Melinda Miller came back Friday to say thank you to all the people she grew up with at the Kokomo Early Learning Center.

The young mother’s daughter, Alayah, 4, is attending day care at First Baptist Church. Miller said she took Alayah there two weeks ago.

But coming back to the Early Learning Center Friday was emotional for Miller.

“I had to leave early because I wasn’t going to be able to take it,” she said, wiping away tears as the center prepared to close its doors. “I went here; all of my nieces and nephews — all of my family went here.

“It’s understandable, but it’s hurtful when you’ve known the staff for so long that they’re part of your family, too. It’s like you’re losing touch with people.”

There were a few tears, but most of those were spent weeks ago when the city announced the venerable center, a Kokomo fixture since 1972, would close its doors.

Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight and most of the city department heads attended a last-day pizza party, handing out certificates of thanks to the remaining 16 employees, and reflecting on what the center has meant to the City of Firsts.

Arlene Morland, who came to work for the late Miss Charlotte Levi in 1972, kept the mood light by needling Goodnight, asking him to give her the center’s refrigerator.

Goodnight joked back that he might be arrested by Kokomo Police Major Jim Calabro — who also attended — if he let Morland take city property.

All of the children attending the center found placement elsewhere in the weeks after the city’s announcement, but 13 kids stayed on until the center closed its doors for good at 5:30 p.m.

Board member Lewis Hall, a Delphi retiree, sent his two daughters — now young adults — to the center. And Hall was himself a student at the building decades ago, when it was the former Willard Elementary School.

“I’ve met no better people than you all here at the center,” Hall told the staff. “You’ve brightened my life.

“ ... It’s not how it ends, it’s what we add while we’re here,” Hall added.

Goodnight, who worked for months to both cut costs at the center and to try to find a partner to take over operations, was finally faced with a city council majority opposed to keeping the facility open.

And with city firefighters being laid off in the face of a projected $2.5 million city budget deficit, Goodnight couldn’t justify keeping the city-run center open.

“I wish I wasn’t here today. I wish I was cutting a ribbon at a new business or a new road, or signing a document bringing new business to Kokomo. But that’s not where we are,” Goodnight said.

“I want to thank you for your time and your dedication. And this isn’t just from me, it’s from the entire community,” he said.

Goodnight recalled that during meetings last year, he still had hopes of transitioning the building into a place where adults could come to work toward GEDs or college diplomas.

“A lot of the ideas we had in 2008 didn’t match up with the realities of 2009,” he said.

Goodnight also complimented Councilwoman Janie Young, D-3rd, saying “nobody worked harder to keep this place open.”

Staffers applauded Young, who was too overcome to speak.

Center director Dianna Troxell, who took over in January 2008, said it had been an honor to work there.

“Just like any place, you have your ups and your downs, but each one of the staff here have the passion in their hearts to do the best we can for the children,” she said.

Karen Burns, who worked with pre-kindergarten children, had been with the center for 25 years. Prior to that, she’d taught in the Taylor Schools for more than 10 years.

“I got to work with children, which is what I loved, for 37 years. I’ve been blessed, she told Miller between hugs.

“Children have been my whole life, and we’re a happy group under the circumstances,” she said.

In the coming days, Burns said, the center’s closing will probably hit home.

“I think in a few days’ time, reality will set in ... not to get here in the morning and hear the little kids say ‘Hi Ms. Burns.’ They express so much love,” she said.

• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@ kokomotribune.com