I was the first grade teacher in the Middletown School District who received much attention after my class wrote a giant poster size letter to Harold Denton, director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the gentleman who brought calm and assurance to the highly anxious community.
“saved them by letting the air out of the bubble.”
After being away from my classroom for 10 days, my priority was to regroup with my young students and hear their stories. Our last day together had been one of the most uncomfortable days of my teaching career, and I needed to revisit that afternoon and assure the children that we were back together and would be able to return to normal. The stories I heard touched my heart – about trips out of state, staying in a motel room with a single mother, and even one little boy whose family ran a dairy farm and could not leave the herd of cows that needed routine daily milking. Every child spoke with admiration for Mr. Denton who “saved them by letting the air out of the bubble.”
My children often wrote large experience stories. It seemed natural that we would write a letter of thanks to their hero, Harold Denton. This process of talking and writing was my effort to achieve closure for the children. Little did we expect what would happen next. One child’s father worked on the island and so the letter was placed in her backpack for her daddy to deliver to Mr. Denton. Indeed the letter reached Harold at the same time he was being called by all three major television networks for interviews. Apparently he told the reps he was only interested in talking to the teacher of the children. He had driven out to our elementary, and was concerned when he saw we were still out of school.
I carried warm shoofly pies baked by my mother for the Dentons!
A week later, NBC (channel 8) in Lancaster contacted me on Saturday afternoon, and the next morning we were on our way to Rockvale, MD for a taping and interview with the Dentons. On our laps, nestled in tea towels, Carol Bitts (interviewer) and I carried warm shoofly pies baked by my mother for the Dentons!!!
In addition to the interview and production of a 30 minute program for WGAL, Harold also recorded a message specifically for the children. On Monday morning, the children arrived at school to a satellite truck right outside our classroom door and a crew from WGAL, channel 8 as well as a reporter and photographer from Harrisburg’s Patriot News. Many of the children were wearing “I Survived Three Mile Island” t-shirts since that was the wardrobe of the day!
The filming of a segment of WGAL’s Young Scene was produced from that day of interviews with the children. I have a copy of that program on DVD – one of my favorite keepsakes from my years of teaching.
Such a good man who truly was a hero
In May, the Dentons met with the families of the children at the observation building across from the cooling towers. It was good for Harold and Lucinda to meet the families and even more important for the families to realize how exceptionally gracious and caring were the hearts of the Dentons.
By June of 1979, Harold realized that the trust of the community had still not been restored, so he asked if I would be willing to work for the NRC in their public relations office in Middletown. I had no appreciable skills, but he believed I was a trusted figure in the community – a face that would encourage trust and calm. I enjoyed two summers of clerical work, answering phones, graphing charts, serving as a courier etc. for a team of skilled, caring regulators from DC!
And the letter? Well Lucinda Denton had it framed, and it hung in Harold’s office for years. Indeed, a picture of Harold and the framed letter was included in an early edition of People magazine!
The Dentons and I remained friends and stayed in touch over the years. Just last year I learned of the death of Harold Denton. Such a good man who truly was a hero to so many in our community in 1979.
Beth