Acknowledging the passing of yet another good one <3

One of the things I failed to accomplish during the hectic month of May was to pay tribute to one of our family’s favorite educators. 

When we decided to move across town in 1996, our move was not happening until December but thankfully we already owned our new house in the fall. We were able to enroll John and Sarah in their new grade school. 

Rachel’s middle school did not change. She would catch the bus down the street and we would follow it shortly to make the trek across town and drop the two little ones off. Once we moved, we got to make multiple runs as both schools were close to the new house.

We instantly loved our new school and teachers. Sarah had the most creative, warm, loving third grade teacher. She embraced Sarah and loved her, and loves her still when I have run into her over the years. 

John’s teacher was also perfect for him. Creative, direct, lively and disciplined; she was just what our little guy needed.

Blonde hair piled up on top of her head, she teetered her way around desks and up and down the halls in high heels that Dolly Parton would have approved of. 

She was always dressed to the nines with just the right jewelry and pretty suits or skirts and blouses. 

Under her watchful eye, children learned their ABC’s and numbers. John was already way ahead of the game and she recommended we move him to first grade for math and reading. 

A few months into the year, she chatted with me saying it was up to us but he was sad because he was missing all the preparations for the school concert and activities leading into the holidays. 

I said I thought the same and he happily returned to her classroom full time and suffered nothing as he cheered his classmates on, refusing to blurt out obvious answers. He loved all the fun of kindergarten and her ideas for helping kids stay engaged were endless.

One of the highlights was the week of St. Patrick’s where a leprechaun created a huge mess every year while the kids were at music class. She could have gotten an Oscar as she went into a tizzy about what a mess that fellow had made and he better watch out next year.

The kids (and adults) loved it.

Every year.

Mrs. High was also known to shake her finger back towards the class and threaten to nail their behinds to their seats if she was trying to have a conversation with someone and the children were getting rowdy. 

It was effective so we never knew if she would have followed through. 

I know I would sit still when she said it. 

If caffeine was a human, it would have been her. 

John loved her so much. 

He really liked all of his teachers, though some were standouts for us. Maybe it was the way they loved back.

When he graduated from high school, he invited every single grade school teacher to his grad party. 

Two came. 

Mrs. High and her equally diminutive friend and fellow teacher, Mrs. Niehay, who loved our boy through his real first grade year showed up at our house with the biggest smiles. 

They said they had never been invited to a graduation party of one of their former students. They chirped around him all grins and giggles and had the best time celebrating his graduation. Picture fairy godmothers having a grand time and you will get the idea

I have a photo somewhere of the two of them standing on our hearth, with John between them. Even with the boost of that two foot rise, his head was still above theirs. 

I would run into Mrs. High when I worked at Talbots after she retired. Still very much the connoisseur of fine clothing, she was always sporting high heels and high fashion. She worked at one of the boutiques downtown part time and cared for her husband until he passed. 

When we saw her obituary during May, we all cried. 

Her daughter must have penned these words on her passing…Paulette High gained her heavenly high heels on Sunday, May 4th…

I couldn’t make her funeral because, well, I was teaching that day and I know she would have rather I kept student’s behinds nailed to their chairs then get a sub. 

I will miss knowing I might run in to her in some store as she hunts for quality merchandise at a bargain price. A woman cut from the same cloth as me. 

She was an absolute treasure and the world is sadder without her.