Tuesday, April 1, 2008

                   Beloved food vendor Mrs. Muriel (Peanie) McLeod (c) welcomes alumni

                   Karen Phillips (l) '80 and Lisa Burnett (r) '81 back to campus

                                   They also serve
                                   who only stand and wait
                                         - John Milton

With 57 years of service under her belt, beloved food vendor Muriel “Peanie” McLeod remains a staple of the Excelsior campus and a revered figure to generations of Excelsiorans.

Peanie earned her moniker shortly after entering the gates of Excelsior in 1951, a mere two years after the school had relocated to its current Antrim location, (“just after the big storm-Hurricane Charlie"). An acquaintance had alerted her to the opportunity for selling her wares-including peanuts and a variety of sweets-at Excelsior.

 During her six decades-long tenure at XLCR, she has had a courtside view of the growth of the school at Antrim from one main administration building, which housed all the offices, to the sprawling EXED complex, embracing a family of schools, from Pre-Primary through Community College.

 “When I first came here, there were not that many students but the school has grown so much over the years.”

Alumni in town for 2008 Founder's Day observance marveled at the remarkably good physical standing of the woman who nurtured many during their student days at Excelsior High School in Kingston.

"My students always come back to visit me--especially those from abroad," she proudly recounted to AgeNotes.
 

Peanie has done much more than sell snacks to hungry students. She has been a sounding board and surrogate mother who has seen it all and has given countless heart-to-heart talks to "her students." And, in her time, Peanie has quietly fed countless students whose parents could not afford to give them lunch money. 

Over the years, apart from “specializing in selling every little thing,” she at one time also did odd-jobs around the school, in lieu of the 4 shillings weekly rent which many times she could not afford, when her sales were not enough to cover her modest rent charged by the school.

But she has persevered, and from her modest perch from a variety of locations around the campus, she was able to send her children through school from peddling her goodies.

She is particularly proud of the success of  her children--six girls and two boys--some of whom have earned advanced degrees at top North American Universities. One daughter, Patricia, is the head of nursing at a prominent Bronx, NY institution, and another, Marie, is lecturer in French and Spanish in the Language Department at Excelsior Community College.

If buildings crumble when they lose their pillars, then Peanie--who many regard as a pillar of XLCR--has more than played her part in ensuring that the edifice of  founder Dr. Hon. A..W. Powell’s dream remains intact. Mrs. Muriel “Peanie” McLeod remains an emblem of the campus community and says she has no intention of retiring any time soon. 

In recognition of her service to the school community, she was a 2002 honoree at the Excelsior Alumni Association's Annual Dinner / Dance and Awards function in Queens, New York