When Kathy came home from school yesterday it marked the end of a 46 year career of teaching mostly first graders, although there were two years of third grade and one year of fifth at the beginning. After having been retired for ten years, I have at last convinced her to retire, at age 70.
it is one thing to endure over time with a woman, but it is quite another thing to say that after 42 years of marriage I still admire her. No matter how long I live, I know that I can never even come near having a positive influence on as many people as she has. Her school presented her with a scrapbook entitled "40 Years of Love" that contained class pictures of every one of her classes at that school. I would bet that she could still name almost all of the students. There are families for which she has taught three generations of first grade. Her special gift has been teaching and inspiring a love for reading.
She has been so driven that I have concerns about how she will cope with retirement. A couple of years ago, in response to my efforts to get her to retire, she said that she still needed those 20 or so hugs every morning. I assured her that she could sign me up for one or two of them.
She won't be at Blade with me this year. She says she has to spend some time organizing all her resources, move some out of the classroom and leave others in order for the new teacher. I think it is because she still can't just lay it all down and walk away, she's got to ease her way out. This fall our grandaughter will start first grade, and Kathy is already making plans to be a classroom grandmother. After many years of hearing her comments on room mothers, both the wonderful and the intrusive, I am fully prepared to rein her in with reminders if needed, but I am fairly sure that it won't be necessary.
it is one thing to endure over time with a woman, but it is quite another thing to say that after 42 years of marriage I still admire her. No matter how long I live, I know that I can never even come near having a positive influence on as many people as she has. Her school presented her with a scrapbook entitled "40 Years of Love" that contained class pictures of every one of her classes at that school. I would bet that she could still name almost all of the students. There are families for which she has taught three generations of first grade. Her special gift has been teaching and inspiring a love for reading.
She has been so driven that I have concerns about how she will cope with retirement. A couple of years ago, in response to my efforts to get her to retire, she said that she still needed those 20 or so hugs every morning. I assured her that she could sign me up for one or two of them.
She won't be at Blade with me this year. She says she has to spend some time organizing all her resources, move some out of the classroom and leave others in order for the new teacher. I think it is because she still can't just lay it all down and walk away, she's got to ease her way out. This fall our grandaughter will start first grade, and Kathy is already making plans to be a classroom grandmother. After many years of hearing her comments on room mothers, both the wonderful and the intrusive, I am fully prepared to rein her in with reminders if needed, but I am fairly sure that it won't be necessary.
) and can't imagine what it must feel like to not be going back in the fall.