As the yellow buses unloaded one bright fall morning, Natalie, a delightful little sixth grader who was in my stamp club flex activity at Fitch Middle School, came in the outside door near my classroom, with her ever present grin and a backpack that probably represented 20 percent of her body weight.

Around her neck I saw two medallions that I hadn’t ever before noticed her wearing. When I asked her about them, she explained, “This one is the Blessed Virgin Mary and the other one is the Holy Father, Pope John Paul. I got them at CCD.”

Some time afterward, I received a batch of stamps from a priest from the Hartford area who was a regular reader of my monthly column in Global Stamp News in which I frequently wrote about what my youngsters were collecting and researching. Many of the stamps my kids got came from readers who sent contributions ranging anywhere from envelopes to shoeboxes full of stamps that they thought the students would like.

This envelope contained several beautiful stamps from the Vatican, which, given the source, were religious in nature.

The next time Natalie’s flex group came to my classroom I called her over and told her I had some stamps that I had saved especially for her, since she was a Catholic. Her response was one of surprise, “How did you know I was Catholic?” she asked.

Robert F. Welt is a retired Groton public schools teacher.