The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Retired art teacher shares her talent
Egg-decorating class hosted at Bridgewater Township Hall Saturday
By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: April 12, 2007
For the second of what is hoped to become a regular series of free, family-oriented events at the Bridgewater Township Hall, a retired art teacher hosted an Easter egg decorating class on Saturday.
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From noon to 3 p.m., Melinda Trout shared her substantial stock of art supplies and her equally extensive talent with several youngsters to create the small-scale works of art.
Trout should be familiar to anyone who took an art class in Manchester Community Schools during the quarter-century from the early 1970s until her retirement.
"I have to get my teaching 'fix' periodically," she said. "I retired in 1999, but after a year or so off I became a special education teacher at Boysville."
Bridgewater Township Supervisor Jolea Mull said the craft event was just what she was looking for to make the historic township hall a focal point in the community.
"We want to have more activities here at the hall to celebrate its 125th anniversary," Mull said.
"My vision is that, as money gets tighter, people are going to embrace more of these small-town activities," she said. "They are not going to want to drive 20 or so miles to do things in Ann Arbor, or even five or six miles down the road to the next town."
After the Township Board sponsored a cookie exchange at Christmastime, Trout came to Mull with an idea for the next event.
"I couldn't come to the cookie exchange, but I do this (egg decorating) with my son and daughter-in-law," Trout said.
"Jolea wanted to get things like this going, so I said, 'Why don't we do it?' I do it whenever I feel like it; I do it year-round."
Trout's son and daughter-in-law, RenČ and Lora Crombez, assisted with the tutorial and worked on some creations of their own.
"My mother inherited a flock of geese and some bantam chickens, and we had all these wonderful eggs but we didn't know what to do with them," said RenČ Crombez. "We did this last year for our church, and it went over really well."
Various sizes of eggs were the foundation to which a wide variety of materials were applied with plain white glue.
The kids used rice, several different shapes of pasta and varieties of seeds and beans, split peas, barley, wheat and tapioca; along with lace, ribbons and rubber bands.
All the eggs were empty shells, with the innards safely removed before the children handled them.
"This is pretty fun; I've never done this before," said Gina Pike, 10, daughter of Bridgewater Township Treasurer Shelly Pike, who attended with her sisters, Kristen, 7, and Chloe, 6.
Chloe led a visitor through the assembly line process:
"First you take an egg, then you dye it, and you have to wait for it to dry for about a minute — or 15 seconds if you're in a hurry — then you decorate it," she said, in the rapid-fire stream of speech common to 6-year-olds.
"We heard they had a plan for this and it sounded like a fun thing to do," said the girls' father, Kevin Pike.
Jamie Payne, 14, created intricate patterns on several eggs with very little practice.
"This is the first time I've done this," she said. "I'm not sure if I'm good at this, but it's fun."
Mull, who also has a teaching background, brought her young daughters and a homemade pie to help create a relaxed, homey atmosphere in the township hall.
"I'd like to have things here at the hall at least four times a year, and if it really takes off, even more frequently," Mull said.
"I want other people to come to me with ideas, but whatever we organize, we want to cater to kids."
Edward Freundl is a reporter with Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.
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