Judy Sanford, of Tiverton, is putting together a fundraiser for landscaping at the Fort Barton Elementary School, where a major expansion project is under way.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

TIVERTON — Judy Sanford’s life has been entwined with the Fort Barton Elementary School ever since she crossed the threshold as a first grader in 1946 — before there was a kindergarten.

For the last four years, Sanford, 68, has volunteered her time at the school, mornings and afternoons, four days a week.

“I love working with kids,” said Sanford, who spends her time in the kindergarten she never had.

The remodeling and expansion of the 72-year-old Fort Barton school, now under way, prompted Sanford to think of a way to link the past and the future of the elementary school.

So Sanford is reaching out to other Fort Barton alumni and friends, asking each one to contribute a nominal amount to help enhance the landscaping on the grounds.

The gesture honors her late husband, Butch Sanford, who attended Fort Barton — as did her three children and three of her five grandchildren.

Sanford’s father and grandfather, who owned CF Grinnell, a construction company, built the Fort Barton Elementary School in 1936. The building stands on Lawton Avenue, in the shadow of the eponymous Revolutionary War fort itself, its original footprint dwarfed by the outlines of the addition.

Since construction began a year ago, Sanford has driven to the school’s temporary home in the former Nonquit School on Neck Road, which also serves as the mailing address for her fundraising effort.

She said she looks forward to being able to walk to school again, once the expanded school reopens in January, around the corner from her home.

Of her own experiences at Fort Barton, she said, she most remembers an English teacher named Miss Wood.

“She has carried me through life because of the way she taught us English,” Sanford said.

The search for former students has been fun, she said.

She has tracked down one classmate in Riverside whom she hasn’t seen since 1952, when they both left the sixth grade, Sanford said.

Initially, she planned to solicit funds only by letter, but when she contacted the parents of her children’s classmates to get addresses for them, the parents said, “Aren’t we going to get a letter too?”

Sanford, heartened by the response, decided to issue a broader appeal.

“I hate asking people for money,” she said, so she is suggesting $5 or a “donation of your choice.”

“I don’t have a goal,” she said, or a deadline. Planting cannot begin before spring, anyway.

“Whatever amount of money we get, that’s how many trees we will get,” Sanford said. “I didn’t want this to be stressful,” she said.

The fundraising effort, to supplement a landscaping plan already approved by the school building committee, has been approved by Schools Supt. William J. Rearick.

Anyone wishing to donate may send a check to “Fort Barton Landscaping” in care of Judy Sanford, Fort Barton at Nonquit School, 117 Neck Rd., Tiverton, R.I., 02878.

Even $1 dollar donations will be appreciated, Sanford said.

gmacris@projo.com