Mrs. Wallace, you'll be missed!

Just about two weeks ago or so, I made my way to work, signed in, and asked Ms. Clark how Mrs. Wallace was doing. Mrs. Wallace and Ms. Clark worked closely together with their students while Mrs. Wallace was still in the classroom. I told her that I had been thinking about Mrs. Wallace and was wondering how she was. She relayed to me that she had been sick lately. Little did I know that in just a short time, we would be saying goodbye to our colleague one final time.

The last time I spoke with and hugged Mrs. Wallace, we were in the hallway of the school. I learned that she was retiring, but that she really didn’t want to. She wanted to keep teaching her young 2^nd grade students. Her health, however, prevented her from dedicating the time and energy necessary to stay in the classroom like she wanted to! I remember telling her that I could understand her position, but that sometimes pressing forward in this current climate just may exacerbate the problems. She understood, of course, still, retiring was not what she wanted just yet. We embraced and she left the school.

Months later, several faculty and staff members along with her family and friends would gather at a country club’s banquet hall in Delaware County to celebrate her retirement in style! We had a blast! She seemed pleasantly surprised, as her family hoped she would! There, we celebrated the career and legacy of one of the unsung heroes and pioneers of this teaching thing, Mrs. Lillie Wallace! Yes indeed! A decades-long, career educator, Mrs. Wallace deserved everything that evening brought to her and more! We sang her praises and gave her flowers while she could smell them. A good time was had by all!

Last week, while a few of us were eating lunch, we received the unfortunate news that our beloved coworker, Mrs. Wallace, had passed. We knew she was sick, but none of us considered the possibility that she would succumb to her illness. These last few days I’ve reminisced on the students she’d ask me to keep with me for a little while until they could get their act together. She taught 4th grade that year. Two years later (now several years ago) those same students became 6^th graders and it didn’t take long to understand where Mrs. Wallace was coming from! {Insert a smile here} I reflected on the infrequent conversations we’d have about “back then” and “today”. I thought about how often I’d see her making her way about the school, cane in hand, but moving. I can picture her and Ms. Clark working very closely together; Clark assisting her in the room with whatever needed to be done, escorting her students to the classroom in the morning, and from the classroom throughout the day to their “special”, to lunch, and eventually to be dismissed for the day. I thought about how much she enjoyed herself at her retirement celebration and how she got the chance to hear just how special she was to so many people.

Mrs. Wallace, you are indeed someone special and it’s so hard to bid you adieu. As a younger teacher, I can only hope that my career at retirement is half as storied a career as yours was! We will miss you Mrs. Wallace. I will miss you.

March, 2015, retirement dinner