By By KATHIE HEMPEL / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The community of Brandywine has been educating three generations of one family.
This week, all the generations celebrated as Brooke Allen, a member of the Class of 2007, walked the stage to receive her high school diploma.
"All three of my children and today my fourth grandchild have attended all 12 years and graduated from Brandywine. Brooke is actually brilliant," proud grandmother, Karen Martindale said.
She and daughter Kathy Kennedy reflected back on their own Brandywine School experience while waiting for Sunday's graduation ceremony to begin.
"I graduated in 1964. My favorite subject was gym and yet there were no girls' varsity teams in those days. I belonged to the Pep Club that did all the decorating and supporting of the boys' teams. Most of the classes I was encouraged to take were secretarial. There were no computers or schools of choice options then," she said.
Like her granddaughter, Martindale was a member of the varsity choir.
Sunday was Brooke's final performance with the choral group. Unlike today's students, pupils at the time Martindale attended Brandywine had to adhere to a strict dress code.
"If a boy did not wear his belt to school, he was given a rope to tie up his pants. Girls would never be wearing shorts. The rules were strictly enforced. I remember I got a spanking for throwing snowballs in the fifth grade, she said.
Kennedy does not see as great a difference from when she graduated in 1984 to today. Not as sports team inclined as her mother and daughter, Kennedy did participate in cheerleading and urged all the teams on to their victories.
"It seems to me Brooke has had even more choices today as far as which courses are available. Computers were just starting but still had a bit of a sci-fi feel about them. I am so very proud of Brooke as she had excelled in sports and academically. She is 11th in her class.
"I live out of district, but I still have all my kids go to school here. There is such a great group of parents and teachers," she said.
The highlight of the high school years for Martindale came when she received a letter from Nikita Khrushchev, then president of Russia, delivered with two FBI agents in attendance. She had written the communist leader asking questions about life there.
"It was personally signed with an autograph that started 'Dear Comrade'," she said.
Martindale continued reminiscing about how millages and government cutbacks never seemed to be a threat. She said she believes the privilege of attending school was not so much taken for granted as she feels is the case today.
"I met my husband cruising by Azar's Big Boy in South Bend. I was a pick-up. Now we have been married 43 years. We always felt safe then. That kind of cruising would never be allowed today," Martindale said.
Kennedy remembers the existence of drugs.
"Drugs were there but it was a choice you made. It still is," she said.
Martindale continued on with a secretarial career from high school. Kennedy pursued two associate degrees at Southwestern Michigan College in office administration and as a legal assistant.
Brooke, who served as treasurer for both the National and Spanish Honor societies, was a member of the Student Summit counted her trip with the Varsity Choir to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City during her sophomore year as her best memory. She has not yet decided what her major will be.