A panel of four former Stevens School employees plan to speak about their experiences there during “Stevens School Reflections,” a program set for 6 p.m. Friday, May 5 at Hubbard Free Library, 115 Second St. in Hallowell.

In addition, State Archivist Kate McBrien and State Historian Earle Shettleworth will discuss historical documents.

The program is the second the library has held on the school. The first, “Stevens School: The Past, Present and Future of Stevens Commons,” was held last fall and is available at hubbardfree.org.

News release is from Elaine Apostola, Hubbard Board of Trustees

When Nona Thompson was 22 years old she left her home economics teaching position in Portland and swore she would never teach again. Then she found her niche at the Stevens School for troubled girls and immediately became the new sewing teacher there, according to a news release from Elaine Apostola, Hubbard Board of Trustees.

When her federally funded position ended, Thompson was offered a two-year position at the Women’s Correctional Center in Skowhegan. She then returned to Stevens as the only female director in the state of “Programs for the Disadvantaged.”

Stevens had been chosen as one of the 50 sites in Maine, so back she went to the Stevens School as teacher/program director for four years before she went off to graduate school. She was involved with the Stevens School for about six years.

Mary Moody moved to Hallowell right out of college in 1969 to teach at the Stevens School. She taught home economics to girls from seventh grade through high school. She worked at the school in various positions until it closed in 1976.

Moody brought some of her students to the State Convention for Future Homemakers of America and wrote a cookbook with the girls. She has fond memories of basketball game between the staff and the girls on Friday nights.

Tykie Molloy also arrived at Stevens in 1969 and served as the school nurse. She and her husband Mike, who was a teacher then an administrator at the school, worked there until it closed. Their children also attended the “Snoopy School” — a preschool program for children in the Hallowell community. The Stevens girls, supervised by staff, worked at the preschool.

Former state legislator Susan Deschambault has fond memories of the young girls, adult women, staff and the facility. She worked at Stevens as a training school counselor and social worker from 1972 until the girls were transferred to the South Portland’s Boys Training Center in 1976. She remained with the Maine Department of Corrections until retiring in 2015, having transferred with the adult females to what is now known as the Maine Correctional Center.

 

 

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