Hugh Britten was a sixth-grade teacher at a school in St. John’s, Canada, between the 1970s and 1980s, and as part of his teaching duties, he had his students keep a journal during the week as a creative writing exercise.
The exercise consisted of his students They wrote what they wanted, “What bothered them or what was important in their life at that moment,” Diego Britten on CNN.
He never read the notes, but he kept them to give on graduation. However, the teacher retired in 1995 and is left with dozens of notebooks.
During a school reunion a few years ago, before the school was demolished in 2016, Brittain managed to bring back some of the books, but she still had 26 books left.
Hugh Britten told CNN: “After I saved some for 43 years, I thought it was time to make sure I delivered it.
Last month, he posted a photo to newspapers on his Facebook group with the names of the students he was trying to find.
One of them was Maria Yale, who immediately remembered the teacher. The woman said, “I was very surprised, but I was very touched because he was really interested and he kept this job.”
Austin Hutton was another graduate who received his childhood diary. In the book he wrote about mowing the lawn to save money and buy a new bike. He also spoke of his admiration for “the most beautiful girl in the class.”
His children enjoyed reading what their father wrote more than 30 years ago.
Hutton said that his youngest son was the same age when he wrote the diary and recounted how children grow up differently today.
He said, “We didn’t have all the video games and the electronics, they were all books and beyond.”
He described Professor Brittain as an exceptional teacher and one of the few he remembered throughout his life.
