to college to find a husband.” She raised her children before eventually working in bookselling, but she credits Harley’s progressive education with shaping her curiosity, confidence, and love for music and learning.
