Ermine Brockschmidt’s Finley Career Celebrated

Ermine Brockschmidt’s remarkable 45-year career at J. Taylor Finley Middle School was celebrated earlier this week during a tree-planting ceremony in front of the building. The afternoon event drew the long-time teacher aide’s family, friends and co-workers, who choked up discussing the legendary figure.

Mr. Brockschmidt’s career at Finley began in September 1968 and continued until she passed away this past July at 86 years old. She had been looking forward to returning to her position for the current school year, but was diagnosed on June 12 with the illness that would take her life a little more than one month later on July 27. She is the longest serving employee in Finley history.

The Finley PTA and the school’s student council collaborated on the purchase of a seven-foot crepe myrtle tree that was planted in the grassy median near the flagpole during the ceremony. It will bloom each fall near the start of every school year.

A metal plaque affixed to a memorial stone will sit at the base of the tree. The plaque is inscribed: “In Loving Memory of Ermine Brockschmidt; For 45 Years of Dedicated Service; 1968-2013.”

“Ermine was a very special person,” Finley Principal John Amato said. The Finley family took delight in celebrating her birthday each year and she enjoyed baking cakes for the birthdays of others. Over the course of her long career, Mrs. Brockschmidt would often bring an extra lunch to school and give it to a student who had nothing to eat and she collected clothes for those in need.

“She could be stern when she had to be and soft and tender when that was called for,” Mr. Amato said. She was a conscientious employee, hardly ever taking any time off. Over the years, Mrs. Brockschmidt filled a number of roles at the school, always carrying out her duties with confidence, professionalism and an unmatched degree of thoroughness.

Whether it was a stormy day or a beautiful one, Mrs. Brockschmidt would be on time to work and at her post. Mr. Amato joked that when he would get a phone call from someone saying they would be late to work because of inclement weather, “I would tell then, “well Ermine is here already.’”

This week’s ceremony drew dozens of former Finley teachers and aides, Brockschmidt family members, colleagues from the legend’s 18 year career at A& S department store at the Walt Whitman Mall, numerous PTA officials, Huntington School Board member Bari Fehrs and Superintendent James W. Polansky.

The Iron Lady of Finley had enormous energy. When she wasn’t working at the school, she could often be found volunteering with Meals on Wheels and at a Catholic Health Services hospice. She worked with generations of Huntington students, including many who were the sons and daughters of Finley graduates who stayed here to raise their family in the community. “She was wonderful to work with,” Mr. Amato said. “All of us could always count on Ermine.”

During this week’s ceremony Mrs. Brockschmidt’s daughter, Lisa Lynch spoke from the heart about her mother and told a story that highlighted the longtime aide’s reach through time.

“When P.C. Richard came to my home to deliver an appliance several years ago, the delivery man recognized her and she him, even remembering his name,” Ms. Lynch said about her mother. “When asked if she was retired she laughed, he smiled and said it was good she was still there as his son would soon be entering the seventh grade and glad she would be a her post to greet him.”

Mrs. Brockschmidt’s family was devastated by news of her illness, but “she took it in stride and was determined to seek immediate treatment so that if she couldn’t be back at Finley in September when school opened, hopefully by Thanksgiving she’d be back at her post; she so wanted this 46th year,” Ms. Lynch said.

A widow since 1976 when her husband Frederick passed away, Mrs. Brockschmidt was a wiz at organizing locker assignments for students and handling locker problems. She enjoyed teaching Finley co-workers and students how to knit and she was a voracious reader during free periods, when she wasn’t going for a walk around the school.

“Ermine was one of a kind,” Mr. Amato said. “We will always love her and remember her.”