Keep on breathing, advises centenarian

The old Regulator Clock in Bonnie Stucker's home keeps good time. That antique piece of clockwork is the focal point of the saga about the timepiece that once hung in a Steilacoom School classroom. How the clock came into her possession is, as the saying goes, "the rest of the story."

Mrs. Stucker's grandson, Troy, sparked renewed interest in the clock when he began searching for something unique to give his grandmother for her upcoming birthday. Although she's not keen on the milestone date at the end of this month, her family plans to celebrate her centennial.

Mrs. Stucker shares details about the old regulator clock that once hung in a Steilacoom School (now "old" Pioneer school) classroom.

Her late husband, Jim, served on the school board in the mid-1950s. After the board decided to replace the clocks with modern ones, the six board members each received a clock. Since no one wanted the7th clock, Mr. Stucker decided to give it to his next-door-neighbor Sigurd Grondahl. (All four Grondahl children attended Steilacoom School).

Before the clock was delivered, though, Mrs. Stucker wrote as poem about the clock. It’s the “only poem” she ever wrote, she said.

The hand-written poem was placed inside the clock below the pendulum, and that’s where it’s remained to the present date.

The Old Regulator Clock in the First Grade Classroom

By Bonnie Stucker

December 1954

I hung in your children’s first grade room

For many and many a year;

And watched them open up a whole New World

Completely without fear.

But then, they took me down one day

And put me on a shelf—

And put another in my place

That could wind all by iself.

So, now I need another home,

And if you’ve got a place for me,

I’ll show your children’s children

How to grow old—gracefully.

While Mrs. Stucker is delighted with the revived interest in her poem, she’s not entirely pleased about being 100.

“I’d rather be 55!” she says.

Reaching that venerable age, though, is a surprise.

“One day you turn around…and there it is!”

A Steilacoom resident for more than 70 years, Bonnie says she has always liked the town where they’ve lived. Reminiscing about the house, “Bonnie Brier,” that’s been her home for seven decades, she says that she’s positive they were meant “to live there.

From the vantage point of her “above the Sound” living room, Bonnie overlooks the familiar scene.

“It looks so peaceful,” she says, but she knows there’s “lots going on” beneath the surface.

With the century mark fast approaching, she wistfully longs to ‘turn back the clock’ a bit so she could once more enjoy watching her now-grown grandchildren, and get back to her gardening.

The sounds of school children arriving and leaving school each day is one thing she misses since the school across the street closed in 2008. She also misses the sounds of the band rehearsing each spring as it prepared for the annual Daffodil parade.

Like Steilacoom School custodian Charlie Rosevear who used to wind the clocks every night, Mrs. Stucker followed that custom for many years. Eventually, though, the clock’s mechanism was rewired. Now it’s battery operated.

In 2010 this special clock continues to mark the seconds, minutes, and hours of Bonnie’s life. And, her “recipe” for a long life?

“Just keep on breathing,” she advises.

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