I volunteer for an assortment of activities at Palmer, am a faithful participant in the annual Women’s Retreat, and with my husband Dick, I sing with the Palmer choir and join our friends monthly for our Dinner & Discussion gatherings. I am also passionate about classical music and I love the French language.

I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was in second grade. Of course, I had not picked a specialty at that time and I had no idea that as a young woman I would fall so madly in love with French literature and the language. I was so fortunate that these passions opened the door to what I had always known would be my first love.

Teaching a language to American students was an amazing challenge, teaching them to speak the language was like climbing a mountain every day. But it was fun! Ultimately becoming department chair, I was able to teach both honors and regular levels of classes, and it certainly kept me alert. I taught for 25 years and at some point I began to realize that teaching high school level students was my ministry.

Now I am retired, but my daughter Peggi in North Carolina is a teacher with 15 years of experience in elementary school education. She has continually honed her skills through the years but no one could ever have expected what would be required of her in this time of COVID. In the spring I received a “cri de coeur, Mom!” phone call. “We have to teach second graders on Zoom!” she cried.

Her wonderful principal sprang into action at the start, encouraging Peggi and her colleagues to develop their own lesson plans. Then the state of North Carolina and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District became involved, providing computers to all the children, developing new lesson plans and setting up class schedules. Like here in Houston and surrounding communities, school seems to always be on again, then off again, and everyone is exhausted. Teaching is done virtually for some students and in person with others and at the end of the day the teachers have parent conferences to keep parents and grandparents aware and involved in all that is happening. The schedule is erratic and sometimes the lessons feel that way too.

Please pray for all the teachers working through this time of COVID 19. I so loved being a teacher but I am also so glad to be retired, and I pray that my daughter and her colleagues continue to maintain their “joie de vivre.”