Forty odd years as a dedicated educator, wife, and mother has now changed her once short brown hair to a beautiful shade of salt-n-pepper. She would often fondly refer to her salt as the love she possessed for her students and family.

Short and dumpy in stature...'Dumpy' even the nickname her father had tagged her with. She possessed short little legs and calves as hard as a rock. They resembled those of a well conditioned athlete having been sculpted from the many miles she had marched in bands that she had been a member and the multitudes she had directed in high school.

Finally her eye glasses...brown plastic framed bi-focals precariously perched on the end her nose...that is until the index finger would push them up. Then!...WATCH OUT!

Emerging from humble roots and the daughter of a simple farmer in Chesterfield, SC, she was educated at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC with monies her mother accrued from selling eggs and a job as an extension agent for South Carolina.

Her lifetime career was always destined to be that of a teacher. At 18, this career would commence. In following years, this teacher, wife and mother of two, would somehow manufacture enough extra time to obtain her masters in English and US History from the University's of Nebraska and Kentucky.

A tenured educator...she also sported numerous other hats ...piano teacher, band director, teacher/principal, English teacher, history teacher, and concluding her life as a simple 8th grade teacher.

She appeared at first glance to be stern and obtain the character and demeanor of a Marine Corps Drill Sergeant. Not so! She was a queen of 'one liners' and her witticisms were second to none. Quick, off the cuff zingers could be expected at any time. It mattered not the time, for with unpredictable suddenty family, friends, students, fellow teachers, administrators and strangers might instantantly hear manifestations such as, "You ain't supposed to say ain't cuz' it ain't right, and ain't ain't in the dictionary!"...and for her children, there were zany witticisms like, "Boy, if I tell you not to do that one more time, you still gonna' be on restriction six months after you get married".

Memory does not recall harsh words being spoken of this gentlewoman, though I am sure there were some. Adorned and loved by decades of students she would have two annuals dedicated to her honor from the same high school, and awards, tributes and acclamations too numerous to list. She was praised by her community, state and country as the 'consummate educator extraordinaire'.

As a wife and mother, she was loved, revered, and respected by friends and foe alike. Her memory for years to come continues to ignite flames she stoked in all the lives she touched, and the fire that has emerged will continue to burn in all the hearts she touched.

Would we all but strive to emulate the examples she set.

The lady? My Mama...(Theo Smith)!