Alice Wiggett was 94 years old when she passed away on July 19th of 1998. Many former students remembered Alice who taught school in the area for more than 48 years.

After she graduated from Brighton public schools Miss Wiggett started to go to Parks Business College in Denver but illness forced her to quit. That was when Earl Baker, County Superintendent of Schools suggested that she try teaching.

At that time a person could become a teacher right after high school if they could pass the examination to get a certificate. Alice took the test and was certified to teach the 2nd grade. She started her lifetime career in a school 14 miles north of Bennett and when a year later the school district was split she taught at Central Valley School, seven miles north of Bennett.

Alice remembered the people as being very nice. "They invited us to their homes and came to get us in their wagons," she said in an article she wrote for the book "Brighton, Colorado and Surrounding Vicinity." "I remember the mail carrier. He was about the nicest fellow you could imagine. A man named Talpher had a grocery store in Bennett. When he would get in fresh meat he would send meat out to us with the mail carrier."

Alice remembered pie socials, box socials and taffy pulls in their kitchen. She transferred to Burnlee School 10 miles west of Brighton on what is now Highway 7 and stayed there for seven years.

Miss Wiggett took college work at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, the Western State in Gunnison, Denver University and extension work from Boulder.

She had to take children's tests and grades into Brighton to Mr. Baker. If some of the boys were ornery he took them for a ride and straightened them out. On his death in an auto accident his funeral was held in the Rex Theater in Brighton where the United Lumber is now located.

Alice taught for eight years at Brantner School that was located where the golf course and Adams County Museum are now. She had all eight grades until enrollment increased to the point where they could add a second teacher. She remembered that every noon hour they went ice skating on a little lake southwest of the school. The school was a red brick construction with a basement downstairs and a large room upstairs.

The well that is now at the corner of the Riverdale Golf Course was the well that was used for the Brantner School. Miss Wiggett had her students brush their teeth every noon at the well as part of their health lesson. Some of her pupils were the children of employees of the Denver Poor Farm which was then located east of the school on the Adams County fairgrounds.

Alice remembered the holidays at the school and a special Christmas program that was held first in the basement of the school, then taken to the Denver Poor Farm to put on.

When one of the teachers in Brighton died Alice was asked to teach second grade there. She asked Brantner School to release her and she commented "That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life."

Alice taught for 24 years at the old North Elementary and then went to Southeast. She loved her work. "Every day of teaching was a "new day of joy," she said.