LAYTON -- Ruby Price has been a staple in the Davis County school system since 1950, and on Friday, a group of construction workers at Layton High found a way to say thank you.
Using a chain saw donated by Mike Slosar, who works for MS Construction, crews from MS and Ascent Construction cut large pieces out of two tree stumps on the north side of Layton High and presented them to Price.
The stumps are remnants of what were large oak trees that once sat in the front yard of Price's old home.
The trees were cut down in April to make way for construction of a new building on the north side of Layton High.
The new building will house 20 new classrooms and allow the school to stop using portable classrooms. Before Layton High was built in 1965, Price's home stood on a piece of land on North Wasatch Drive that is now the northeast corner of the school campus.
The trees, which Ascent Construction's Justin Brady estimates to have been 50 to 60 feet tall before they were cut down, were planted by Price and her husband in the early 1950s.
Head custodian Rod Southam said he counted the rings after the trees were cut, and although some were blurry, each trunk had close to 60 rings.
The 94-year-old Price began her teaching career in 1950 at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City. She was the first black teacher in the state.
She later taught at Verland Park Elementary, which sat only a few hundred yards from where Layton High is now.
"I loved teaching," Price said. "I think education is the backbone of this nation."
Price retired from full-time teaching in the 1970s but continued as a substitute at junior high and high schools throughout Davis County.
Price said when she left her home and Layton High was built, she always cherished driving by and seeing the trees she and her husband planted all those years ago.
"I thought those trees would be here for at least 100 years," Price said. "I always thought it would be nice for the students to come out here and sit underneath them and study -- or at least pretend to study."
The arrangement to give Price pieces of the tree stumps came about by coincidence.
On the day the trees were being removed, Price and her daughter happened to be driving near Layton High and saw them coming down.
"Ruby and her daughter came and told us about how they planted those trees," Brady said, "so we thought maybe we could cut a nice piece out for her as a keepsake."
Price plans to have the chunks of tree sanded down, laminated and engraved.
Comments