HAPPY HEARTS KINDERGARTEN is a nondenominational, non-profit educational preschool and kindergarten program designed to enhance child development with a positive self-image. With encouraged parental involvement and small class size, children explore the world around them in a non-rigid environment. In 1946, this concept was realized when Mrs. Wisdom O’Neal, Mrs. Leslie Wade and Mrs. D.R. Smith organized ten board members and started the first kindergarten for four and five year olds. The board members represented the five Protestant churches expressing an interest in the idea. The plans called for the kindergarten to rotate among the participating churches from year to year. Later, space was obtained from the First Presbyterian Church and Happy Hearts has remained there ever since. The kindergarten met in the basement of the present church (where church offices are now) until the present education building was completed in 1958. For the first twelve years, Happy Hearts was the only kindergarten in Ocala. |