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GREENSBORO — There was a time when Marty Goldstein had blond curly hair, felt as hefty as a linebacker and wanted so badly to play first base for the New York Yankees.

He’s from the Bronx. He lived above a Chinese restaurant, used cars and sewer covers as bases, and heard his baseball buddies yell his nickname constantly.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE.

That was a long time ago.

Goldstein’s blond curls have gone gray. And he can’t scoot down any baseline. He can only limp because his right leg was severely broken in a bike accident four decades ago.

And about playing in pinstripes? Well, dreams do change.

Today, Goldstein dreams about seeing a first-grader lose her shyness, an eighth-grader find his inner strength and a high school senior grasp the meaning behind the Mother Teresa quote in the hall.

It’s the Quaker mantra that has kept him anchored — first as a parent, later as the educational CEO — for more than three decades at New Garden Friends School.
“Take care of what God has given us.”

And Goldstein has — even if it meant stepping away from a budget session to plunge a clogged toilet.

He and his longtime friend David Tomlin helped bring New Garden back from the educational abyss when they became co-headmasters 18 years ago. Back then, New Garden was close to closing.

A K-8 school, it had only 42 students, and parents had seen five headmasters leave in the past decade.

Goldstein didn’t want to see his school die. So, after two decades as a parent, volunteer and trustee, Goldstein stepped up to the plate.

He sold the Sunset Café, his popular restaurant on West Market, and asked Tomlin, who had taught Goldstein’s son at New Garden, to come with him.

They got the job. They enlisted parents, recruited students and went after grants to prevent New Garden from becoming a scrapbook memory in the annals of local education.

Since then, New Garden has grown from three trailers beside Guilford College to a three-campus private school that covers more than 20 acres for 275 students, preschool through 12th grade.

It has raised $5 million, opened a high school and announced plans for an 18,500-square-foot, energy-friendly arts and athletics center.

Even with today’s tough economy, New Garden has inched away from the edge. So has Goldstein, who will retire as co-headmaster at the end of July and hand the reins to Tomlin.

He’ll go through a lot of lasts this week. His last high school graduation is today. His last eighth-grade celebration is Thursday. His last day of school — and his last day to direct after-school traffic — is Friday.

It’s not an age thing, Goldstein is 61. He’ll remain for a few years as an educational consultant.

But after 31 years in the trenches at New Garden, Goldstein says it’s time to move on. Plus, he remembers what his wife Kim has told him every summer since 1991:
“I say hello to you in June, and say goodbye to you August.’’

Ask Goldstein about his motivation, and he’ll mention his parochial Jewish school in New York City, the place where rabbis wore tattoos from the years in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.

His school was rigid, intimidating, test-heavy. As a parent, Goldstein wanted something more creative, more empowering. He found that at New Garden.

So, the Jewish boy nicknamed “Moose’’ grew into a man who became, as he says, “Quake-ish.’’ He found God in each person.

Like Monday. In the shy first-grader, a new student. She stood outside his office with her mother and hugged a stuffed dog to her side with all her might.

“Hi, I’m Marty,’’ he told her, leaning down. “I’m one of the heads of school. What’s your dog’s name?’’
 

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com.