In the late 1970s and 1980s, Hugh Brittain would keep his grade 6 students at Havelock Elementary School in Saint John, New Brunswick, a diary for a week as a creative writing exercise.
“They would seal them and I gave them free rein to write what they wanted – what was bothering them, or what was important in their lives at that time,” Brittain told CNN.
He never read the diaries, but he kept them so he could return them with the graduation ceremony and let his students look back at 12 years old.
When he retired in 1995, he packed his papers – including dozens of diaries he could not deliver – into a subject memorabilia from his 34-year teaching career.
Brittain, 78, was able to return some of the diaries to their authors a few years ago, but he still has 26 left.
“I kept them all these years, and I did not know what to do with them, and I did not want to get rid of them and so I thought I would try again,” he said. “After staying there for 43 years, I realized it was time to make sure they were delivered.”
Last month, he posted a photo of the diaries – still in their original sealed envelopes – on a local Facebook group with the names of the students he was trying to find in his classes in 1977-78, 1981-82, 1982. has. -1983 and 1987-88.
“I do not know why I did it in certain years,” Brittain said. “It just worked that way.”
It turns out he didn’t just store the diaries.
When Maria Yelle commented on his message, Brittain immediately remembered her and posted five photos of drawings she made for him when she was a student in 1986.
“I was so surprised, but very moved, that he just really cared and that he kept the job,” Yelle said. “He’s just one of the good teachers. You really wanted to be your best and I just remember that he just encouraged us and that he just really cared.”
Yelle now lives in Wisconsin and says her daughter, who is in sixth grade, shows similar creativity.
Brittain said it was interesting to hear back from alumni who now live across Canada.
Austin Hutton, 45, moved across the country to Fort St. John, British Columbia, but he told CNN that his mother told him about the job.
Hutton vaguely remembered holding the diary back in 1988, but he had no idea what was in the envelope he was decorating with drawings of baseballs.
He wrote ‘MY DIARY TOP Secret Keep Out’ with green ink on the cover.
Inside, he talked about mowing lawns and saving money to buy a new bike, play sports with his friends, drive a tractor, buy candy and win free bottles of pops. He signs every entry “Love Austin.”
Most of the diary focused on the most beautiful girl in the class. Hutton was able to get her phone number, but said he never asked her.
He said his four children aged 12, 13, 19 and 20 enjoyed reading the diary.
“They thought it was hilarious to see their father have a kind of gaga about girls, and they were impressed with how neat my handwriting and my print were,” he said.
Hutton said his youngest son, AJ, was the same age as when he wrote the diary, and it reminds them of how different growing up for kids is today.
“We did not have all the video games and electronics, everything was books and outside,” he said.
Hutton described Brittain as a phenomenal teacher, saying he was one of the handful he remembered throughout his life.
He said he got ’emotional chills’ when he received the diary, not only because it was a time capsule from his life, but also because his teacher cared enough to save it for 33 years.
“For someone who has had the kindness or the heart, wants to hold on to finally share it, or find a way to share it, no matter what, it speaks volumes,” Hutton said.
Brittain told CNN he was still trying to return seven diaries.