Students from Jackson Grammar School and Josiah Bartlett Elementary walk under tunnel of ski poles outside the train station Monday. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
From left: Tom Eastman (as Benno Rybizka), Hannah and Christoph Schneider (as Ludwina and Hannes Schneider), and George Cleveland (as Harvey Dow Gibson) stand in front of the Conway Scenic Railroad station after re-enacting the 1939 arrival of famed skimeister Hannes Schneider and his family after escaping from the Nazis in 1939. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Tom Eastman as Benno Rybizka talks to students from Jess Royer's 4-5 class at Pine Tree Elementary as local fourth and fifth graders ride on the Conway Scenic and partake in various activities to learn about Austrian ski great Hannes Schneider’s famous arrival in North Conway in 1939. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Students in Kurt Erickson's 4-5 class at the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School participate in a photo scavenger hunt at the New England Ski Museum Monday. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Students in Kurt Erickson's 4-5 class at the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School (and volunteer Betsy Packard) watch as their handmade pipe-cleaner skiiers race down a ramp at the North Conway Community Center Monday. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Students from Jackson Grammar School and Josiah Bartlett Elementary walk under tunnel of ski poles outside the train station Monday. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
From left: Tom Eastman (as Benno Rybizka), Hannah and Christoph Schneider (as Ludwina and Hannes Schneider), and George Cleveland (as Harvey Dow Gibson) stand in front of the Conway Scenic Railroad station after re-enacting the 1939 arrival of famed skimeister Hannes Schneider and his family after escaping from the Nazis in 1939. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Tom Eastman as Benno Rybizka talks to students from Jess Royer's 4-5 class at Pine Tree Elementary as local fourth and fifth graders ride on the Conway Scenic and partake in various activities to learn about Austrian ski great Hannes Schneider’s famous arrival in North Conway in 1939. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Students in Kurt Erickson's 4-5 class at the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School participate in a photo scavenger hunt at the New England Ski Museum Monday. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
Students in Kurt Erickson's 4-5 class at the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School (and volunteer Betsy Packard) watch as their handmade pipe-cleaner skiiers race down a ramp at the North Conway Community Center Monday. (RACHEL SHARPLES PHOTO)
CONWAY — Local fourth-graders are getting to be part of a milestone in local ski and economic history this week.
On Monday, students from Jackson Grammar School and Josiah Bartlett Elementary got to ride the Conway Scenic’s Valley Train, then re-enact at the North Conway station the arrival of the late Austrian skimeister Hannes Schneider and his family who were rescued from Nazi custody to come and teach skiing at Mount Cranmore 82 years ago.
The re-enactment was repeated Tuesday for Pine Tree School fourth-graders, and today fourth-grade pupils from John H. Fuller Elementary will get to board the train in North Conway and ride south to Conway, where they will be joined by Conway Elementary students for the ride back to North Conway for a third re-enactment in Schouler Park.
Josiah Bartlett Elementary School Principal Joe Yahna was impressed.
“This is incredibly important to have our young people connect with the rest of our community around the ski and snow sports that connect all of us in this valley,” he said as he and the students rode the train from Bartlett to North Conway.
The kids were impressed, too.
“I love history. And I really liked riding the train,” said JBES student Dylan Calabro. His classmate Cegan Zawadzki added, “I like history, too!”
Christoph Schneider of North Conway and St. Anton Am Alrberg, Austria, with wife, Hannah Sullivan Schneider, portrayed his grandfather Hannes and his grandmother Ludwina Schneider.
“To have the community continue to honor our family’s contribution to local ski history is really something, all these years,” Christoph said.
Joining them were myself (portraying early Austrian ski instructor Benno Rybizka, a man whose last name one Boston sportswiter once wrote was easier to “sneeze than pronounce”) and George Cleveland as financier and Cranmore developer Harvey Dow Gibson (1882-1950).
We passed under an arch of ski poles provided by 50 Eastern Slope Ski Club volunteers.
Stefi Reed Hastings — daughter of Eastern Slope Ski School and Carroll Reed Ski Shops founder Carroll P. and Kay Reed — of Fryeburg, Maine, and I also donated copies of my 2013 book, “The History of Cranmore Mountain,” to the five local elementary schools to aid in passing that ski history along.
I related the story about Rybizka’s last name to the students both on the train and at an outdoor at the gazebo in the park Tuesday morning. It was heartwarming to be able to share the valley’s great ski history with the attentive students. They seemed to enjoy imitating the story about “bend ze knees,” as Schneider had instructed his ski students.
Christoph, playing his grandfather, told them how his friend Mr. Gibson made it possible for his family to come to America. And Cleveland (as Gibson) shared how he was “the richest man in town, who went to New York City to be a banker but who never forgot his hometown, North Conway.”
Asked to comment on the Conway Scenic’s role, Brian Solomon, CSRR events and marketing coordinator, said the railroad was happy to play a part. “It’s great to share this rich story with the kids,” said Solomon, who was serving as stationmaster.
Anyone interested in participating in today’s ski pole formation should wear a mask and vintage ski sweaters as well as bring their own ski poles for the 10:30 a.m. arrival, said organizers Betty Newton and Elaine Swanson, both volunteers at the New England Ski Museum’s Eastern Slope Branch. The phone number there is (603) 730-5044.
Jim Tuttle, former longtime Eastern Slope Ski Club president, will portray Hannes Schneider at today’s re-enactment.
After the re-enactment, students get to visit the museum and take part in a ski history scavenger hunt. They next go to the North Conway Community Center for a STEM project involving making pipe cleaner skiers/snowboarders who compete in a race on a pretend ski mountain. Betsy Packard and Jan Quint are lead volunteers there, Newton said.
After that, they go to the North Conway Country Club where they are served healthy snacks and participate in an art project coordinated by NESM volunteer Kathy Baltz.
“Without the support of all the New England Ski Museum volunteers this project would not be possible,” said Newton.
Under the plan worked out with SAU 9 schools, students will create ski-history-related projects that will be presented Nov. 30 at an open house from 4-7 p.m. at the ski museum and community center.
In addition to Swanson and Stockbridge, volunteer liaisons include Vicki MacDougall with John Fuller; Corinne Rocco with Josiah Bartlett; Stockbridge with Conway Elementary; and Gail Costello, Carol Hastings and Chris Collins at Jackson Grammar and Pine Tree.
Newton also thanked Hastings; NESM Eastern Slope Branch volunteer of the year Susan Fox; NESM board of directors member Elizabeth Kane; and transportation coordinator Martha Leich, wife of the NESM’s Jeff Leich.
Newton said this year’s program is being funded through a 2020 $1,000 Cal Conniff grant by the New England Ski Museum to the Eastern Slope Ski Club.
Newton said the main thrust of the effort is to honor late local ski racer Martha Coughlin Corrock, who died at age 66 last May in Challis, Idaho.
“When Martha was a young skier here in the valley,” said Newton, “she and Kevin Sullivan were selected in a contest to go to St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria, where Hannes Schneider was from. She always talked about what a life-changing event that was for her.”
Now, this event not only honors the Schneiders and skiing but also Corrock.
Present at this week’s events were Martha’s husband, Kenny Corrock of Sun Valley, Idaho, and her nephew, Brett Coughlin, of Maryland.
“Martha was an inspiration to all of us. She was a spark,” said Coughlin on Monday. “Our family wants to thank the community for doing this in her name.”
Newton and others hope that this will become an annual event.
For more information, email Newton at bjanenewton@yahoo.com, Swanson at elainegordonswanson@mac.com or call the Eastern Slope Branch at (603) 730-5044 or go to newenglandskimuseum.org.
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