The following article was published in the Graland Country Day School Friday Flyer on October 11, 2002:

In a touching moment during the Field Days Opening Ceremonies, fourth grade student Lucy Stockdale spoke for her peers as she recounted fond memories of activities, events, and good times in the "old gym."  Her speech, below, inspired both sentiment and laughter:

Good afternoon.  Today I would like to say a farewell to our gymnasium.

In 1955, our gym was built.  They named it the Elmer Nelson Memorial Gymnasium after Elmer Nelson, himself.   Elmer Nelson was Georgia Nelson's brother.

For those of you who don't know who Georgia Nelson is, she was the first headmistress of our school.  In the olden days, there was only one main building at Graland.  It had two floors and a basement.  In the basement, there was a shop where the children would go to make things out of wood.  On the first floor, the kids would have their academics.  Instead of the children going to different classrooms, the teachers would go to the children's classrooms.  Gym classes were held in the main building on the second floor.  Later, the main buiking was renamed the Georgia Nelson Building.

Our new gymnasium will have two floors along with a parking lot.  If the school raises all the money, the Board will hopefully approve the building project on October 8, and the gym will get torn down on approximately November 1.

So we thank you, the Elmer Nelson Gymnasium, for all the fun we had in your building.  Climbing ropes, playing games, watching the 9th grade against faculty basketblall game, and graduation ceremonies.  You will always be a huge part of Graland.  As Chester Preisser, the man who the field you are sitting on is named after, once said, "Our competition is keen, and we strive to win, but win or lose, we want our athletes to be good sports in every way, learning that it takes courage, ability, and steadfast determination to become a champ."

The Elmer Nelson Gymnasium has helped us all to become great champions.