The End of An Era

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the death of one man this past week has signaled the end of an era at our church.

On Wednesday, the Rev. Johnny Wallace, aged almost 80, passed away in the hospital. Rev. Wallace, or "Johnny" as he was known to all in the church, was, without exaggeration, a friend to all. A retired minister, he never retired from ministering to people - be they in church or "on the outside". I'll never forget how for years he would try to get Carrie, my daughter, to speak to him...she was a little shy of adults and wouldn't always want to speak; however, he kept trying...Sunday after Sunday, until she finally responded. Some adults would've just given up, but he never did. That was the kind of person he was - a friend to ALL, not just adults!

A personal funny story: one Sunday our church was having one of our infamous "hymn sings", something I privately dub "stump the pianist and organist". When we have hymn sings, people in the congregation call out hymn numbers and we play one verse for all to sing. If I truly don't know it, I say so! Anyway, one Sunday Johnny called out a number - it was "Day by Day" which had been a popular song back in the day and I thought I'd be fine with it. Well, nooooooo...what a nightmare....written in some weird rhythm that I've never seen for that particular song - needless to say, it was a DISASTER! Later, I told Johnny that he was on the "forever banned to pick hymns" list - he just laughed and admitted that he had no idea it would turn out like that - he just liked the words!

Johnny was often called upon to preach when our minister was out of town and always had interesting, thought-provoking sermons. He delivered his last sermon just 10 days before his death at our church's 90th anniversary celebration. Even though he had been ill for several weeks prior to this event, he made every effort to be there and do his usual great job. He ascended the steps to the pulpit using a cane (something I had never seen him use) and he had to sit down part-way through the sermon (also something he had never done), but it made no difference to us or to the wonderful sermon he preached. Thank goodness, it was recorded and copies are available!

Johnny Wallace will never be forgotten by those who knew and loved him - not just his family, but also his church family. His great sense of humor, words of wisdom just when you needed them most, and friendly smile will always be remembered. His legacy will live on in our hearts, but we sure will miss the man!

The Joyful, Yet Sad, End of School

Well, I've been fussed at by several people because I have not posted for awhile. Being a "stepteacher" keeps you busy! Plus I try to write about significant things and sometimes I'm just not inspired.

However, in a couple of days, my life will change yet again as I enter the temporary ranks of the unemployed for the summer. Our school year is over on Wednesday, June 9, and thus will end a six-week chapter that I have thoroughly enjoyed - as a first grade teacher to 13 amazing young 'uns! They've made me laugh and pushed every one of my "buttons" - love 'em each and every one! We've gone on a field trip, had field day and Dairy Day, and the next couple of days will be filled with activities, parties, etc.

Of course, the children are loving the fact of no homework! They kept asking me about it until I finally told them I'd be happy to give them some which brought them to their senses! :-)

The hardest part of this job, other than organizing my lesson plans and doing report cards online (very challenging), is trying to keep them interested and engaged in what I'm saying. Needless to say, their attention spans aren't exactly monumentally long! I've found that letting them participate a LOT in the lesson is definitely the best way to go!

The best part was when I got to read books to them - I LOVED that! We read several "Junie B" books and others as part of the curriculum and I enjoyed trying to make the books come to life. There's nothing worse than someone just reading without any real expression - borrrring!!

The ironic part about all this is now that I've found what I really want to do when I grow up, the county is going through all sorts of money woes and laying teachers off right and left. Doesn't that just figure?? That doesn't exactly fill me with incentive to apply for a job when I meet good teachers who are not being rehired because they are unlucky enough to be first-year teachers.

So folks, the moral of my tale is to figure out what you want to do with your life when you're YOUNG. Even though I did go to school and got my teaching certificate, I was never able to find a job and quickly decided that I'd go in another direction - which I did for 25 years. While I don't really regret my time spent in insurance, I wish I had come into teaching much sooner. Ah well...