The Leelanau School to celebrate 75th Anniversary

From staff reports
A seventy-five year-old wise man full of lessons for its many children, yet still boasting ageless enthusiasm.
The Leelanau School, the fine institute of learning, located on quite possibly the most beautiful campus in the world, is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year on the banks of Sleeping Bear Bay, one mile north of Glen Arbor.

This year’s birthday bash will culminate on campus during Alumni Weekend 2004, June 25-27, when Helen Huey and the late Tom Hilton will be inducted into Leelanau’s Hall of Fame. Helen and her late husband, Art “Major”, were stalwarts in the school’s early history, and oversaw its separation from what is now the booming Homestead Resort next door (as chronicled in the August 15, 2002 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun) Helen and Tom will be honored for their many years of service to The Leelanau School in a ceremony that will take place on Saturday evening, June 26th.
Leelanau alumni, as well as members of the community interested in the school and the role it has played in Glen Arbor’s history are welcome. To make reservations for this event, please contact Fiffy Petty in the alumni office at 334-5848.
The gala on June 26th follows a year of festivities celebrating the school’s diamond anniversary. Over 200 guests from surrounding communities attended an open house at Leelanau on Saturday, May 8th. Guests and prospective students were entertained by music, drama and storytelling performances throughout the afternoon. Other events included campus and observatory tours, a student art show, a voyageur canoe display, an international food fair, a bio-diesel fuel production and auto demonstration, a bottle rocket construction and launching, and the climbing wall demonstration. Guest musician Michael Gould performed throughout the day on Zen flutes from Japan.
At the end of the festivities, alumnus Willis Hawkins, from the first graduation class in 1932, cut the anniversary cakes. The two cakes (shaped as a ‘7’ and ‘5’) weighed over 300 pounds and were 6 feet x 2 feet each. Needless to say, there was enough cake for all to enjoy.
The Leelanau School was founded by Cora and William “Skipper” Beals of St. Louis, Missouri, and opened its doors on September 16, 1929 with 15 boys in grades 7-10. Today, Leelanau is a private, college-preparatory, boarding and day school for both boys and girls in grades 9-12.