feature stories

Sending off an institution

Feb 14, 2008 12:07 PM

This 91-year-old wonder has held Thomas Edison Vocational HS together for almost 54 years.

There wasn’t a chance they were going to let Hazel Barr slip into retirement without a proper sendoff. More than 100 fans — teachers, counselors, former principals, secretaries and family — attended the gala at a Bayside restaurant on Dec. 2. Speaker after speaker talked about how Barr took care of everyone — sometimes with a needle and thread, stockings in a variety of shades, aspirin, candy and sometimes with grammar and spelling corrections. Before becoming a school secretary, Barr was a diver in the Billy Rose Aquacade and diving coach at the Flushing Y where she encouraged some of her students to become teachers, and they were also there for the sendoff. clockwise from top: Demonstrating diving positions, Barr is surrounded by former students (front, from left) Alice Lampasso, swimming coach at Queens College, and Barr’s daughter Suzi Soulier of Bayside HS; and (back, from left) Annie Regan, adaptive physical educator at PS 151 and PS 222 in Queens, and Bette Pipes, retired PE teacher. • There were lots of hugs that day, but this is a special one for 8-year-old great-granddaughter Ravin Ortiz. u Chapter Leader Vivian Esposito and James Vasquez, district representative for Queens high schools, add their good wishes as they pose with Barr. • School secretaries join in the tribute.