The 121st Founders Day of Peddie School was held on Friday, Feb. 19 in Ayer Memorial Chapel. Founders Day is held annually to honor Peddie’s founder, Thomas B. Peddie and all others who have had a significant contribution to the school’s history. This year’s Founders Day was unique since it involved the opening of the time capsule that was found in Avery Dorm.

The ceremony included the words of Headmaster Peter Quinn, singing performance by the Peddie students, speech given by Brian Davidson, Director of Alumni Relations and the ceremony of opening the time capsule. As Quinn described his great appreciation for the founders of Peddie School, he explained a brief history of the school and the introduction to Founders Day, which then led Davidson to talk about his personal connection to the Peddie School. Davidson’s speech honored Robert Tucker ’44 and Robert Zenker ’43and the experiences at the Peddie School from a different decade enlightened the audiences at the event.

The highlight of the event, the opening of the time capsule, allowed Peddie community to be even more engaged in the ceremony. The box from 1920 contained newspapers from the time period, directory of Peddie School and other paper works. Although they have been damaged by water, the documents once again reminded the audiences about the long history of the Peddie School. Latin teacher and archivist David Martin had the honor of opening the capsule.

“I suspected there would be some of the following: a bible, a hymnal, a school catalog, a newspaper, and a letter or two.,” Martin said. “Yes, it was exciting.”