North Falmouth WAVE and teacher, at 101, cherished by her student
FALMOUTH — In an official Navy photograph, Alice Melaven’s curly hair comes out in waves from her garrison cap. Pinned to the cap is an anchor and propeller insignia, and more anchors line the lapels of her uniform. She looks determined and no-nonsense, the kind of qualities that would serve her well as a nurse’s aide in the Navy’s Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service program, the WAVES.
Melaven is 101 years old, and that resolve radiating from her Navy photograph is with her still. It was on display Thursday afternoon as she was visiting with a former student, Steve Kramer.
It was Kramer who wanted Melaven’s story told.
In light of Memorial Day and the tributes paid to those in the armed services who lost their lives in service to this country, he wanted to share Melaven’s story, too.
A former student tracks down Alice Melaven, after 60 years
Kramer had tracked Melaven down after reading about her 100th birthday celebration in a Jan. 22, 2021 Falmouth Enterprise story. Her military service was recognized at the centennial event. Kramer recognized her name. Sixty years ago, she was his second-grade teacher at Four Corners Elementary School in Greenfield. He's been to see her a few times since they reconnected.
“She was one of the teachers who had a positive effect,” he said. “She had a presence. She didn’t raise her voice. When she said it, she meant it.”
The two sat side by side in the library at the Royal Megansett Nursing & Retirement Home in North Falmouth. Books lined the shelves behind them. They talked of Greenfield, streets they knew, houses they lived in, what it was like to go to a 300+ student elementary school. They shared memories of the other second-grade teacher whose last name was Fuller.
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Starting out in a one-room schoolhouse
Melaven was born in Milton, Vermont, attended a one-room schoolhouse, and graduated from Johnson’s Teachers College.
She also taught in a one-room schoolhouse.
Kramer asked what it was like.
“It was harder; it was different,” she said. “I don’t know how you did it, but I did it.”
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When the U.S. entered World War II, though, and the Navy established the WAVE program, and a few of her friends joined different service groups, she chose the Navy.
She trained in New York City, served in a hospital outside New York for two years, taking the train into the city occasionally to see movies.
“I loved New York,” she said. “The city amazed me.”
Establishing common interests as adults
Kramer talked of his recent visit to the city where he took in a play and a Yankees-Red Sox game.
"I was glad to go and glad to leave," he quipped.
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After two years in the WAVES, Melaven returned to teaching. She taught at the same school in Greenfield for the rest of her career. The L-shaped school held grades one through three along one hall, grades four through six in another.
Street and school names peppered Melaven and Kramer's conversation.
At one point they lived a few houses apart.
They talked about Deerfield and the boy's academy where Kramer went when he got older. A lot of boys went there, Melaven recalled.
Kramer became a lawyer. His first job was as an assistant attorney general in Massachusetts. He moved to Medway where he joined a handful of town committees — in finance, education and affordable housing. He was a member of the Lions for 30 years, and coached youth baseball.
Learning about a father's experience as a prisoner of war
"You really did a lot," Melaven said.
After his father died, Kramer found a diary he’d written about his experience as a prisoner of war. His plane was shot down over Berlin in 1944, but he survived and was sent to Stalag Luft III. By the time he was liberated he had lost 70 pounds. It was something he rarely spoke about.
Kramer wrote about it, trying to make sense of war and the inhumanity his father experienced, and how the silence of some soldiers, while understandable, means many have no idea what they went through.
The piece, “Lessons from a War Diary,” was printed in the Valley Advocate in 2010.
“I’d like to read that sometime,” Melaven said.
A love of reading that endures for Alice Melaven
Melaven loved reading the best, but it was the hardest to teach. She still reads voraciously, whatever her nieces bring her.
“I like a good romance,” she said, “a good mystery.”
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Kramer liked second-grade spelling bees, when students sat in a circle and the winner got to sit inside the circle. Melaven didn’t recall, but Kramer could remember the thrill of winning, of sitting inside that circle.
“You didn’t want to give up the throne,” he said. “The seeds of competition were planted there.”
Melaven was curious, interested in what Kramer had to say.
A fake apple, and a laugh
Kramer was respectful, a bit of the mischievous boy he was in second grade on display. He gave her a fake apple and she laughed.
Melaven didn’t know much about the war even after joining the WAVES. But she knew the basics. And she always had faith the U.S. and its allies would prevail.
Melaven did what was good and true when she had the chance, Kramer said.
What she did was small in some ways — she took care of a fraction of the 38,000 sailors wounded in World War II – but large in others. Kramer wants the world to know.
Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: North Falmouth WAVE and teacher, at 101, cherished by her student
