Larry Livingston peered at the photos on the wall, trying to find one he might be in. He was in the sixth grade in 1943 at the Fauntleroy School and "got good marks," he said, "but I did flunk the first grade," he continued laughing. He and several hundred others were there to celebrate the school's 100th birthday with a special celebration featuring a group hug photo and some well know alumnae as guest speakers on May 21.

There to recall their years at the school and early days in West Seattle were the Whittaker twins, Lou and Jim who recalled spending many hours in the wooded areas of the community that prepared them for lives as mountaineers. Jim went on to be the first American to climb Mt. Everest and found REI while Lou would form Rainier Mountaineering and guide thousands to the top of Mt. Rainier. Jane Hastings graduated from the school in 1939 and recalled her times the Whittaker family and others at the school. "I always say I grew up in the ideal community," she said.

The event put on by the Fauntleroy Community Association and in part by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society featured class photos, and other displays on the walls of the building that has been part of the community in various forms for the past century.

Nancy (Sibley) McPhee said her favorite thing about the school was "all my friends in the sixth grade," in 1938. "I'm an average student and my mother always said, 'You know you're smart, you could do better' but why should I do better I was average!"

Robert Skotheim, who went on to become president of Whitman College in the 1970's and 80's and the Huntington Library in the 2000's among others delivered insightful comments about what it was like in West Seattle in the 1930's and during World War II, describing the racial and economic profile of the community that the thought he knew, only to realize later that it was more diverse than he thought.