When the school year ended last May, Principal Randi Fowzer and her committee began the planning process for the 75th birthday of Lincoln Elementary School.

That celebration was held Thursday at the Manteca Unified kindergarten- through eighth- grade campus.

“You’re a part of history,” said Fowzer during the morning assembly consisting of second and third graders.

The history of Lincoln is 75 years of a family tradition.

Sharing in that tradition were Jenni Andrews and her mother Linda Vidas. Both taught at the school during the same time in early 2000s.

Both were in attendance at this special event.

“I taught here a long, long time ago,” said Andrews, who is the district’s Senior Director of Elementary Education, to students at the gathering.

Vidas recalled that Robert Montgomery was the stand-in principal at Lincoln during her first go-around at the school in 1989. She went from there to New Haven, and back to Lincoln.

“I parked in my old parking space,” said Vidas, who was making her first visit to the campus since its remodel in recent years.

Thanks to Measure G funds, MUSD’s oldest campus was reconfigured.

Reorientation of Lincoln consisted of changing the main entrance from Yosemite Avenue to Powers Avenue for student safety and to reduce traffic congestion. It also included the addition of a new front office and multi-purpose building.

Lincoln School opened in 1948 and was named after the 16th President of the U.S.

Back then, a loaf of bread was 14 cents. Going to the movies cost 60 cents while gas sold for 16 cents a gallon. Fowzer fact-checked those items.

Activities during the multiple assemblies held during the day included musical chairs, the standing balloon pop, and teachers and staff partaking in the straw-sipping game consisting of M&M candies.

In addition, teacher Elizabeth Ferral and her class put together a 16-minute video to commemorate the school’s 75th birthday.