Mrs. Wills aka My Mama

For those who do not know, my dynamic mama, Mrs. Linda Wills, is retiring from 40 years of teaching at the end of this school year (spring 2014). She taught elementary school from 1974 to 2014, give or take a few years she stayed home to raise her babies. But even when she was a stay-at-home/work-from-home mama, she was always teaching kids...daycare kids, us, and Sunday school kids, as well. We, as her family, have known for the past year or so that she was ready to retire soon, and we have all been excitedly looking forward to her having more free time for her hobbies and her grandchildren. But I don't think any of us realized, until now, the other emotions that come with the official end of a long career. So, I shall attempt to illustrate what those look like from my perspective.

Forty years ago this spring, Mrs. Wills was just finishing her first year of teaching in a little private Christian school in Florida, she went on to teach in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, the Logansport area of Indiana, a few different schools in the Mille Lacs region of Minnesota, in primary/kindergarten classes while also teaching college and supervising student teachers in Evansville, Indiana, and finally her longest tenure of around 14 years teaching in the Columbia School District in southern Michigan. Around the time she began teaching in Michigan, she got involved in the Reading Recovery program, and from my layman's view, she developed a new love for teaching children how to read. Whatever certification or official term they use in Reading Recovery for someone who teaches it, she has that. ;P She told me today that she has helped 58 students, kids who otherwise would be way behind and struggling in reading, learn how to read with Reading Recovery, and that doesn't count the after-school literacy groups or the kids who she has helped just normally in her classroom in the past 40 years.

Mrs. Wills circa 1974 and Mrs. Wills circa 2013. (sorry for the low res images)

Today, the elementary school where my mom teaches honored her and another retiring teacher in a surprise assembly. My younger brother and his family and my dad were able to attend. The school gave Mom 40 carnations for each of her 40 years teaching. Her principal said a few touching words, and several of her former students spoke and told everyone their favorite memories of having her for a teacher.

I wasn't able to be there, but I know for a fact that Mrs. Wills is an amazing teacher, and I can say that without bias because she was my teacher too, and no, I was never "homeschooled." She was my preschool teacher when I was 3 and 4. Then, when my kindergarten teacher took several weeks (months?) off for medical leave, Mrs. Wills was our long-term substitute. She also subbed for my first grade teacher. Then, she got hired full time at a private Christian school in the country where she was my second grade teacher and then third grade teacher the next year. So I've had her for a teacher more years than anyone else ever did, I think, so I think that makes me pretty much an expert on how great of a teacher she is. (My brother Jonathan is a close second, having her for a teacher for 2-3 years, if I remember correctly.)

Mom was very clear to explain to me that at home, she was mommy, but at school, she needed to be Mrs. Wills. I understood and apparently was able to compartmentalize well enough that when I was in second grade, one of my classmates heard me accidentally call her "mommy" once. This was well into the school year, and she was absolutely stunned to find out after all that time that Mrs. Wills was my mom! :D
 

I remember lots of the things we did in school. In preschool we made flying purple people eaters for a craft. I'm sure that ages me a ton because that is an OLD song, but I remember doing that. I also remember making "footprint paintings" outside by stepping in paint and then walking on a long piece of craft paper. Those teachers were saints to do such a messy craft with us preschoolers. I work with 2 and 3 year olds at my church, and I just can't imagine. I don't know if it was my mom's brainchild or not, but we made Minnesota loons in kindergarten. Funny how I remember the arts and craft projects. I know we did lots of other things, but those are the things I remember the most.

I remember Mrs. Wills' creative lessons from second and third grade very well, like when we learned about apples in September and incorporated math, problem-solving, reading, writing, art, and probably lots of other great lessons in that one theme. We did another one in October about pumpkins. I have so many memories from those years. All of the Bible verses we memorized. And the way we celebrated birthdays. The things we learned about nature. And one year, Mom and her fellow teachers wrote a play based on A Charlie Brown Christmas. There are lots and lots of amazing teachers out there, but I'm not sure how many would add the task of basically writing their own script for a Christmas play to an already busy time of year. That was HANDS DOWN the best and most memorable Christmas play I've ever been involved in – in the history of more-than-I-can-count Christmas plays I've participated in. I still remember all the details they added and how involved everyone was in designing the props and the costumes. Snoopy's dog house made out of a school desk with a cardboard cutout was just awesome. If you care to know, I was cast as the little girl, Violet, who at the beginning, Charlie Brown thanks for sending him a Christmas card. She tartly replies, "I didn't send you a Christmas card, Charlie Brown!" And that was my one line. :) I am so appreciative of all the teachers who go that extra mile to make an impression on kids for decades to come.

I have had lots of excellent teachers, but I think I owe a lot to the early reading and writing skills instilled in me by my mom in early elementary school. By the time I was in 8th grade, I was helping her grade college writing papers (basically doing it myself while she double-checked my work).  She was teaching a basic writing class at a local college for students who wanted to attend college but didn't pass the writing requirements to be able to enroll. She knew I was fully capable to grade their work because she knew I learned things in elementary school that those students hadn't learned. And she taught me those things...how to spell, how to write a complete sentence with a subject and a verb and the various alternate endings, how to construct a paragraph, and how to be descriptive in creative writing. I'm still working on how to be concise. ;) Thank you for teaching me those things, mama, and thank you for having the confidence in me to use what I knew at a young age. I truly believe I'm a better writer for it.

*cue the sappy*

I was looking at the pictures of my mom in her early teaching career and noticing how much Andrew looks like her and how much she looks like her dad, my GrampE. And then I got a little emotional because I know how proud her dad was and would be of her if he were still living. I know how proud he would be because I know how proud her mother is of her. I can't even imagine what it's like to live to see your only child RETIRE from her 40-year-long career, but I know she is bursting with pride. She constantly tells me, "she works so hard." GramE's right, and Mom does it because she knows the kids deserve it. See, my grandma remembers the little kindergartener/first grader who had a HORRIBLE, cruel teacher who embarrassed her and made her cry. She remembers the little girl that swore to herself that she would grow up and be a teacher . . . and that she would be a kinder and better teacher than that woman was. I think she has fulfilled that ten-fold. My mom is engaging, driven, patient, inspiring, and so many other things any teacher would want to be said about them. I see no comparison between the two, other than the title "teacher".

So in four more days, this 40-year-long career officially ends. But she will never stop teaching. She will continue to educate every child she ever comes into contact with because that is who she is. I can't wait to see what this next phase of life holds for her and the rest of our family.  I know I speak for everyone when I say that GramE, Dad, Andrew, Jonathan, your daughters-in-law, your son-in-law, your three-and-counting grandbabies, and I are so proud of you. I love you so very much, Mrs. Wills. <3 br="">