Search for Givens time capsule under way

Debby Baker always wondered whether she’d be around to open the time capsule she remembered creating as a student at Frank Givens Elementary School in 1975. She’s still around — now she just has to find it.

“When I was attending Frank Givens Elementary School in 1975, we laid a time capsule somewhere outside the school,” Baker said.

According to Baker, the capsule was to be opened in 300 years later — in 2005. But apparently everyone else involved in the project forgot.

“I was in the sixth grade, and I just vividly remember that day,” Baker said. “I remember standing outside the main doors and (all the students) were on the main sidewalk somewhere.”

Frank Givens Elementary School was built in 1942 by the South Kitsap School District but was transformed into the Givens Community Center in 1992.

Baker, now the executive director of the USS Turner Joy, was the first manager of the Givens Community Center and worked there for nine years. She said she doesn’t remember exactly what’s in the capsule, but she can’t wait to discover it again.

“Being the manager there, I always wanted to have a big event and find the capsule,” Baker said.

According to Baker, she has contacted the school’s then-principal, librarian and city planner, yet no one remembers where the capsule is buried.

She said it could be laid under the center’s garden, or in the outside stairwell.

Baker said she hopes a former classmate will remember where the time capsule is so she can facilitate exhuming it and inviting alumni back to the center to see what treasures lie within.

To contact Baker, call (360) 731-2342 or e-mail debbybk@comcast.net.

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