Missouri Memo

Thanks To Teachers

Posted at October 19, 2006 15:23

There are about sixty-three thousand public school teachers, kindergarten through twelfth grade, in our state, according to the Department of Education. Every one of them, plus private school teachers, teacher’s aides, and all of our schools’ staffs deserves a great big thank you.

I’m thinking about school because I’m looking forward to it starting again soon. In spring, I eagerly anticipate summer vacation from school, and the more relaxed schedule of summer for the ones still in school. But about this time of year, I begin to look forward to that schedule that seemed so restrictive last spring. Maybe that’s because I have two teenagers at home, and their nocturnal hours — so natural to them — wear on me.

This seems like a good time to give a round of applause for our educators, and especially the many, many fine teachers I’ve had. In my little four-room school, Shawnee R-3, I remember especially Mrs. Margaret Ragland and Mr. Grady Hibbs. Mrs. Ragland’s requirement for us to diagram sentences taught us the rules of grammar and the parts of speech, and maybe planted the first seed for an editing career. I loved diagramming sentences — weird, I know. Every time I asked Mr. Hibbs a question, he made me look up the answer; perhaps this was a precursor to a journalist’s love of digging deeper, finding answers.

Then in high school, I had another teacher, Miss Adah Peckinpaugh, who likely contributed to my career choice. I have long forgotten whether it was Miss Peckinpaugh, who is now ninety-two, or my mom who encouraged me to enter a county Rural Electric Cooperative writing contest, but Miss Peckinpaugh attended a dinner for the finalists in that contest. We had to recite our papers from memory, as I recall, in front of a small panel of judges. When they announced the winner, I had to recite the paper again, but this time to a room full of strangers. Even though I had already won the contest, I was so nervous my knees were knocking! Miss Peckinpaugh told me that she was so nervous her knees were knocking, too. The prize was a fantastic ten-day trip, along with every other county winner, to Washington D.C. to visit monuments, legislators, Congress and the White House. The writing business seemed pretty attractive to this farm girl who hadn’t been out of Missouri, except to visit grandparents in Arkansas. Then in college, when I was dithering and anxious about making a career choice, my mother told me she’d read about a degree program called agricultural journalism. I investigated and made an appointment with Dr. Delmar Hatesohl. After that appointment, I knew I’d found a major, a career choice, and a college home. Delmar was part of a two-man team that infl uenced the lives of many students; his compatriot was Dr. Dick Lee, who was head of the degree program. Both men knew all their students by name, a rarity even back then. Both guided and advised, and Dick later became my boss, transforming from teacher to mentor. Both gentlemen taught me about being a professional as well as a journalist. led to a terrific magazine career at national magazines before Greg and I decided to return home and launch our Missouri Life! The last teacher that I need to thank is Dr. Don Ranly. I had many world-class teachers at Missouri’s world-famous School of Journalism, but Don had the most influence on my magazine career. Quite simply, he taught me how to edit. It sounds simple and easy, but that’s deceptive. I hope you see the difference in Missouri Life. I appreciate all of these teachers, and I hope you’ll thank those teachers you remember who made a difference. I wonder which of my children’s teachers may greatly influence their futures. Thank you to all teachers – past, present, and future.

know that one of them helped me get an internship that later

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