Class of 2005 & Mrs. Anjali Apte - Washington, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 33.578 W 091° 00.514
15S E 673513 N 4269790
Bench along the bike trail in Washington's Riverfront Park
Waymark Code: WM18M9E
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 08/22/2023
Views: 0
County of bench: Franklin County
Location on bench: Riverside Park, bike trail beginning, near USGS water gauge, Washington
Erected by Montessori Class of 2005
Upper Plaque Text:
In Honor Of
Mrs. Anjali Apte
Montessori Day School
"Whoever touches the life of a
child touches the most sensitive
point of a whole, which has roots
in the most distant past and
climbs toward the infinite future."
~ Maria Montessori ~
Lower Plaque Text:
Class of 2005
Julianne Alferman Gade Raferty
Michael Bartley Caroline Roethlisberger
Aidan Ip Elizabeth Roethlisberger
Christopher Kerba Rebecca Smith
Max Labsack Brianna Stephens
Ryan McDermott
"Who was this woman who Mussolini first pledged to support but later ousted from her homeland, closing all Montessori schools in Italy by 1934? Whose ideas Hitler’s henchmen apparently trembled to contemplate? Fascist mentality demanded puppet-like obeisance; that a person should be counted a free spirit and trained to independent thought and action was anathema. Yet that was exactly the kind of human being Maria Montessori had been educating.
"The latest object of Nazi denunciation, Montessori was not the first to carry the torch--the doctor-cum-educator had herself been influenced by an interesting mix of forces. The scientist in her had fed at the hands of French researchers Itard and Seguin, who had lately done ground-breaking work with mentally disabled and deaf children; while the educationist Friedrich Froebel’s ideas, not yet a century old, had kindled her interest in the potential of every child.
“Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.”
Maria Montessori. ~ Community Playthings, learning library