There has been a little buzz in the community for the past
few months about a Teachers’ Honor Roll
that is being planned for the new addition to the Lawton Memorial Library in La
Farge. With construction on that library
addition advancing quite rapidly in the past week and as the new building
starts to assume its shape, the interest in the honor roll seems to be
increasing as well. Recent donations
have increased the number of names on the honor roll to fourteen and another
sixteen have also been nominated for the honor.
The Friends
of the Lawton Library came up with the idea of the Teachers’ Honor Roll as a
way to honor teachers who had made a difference in their students’ lives. The honor roll was also devised to raise
money for the new addition as the Friends organization was charged with the
task of collecting funds to pay for the project. (That fund-raising is ongoing as the money
needed to pay for the completed addition and renovation of La Farge’s library
still has not been reached. There will
be more on how you can help with that fund-raising at the end of this pithy
little doggerel.) As it turned out, the
idea of a way to honor teachers and raise some money in the process has worked
out quite well as attested by thirty teachers being named for inclusion to the
honor roll and over $10,000 being raised for the library expansion.
I am
fortunate to be included on this new Teachers’ Honor Roll. Family, friends and former students backed my
inclusion on the list. It was
particularly gratifying to hear from several of my former students, who told me
how my being a teacher for them had made a positive impact on their lives. (One young lady’s glowing words about my
presence in the development of her life were so powerful that they brought me
to tears.)
Anyway, all
of this teachers’ honor roll discussion and personal inclusion has me thinking some
about my career in teaching. I think
that I knew pretty early on in my life that I wanted to be a teacher and I am
very sure that some of the teachers that taught me in those formative years had
significance in my choice of that career.
Having taught in public schools for over thirty years and then
continuing to teach in some capacity or other since my “retirement” in 2002, it
seems obvious that I made the correct choice for my career path. That personal history as a teacher made me
think about the role models that must have been before me in my youthful days
as I decided to become a teacher.
Georgia
Evans is another teacher that is included on the new Teachers’ Honor Roll. I actually nominated her for inclusion on the
Lawton Library honor roll and subsequent donations from her family, former
students and teaching colleagues placed “Miss Evans” on the prestigious
list. I use the term “Miss Evans”
because over the years, that is what I always used when addressing her, even
when I was a colleague of hers teaching at La Farge Schools. (Looking back on this, I now understand why
many of my former students still have a hard time calling me “Brad” when I
admonish them for using “Mr. Steinmetz”.
My deepest apologies to my former students, who have heard this from me,
but FINALLY, I understand where you are coming from!)
I was a
member of the first class that Miss Evans taught at La Farge. We were sixth-graders and Miss Evans, who had
taught at country schools for all of her career, came to La Farge, I believe,
when the Ottervale School, where she was teaching, closed in 1957. She came with a certain reputation, as she
was a stern taskmaster in the classroom.
I liked schoolwork and even flourished at it a little bit, so Miss
Evans’ no-frills style of classroom work did not faze me much. What did captivate me about our new sixth
grade teacher was her performance outside of the classroom, especially during
recess and noon hour. Unlike most of her
teaching colleagues of that time and place, Miss Evans was “All-In” when it
came to her student’s playground activities.
As I
remember it, the recess and noon hour of that first day of school were very
different than previous ones. Miss Evans
was very interested as the boys gathered to play a game of softball. What we found amusing was that she wanted to
participate in the game as well. So, to
placate the new teacher, the boys reluctantly agreed to let her play. But she also insisted that the girls be
allowed to play as well! Coming from a
country school background, Miss Evans was used to both boys and girls
playing. With small enrollments, it was
a matter of practicality to have enough to play the game.
But to call for that co-ed approach
at metropolitan La Farge - now this was getting ridiculous! The guys and the gals of that age simply did
not participate together in ball-playing activities (although we did have dandy
co-ed participation occasionally in “Cowboys & Indians” and
Pump-Pump-Pull-Away). There were plenty
of boys to make up sides for a softball game, but our new teacher insisted, so
the girls, with big grins on their faces, joined in the game of kitten ball.
Then Miss Evans insisted that she
be the first batter in the noon hour softball game. What next?
Some of the boys chided their new teacher and asked if the pitcher
should roll the ball along the ground so she might be able to hit it. But Miss Evans said no to that, just pitch it
in there as usual. Then some of those
same smart-alek boys said all of the outfielders should move in close because
teacher wouldn’t be able to hit it far anyway.
On the first pitch, Miss Evans hit
a “Moon Shot” to deep centerfield! Those
called-in outfielders scrambled back to make a play, but by the time the ball
got back to the infield, Miss Evans, with those long easy strides of hers, had
easily rounded the bases and touched the plate for a home run. The girls broke out in squeals of glee at
their new teacher’s exploit, while most of the boys stared in gaped-mouth
silence. The gender barrier had been
smashed for our noon hour softball games.
Miss Evans continued to stretch our
educational experience that year. She
took us up to the park for tree identification lessons. We went to neighboring fields and woods for our
Science Class plant ID’s. In the winter,
she led us up onto a neighboring farmer’s hill for sleigh riding during noon
hours. The following spring, she somehow
finagled a bus and afternoons away from school for our class to play a softball
schedule, playing the country schools around La Farge. We traveled to play games at Bloomingdale,
Elk Run, Fairview, Salem, Buckeye Ridge, Weister Creek and Rockton. She managed the team to a near perfect record
(dang Mary Anne Daines and that team from Potts Corners!) and endeared herself
to the entire class, since everyone got to go to the games, whether you played
or not.
Miss Evans loved local history and
would take the class on history hikes to Seelyburg, her hometown and where she
still lived when she taught our class. I
think that I developed my interest in history from her as I listened to her
stories of Seelyburg, the old lumbering town on the Kickapoo River. I also was always impressed with the passion
that Miss Evans showed in her teaching.
Her job was important to her and she always strove to be engaged in her
teaching and to keep her students engaged as well. It was where the first seeds were planted in
my thinking about becoming a teacher. I
had many more teachers along the way that would influence me towards making a
career in education (and hopefully I can relate some of that at another time),
but it was Miss Evans who began that process for me.
* * * *
Here is a list of nominated
teachers for the Lawton Memorial Library Teachers’
Honor Roll: Kevin Alderson, Bonita Dorschied, Mary Downing, Gerry Drake,
Betty Ecklor, Ann Erlandson, Jerry Hesselberg, Laurie Hesselberg, Jeanne Kraus,
Bea Lee, Karen Lee, Geneva McGeorge, Al Oaklief, Dave Sarnowski, Robert Sutton,
and Mary Warner. If you would like to
contribute to help advance a teacher who made a difference in your life,
donations for your favorite teachers can be made at the library, or by mailing
your donation to Friends of the Lawton Memorial Library, 118 N. Bird St., La
Farge, WI 54639. Donations can also be
made online by going to www.lafargelibrary.org. Check the Friends of Lawton Library webpage
or on Facebook for more information on the teachers already on the honor roll.
So, as the
lady might say, “C’mon people, vote for your favorite teacher and move them on
up to the honor roll!”