Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | For the past 31 years my wife has taught Kindergarten at the same campus in our district. The past years have seen her teaching the children of former students. She is an institution in the small community suburb of Ft. Worth where parents come to registration specifically requesting their child be in my wife's class. Last night was the unveiling of renovations that nearly doubled the school size... and infinitely improved a facility that goes back to the early 1920's. My wife, as by far the most senior teacher in the building, was asked to give a speech about the history of the school. There was laughter and tears and everything in between as young and old were reminded of their days attending the school.
I can remember when she first began work there and the principal who hired her. At every school function I would attend, the husbands of teachers congregated together. I've gone from being the youngest - surrounded by quite a few OLD men - to, sadly the oldest now - surrounded by quite a few young men. In 30 years I've seen the school change dramatically from my wife's classroom being over 90% white kids to one or two white kid and the rest Hispanic. It doesn't matter - my wife loves her families and they love her - even if she can't often communicate with them anymore. In fact, there was an interpreter for her speech last night.
The school was named for the principal who hired my wife after he retired. I made the first sign for the unveiling with his name on it. He was an old West Texas farm boy who had 9 kids - all of whom went to "his" school - way before the renaming. Several of them were there and spoke last night. It was a nostalgic evening full of familiar faces - all significantly older now that showed the progress and change in a small community. I was so proud of my wife for her superb history lesson and the obvious love the community has for her. She will retire in another few years and we'll finally hit the road in the motorhome. I know she will be a basket case on that day, but she will have left an indelible mark on that community. I, for one, will forever be known as Mr. Mrs. Kell there... but I consider it an honor.
To include guitars in this post, I played on stage for several different events over the years. One year, when they were short of volunteers to speak at Career Night, I posed as a working musician and introduced a classroom of students to playing guitar. Last night was one of those special events some people are honored to experience in life. I am so proud of my wife for her dedication to teaching there over the decades and don't mind how I've grown so much older during that time. She has begun countless children on their journey of learning... and the rewards of that were evident last night. |
OT: School unveiling and my wife's speech
