By EMILY CUTTS
HATFIELD — Twenty years ago, Elinor Bell made a pair of mittens to match her 4-year-old grandson’s coat.
But one day the child returned from school with a note saying he needed mittens, Bell, of Hatfield, recalled.
It turned out, she said, he had dropped his mittens and another child had claimed them during a mitten check. If it happened to him, Bell said, there were probably others. So, Bell made eight pairs of mittens and two hats for each preschool, kindergarten and first-grade classroom.
“I just did it because I felt it needed to be done and the need stayed,” Bell said.
Bell, 81, received a surprise Thursday afternoon at the Hatfield Elementary School’s Holiday Extravaganza.
The district’s superintendent as well as the Hatfield School Committee bestowed upon Bell the “Above and Beyond” award for her two decades of hand-knitting mittens and hats for the students.
Just as Bell hand-made the mittens and hats that kept the hands and heads of students warm, the children in turn made a mitten-shaped book filled with thanks.
“It takes a special person to be thinking about others so long,” second-grade teacher Laura Hoey said. “We really appreciate it.”
The bags of hats and mittens, broken into sizes, would appear by teachers’ mailboxes without warning.
“They would just show up,” Hoey said.
Bell delivered the last set earlier this month. She retired from knitting to take care of her husband, she said. When she was knitting, she said, it would take her less than a week.
“I’ve slowed down a lot,” she said. “It’s bittersweet in a way.”
Whether the preschoolers forgot their mittens, needed a dry pair or were playing a matching game, Bell’s mittens were on hand, according to preschool teacher Patti Benson.
“Not a day goes by we don’t use them,” Benson said. “They love them so much.”
In the book, students and teachers alike wrote notes and included pictures for Bell. One of the first entries was from Benson thanking Bell.
“Your generous supply of mittens ensure that going out is easy and comfortable, every day,” Benson wrote. “You have donated so many mittens to the preschool that, even though you are retiring, our ‘extra’ mittens will last us for many years to come. Every time we pull a pair out, I will think of you and your incredible dedication and kindness.”
Both Benson and Hoey called Bell’s knitting retirement the end of an era.
“It was just sad,” Benson said. “We’ve just all come to expect it.”
Principal Jennifer Chapin said that every child who has been a part of the early childhood education program in the district in the last 20 years has worn a pair of Bell’s mittens.
“She’s not doing it for thanks,” Chapin said. “She drops them off quietly and leaves.”
Second-grader Mattie O’Day said she didn’t forget her mittens often but would use the ones made by Bell when she did.
“They are really comfortable,” Mattie said.
Her favorites were the pink and blue ones.
When asked if she had anything to say to Bell, Mattie put it simply.
“Thank you,” she said.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.