I imagine if asked, most of us can recall the names of all our school teachers…and how we felt about them.
I still have my grade one photo showing Miss M. and our class of about 24 little ones. We were not an attractive group. Most of us were still showing the effects of the Depression and our clothes reflected the recycling that was going on during those years…(long before the terminology was made modern). The photo, being in black and white, looks somber and cold and I don’t recall any feelings about her class…but I sure do recall Miss B., my very stern Grade Three teacher and how upset I was in going into grade four to find that she was following me there.
Little did I know that in Grade 10 she would show up again to teach me how to type.
Yet, I can’t imagine what my life would have been without that particular skill. I used it to earn money after school and I sure used it in my various jobs before and shortly after I was married and for the 5 years that I was a church Secretary. And today I sit at the computer and am thankful that that particular person was a part of my life.
Just shows how God’s plans always work out for good.
Sunday school teachers and Vacation School teachers influenced me more than anyone else. As a girl without a father, (he died when I was 15 years old),it was an enriching experience to have a man share his faith in our grade 11 Sunday School class. Oh, yes, you expect to get that kind of thing from the minister but here was a man who had a business in town but took time to talk to a group of teenagers. Wow!
Recently I attended a very large funeral for a now grown woman to whom I had taught CGIT …I got hugs from so many of my former CGIT girls, (some whom I didn’t at first recognize) and I realized that they would have memories of me that might have influenced them. That is a tremendous responsibility that at the time I didn’t realize. I pray I “did no harm”.
As I share the stories of my life, with you, my readers, I pray the same thing.
I wish I could tell all those teachers I had in the past how much I appreciated all the time, effort and skills they spent trying to help me grow into a responsible, caring person.
My grandson is a teacher and I believe a good one, and I feel his influence on his young students will be one of good. I hope so.
So today, I think back on those years long gone…and give thanks for the dedication of all those people God put in my path to help me become (as we used to say in the CGIT motto) “the girl that God would have me be.”
