Elkhart Times

A Dresden Elementary School dad made an interesting discovery recently when he opened on of his favorite childhood books to read to his daughters.

The book had a stamp the read “Dresden Elementary.”

Which means, the book Pier Fazzalari was reading to his daughters was one he checked out more than 40 years ago when he was a Dresden Dragon.  

“I pulled the old book out and thought ‘I remember this one,’ and when I opened up the page and it was stamped ‘Dresden Elementary’,” Fazzalari said. “I was like ‘why would it say that?’ And then I realized it was probably from when I was in second grade and I never returned it. I thought I should probably bring it up to the school.”

Fazzalari said the book – an anthology series called Cloverleaf -  had spent 40 years in his parent’s basement in an old box. He had recently grabbed the box with the thought he could read the books it to his daughters, Dresden kindergarten student Adrianna second grader Alexandria.

“As soon as I pulled (Cloverleaf) out, I thought oh yea, I remember this. I used to read to read this when I was a kid,” he said.

He eventually mentioned he had the book to principal Bradley Suggs.

“At first, I was speechless and then we both started laughing,” Suggs said. “I stated to him that I was not sure how big of a fine a 40-year-old book would be?  Jokingly, I told him I would have to figure that one out.   We then decided that a book fine that overdue could only be repaid by him buying cookies for the staff, and we sent him an overdue notice stating so.”

Suggs said the act of returning the book was appreciated by the school.

“I thought it was very respectful that after so many years, he still thought of returning the book,” he said.  As an educator, I was thrilled that he takes the time out of his busy day to read to his children.”

Fazzalari spent his entire K-12 career in Utica Community Schools, attending Dresden, Bemis (then Sterling) Junior High School and Henry Ford II High School.

When he looked to buy his first house 20 years ago, he looked around and decided to purchase a home a few blocks from his parents.

“Everything is close by. The parks and stores are close, and the schools are walking distance,” he said. “I just like the neighborhood.”

He later married his wife, Raeda – a lunchroom aide at Dresden – and they are now raising two daughters who attend his former elementary school.

“My wife knows all the teachers and they do a great job,” he said.

He said he has fond memories of his time at Dresden, especially the excitement and size of the first computers the school bought in the late 1970s. He also remembers a lot of snow.

“When we were kids there was always snow on the ground that we had to walk through. It’s not like it is now,” he said.

Original source can be found here.