More time needed to find Post Falls time capsule

POST FALLS — Time ran out on Friday to find the time capsule at West Ridge Elementary.

The school pulled the plug on searching for the missing capsule that this year's seniors, who attended the first year of the school as fifth-graders, buried on June 4, 2009.

However, a ceremony was still held so students could reminisce about the project and their time at West Ridge. Students were also given the option to dig for the capsule, especially if anyone could remember the exact location.

"It's very frustrating," said Kathy Willy, a fifth-grade teacher who was also there for the burial of the time capsule.

Willy said she was happy to see some of her former students, but wished they had found it so the students and staff could have mingled more, laughed and enjoyed the memories.

About 20 of the 75 students who buried the time capsule showed up Friday and each remembered the capsule as having been buried in a different spot. The location of the capsule was originally marked with a stepping stone with 2016 — the year those fifth-graders at the time were going to graduate.

But what happened to that marker — placed in a landscaped area to the right of the school's front door — is also a mystery.

Realizing that finding the capsule may be difficult, school employees and volunteers took turns all week digging in hopes of finding it so it would be readily available for the official ceremony. About the only thing that was discovered was the metal ends of sewer mains.

With no luck finding it, several people — including the teacher who thought of the idea and now lives in Vermont, the principal and custodian at the time and even the Press reporter who covered the burial — were contacted to see if they remembered the exact spot.

The mystery also caused chatter among students who attended that ceremony, and a metal detector was also used in the search.

Tabitha Hughes, now a senior at Post Falls High School, was one of the fifth-graders who buried the capsule. She had put a small journal into the jar before it went into the ground.

"This isn't what I envisioned at all," Hughes said as she looked around, trying to remember where it was buried. "I kind of imagined a big group of us all gathered around and it being fairly simple to find."

Alexandria Pastras, also a senior at Post Falls High School, recalled being interviewed by The Press as a fifth-grader during the burial ceremony.

"I remember saying what it represented for us, and how it represents growth and maturity," she said. "I thought that was really symbolic of us growing up. We all kind of put something that meant a lot to us in there and then when we grew up we would dig it up and look back on those memories."

Pastras said she remembers putting a note to her older self in the capsule, but does not remember what she wrote.

"I really want to know what I said," Pastras said. "That's one of the things I wanted to know is what was I really wanting? What was the career I wanted and is it the same thing as I want now?"

Items in the container, according to Press archives, include a class DVD slide show, map computer game, journals, baseball mitt, photos, Nerds candy and whatever else the students thought of to drop in at the time.

School employees realize there's the possibility that someone took the marker or dug up the time capsule.

"I hope someone didn't come dig it up," current Principal Lisa Hoffeld said. "We would feel a little bummed here at West Ridge because it was a special event for the kids."

Hoffeld said the school plans to do maintenance of the landscaped area where the time capsule was buried, so if it is found the school will contact the students.

"We will have it by your 10-year class reunion," Hoffeld told the students, joking but still hopeful it could be found, and several of the students laughed and hugged their former teachers as they prepared to depart.

If there was a lesson learned from this time capsule, it could be that things don't always happen on our timing.