WYOMING, Mich. — “It’s Wyoming’s oldest continuing high school— same building with a few additions over time,” David Britten said Saturday as Lee High School celebrated 100 years.
Britten spent his freshman year at Lee in 1969.
He went on to serve in the U.S. Army for 22 years before returning to the city of Wyoming as a principal and eventually, superintendent.
Now, in his retirement, Britten studies his community and educates others through the Wyoming Historical Commission.
“History helps us to understand how we got to where we are today and what the many changes were and why they were made, why those changes happened,” Britten explained.
Recently, he co-authored a book called “100 Years at the Lee Street School.”
“I’ve been collecting material on this community and this school district for the last 20 years,” Britten said. “I thought it would be great for the community and for our alumni and stuff to try to capture that 100 years in a little time capsule and so that’s how the book came about.”
Britten helped put together Saturday’s massive reunion at Lee High School not only to celebrate 100 years on Lee Street, but also to bring together decades of students and staff.
“A chance to pull together the alumni with today’s students and families and let them connect in ways that they couldn’t do if they just looked at pictures all the time,” Britten added.
He estimates more than 400 people came to the reunion, including alumni from as far back as the 1950s.
“One of my former teachers graduated from here in ’59— my freshman algebra teacher— and he’s here. And he was one of the, he was the first king for homecoming, and he went on the field today [Saturday] when they had homecoming down at the field,” he told FOX 17.
“I don’t know why they started the king that year, but they did. So, that was an honor that my classmates gave me, so I appreciate that,” Tom Thompson, Lee High’s first-ever Homecoming King, said.
Thompson, also known as “Mr. T,” returned to his alma mater in 1963 where he taught a few different subjects and coached several sports teams until his retirement in 1994.
“It’s good to touch base with them and find out what they did with their life and, you know, and then knowing that you had a little part in that development, you know, by teaching them in the classroom. Some of them might not have used what I taught them right away but then some of them have and done really well with it, so yeah, it makes you proud of what you helped somebody else do,” Thompson said after seeing many of his former students Saturday.
Click here if you’re interested in getting a copy of 100 Years at the Lee Street School.
