There weren’t any IBM stock certificates inside the bicentennial time capsule put together by 50 years ago by the Elgin High School class of 1976. No mood rings or bell-bottom pants or copies of “Frampton Comes Alive!” either.
But there was one priceless item: a Pet Rock.
“We were so silly back in the ’70s,” said Gale Miller, a member of the school’s bicentennial committee, who joined Principal Avelira Rodríguez González Friday in revealing the locked wooden box’s contents last seen in 1976.
“I thought we were going to find things like a pack of smokes or silly stuff. Apparently they didn’t allow that stuff in there because I’m pretty sure someone would have snuck something funny in there. But I’m very pleased with the stuff they had,” Miller said.
Among the items that did make the cut was a folder of photos of the high school, then-Principal Richard Felicetti, students and the staff member who played the guitar and sang the daily announcements. It was the country’s bicentennial year, so some were of Miller, then a junior, and other students wearing homemade costumes and riding in a horse-drawn wagon to elementary schools to teach children about life in 1776.
“This is the only thing I remember putting in the box is pictures,” Miller said.
Rodríguez González was particularly amused by the daily musical interlude. “I’m going to start singing the announcements. I love that,” she said.
In addition to a copy of The Mirror, the high school newspaper at the time, there were newspaper clippings, including one about Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter bringing his presidential campaign and “heavy southern drawl” to DuPage County.
There was a catalog from JCPenney, an EHS yearbook and a copy of the school dress code, which laid out such rules as boys being prohibited from having hair hanging over the top of the ears or lower than their collar and Bermuda shorts being only ones allowed. T-shirts and sweatshirts were banned for both sexes.
A yellowed letter inside the school’s walk-in safe dated June 7, 1976, and signed by Felicetti gave instructions for how the capsule should be opened.
Miller, who graduated in 1977, knew the time capsule box had been kept at a bank, which ended up closing, and was later returned to the school. She contacted Rodríguez González about tracking it down.
“There might be a capsule somewhere in the school that needs to be opened,” she told the principal. “She said, ‘It’s here. I was like, are you kidding me?” Miller said.
Rodríguez González said the stars were aligned.
Mari Gathman, a “76er” graduate and EHS teacher for 24 years, had no memory of the time capsule but said she got a kick out of seeing the photos from her time as a student.
“Elgin High is a good place to work. It’s a good place to be,” Gathman said.
Friday’s unveiling brought back happy memories, Miller said. “I always had good memories from high school,” she said.
The class of 1976 plans to celebrate its 50th reunion in August.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
