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NORTON - Where Henri Yelle planted daffodils, his descendants explored their family tree.

The late and revered Norton educator's wife Alta, daughter Henrietta Yelle and Henrietta's son, 6-year-old Henri Paris Yelle Engstrom, recently met sisters Janelle and Nicole Nagle at the Henri A. Yelle Elementary School, where Janelle is in fourth grade and Nicole is in fifth grade.

The Yelles and the Nagles are related by marriage, Henrietta Yelle explained.

Henri's niece married the girls' great uncle.

Principal Lisa Farrell introduced them near the school's main office, which overlooks a garden where, Alta Yelle said, Henri Yelle once planted daffodils. "We are so glad to meet you. It's so wonderful to have met someone in your family you don't even know," Alta Yelle told Janelle, 9, whom she met first.

Soon after, Alta Yelle spoke with Nicole, 11, and said, "You tell your parents, 'I'm really proud of how articulate you are.'"

Nicole said one of her relatives recently taught her about her connection to one of Norton's most famous educators.

She's proud of those ties.

"I feel like this is my school, and I'm sharing it with all of my friends," Nicole said.

Henri Yelle was a Norton educator for 38 years, finishing his career as principal of the school, when it was Norton High School.

The town renamed the building after him in January 2000. He died on March 28, 2006, at the age of 94.

Alta Yelle, 89, said she last visited the school three years ago, when the collation for her husband was held in the gymnasium.

"It is wonderful. Henri would be so thrilled," she said. "It just seems all beautiful and pretty to me."