…about my mom, Mary Runner (Mary Evelyn Gould Runner). She would have been 100 this month.
She died, much too young, when Jillian was a month away from making her entrance into this world. I think they met in passing as Mom was going to heaven and Jillian was poised to come here. In so many ways, my Jillian is a throwback to Mary. Fashionistas! Iron cupcakes! Mary was, and now Jillian is, sweet looking, but they give new meaning to being a strong woman.
I feel Mom with me most especially in September when the new school year starts. “Mrs. Runner,” as her colleagues and students addressed her, was a beloved teacher and my role model and most important mentor.
Mary Evelyn was also the child of a teacher. Ironically, what she took from that upbringing was that she did NOT want to be a teacher. Her mother, “Mrs. Gould,” was an extraordinary teacher, respected and beloved in Amarillo, Texas where she taught for many decades. But she had never set out to be a teacher either. Widowed at a very young age, Pearl Gould earned her degree and got a teaching position that provided a comfortable life for her two children — including sending them to college — a rarity in the 1940s.
My mother Mary Evelyn majored in — something. 😊 She always said her college experience was mostly about sorority life. But she was one sharp woman; after college, she worked as an air traffic controller. Years later when she and Dad settled in Allentown, she turned her energies to teaching. From the start, I went to school with her. Most of what I know of the culture of schools I learned sitting on the floor of her classroom at the end of the school day, reading books and listening to “teacher talk.”
Like Mom, I didn’t aspire to be a teacher. Teaching is hard work — it’s mentally, physically, and emotionally demanding. But like my mother and grandmother, teaching found me. And like them, I spent decades loving it all.
I’ve been thinking about these generations of teachers as my youngest daughter is once again leading a classroom of her own. After 8 years of being an at-home mom and homeschooler, Jayne is back teaching fifth grade in a sweet little K-5 school. Her children go to school with her. How special is this?!
My mother took such delight in my teaching adventures, and I am now enjoying hearing of Jayne and the kids settling into their school year. However, dear friends, my activities maven —the clever Jayne — is a tad busy these days. We may have to wait for the next activity to be posted on this website. BUT! Take advantage of all the neat ideas archived on the Activities page. We have a year’s worth of fun things for you and your little ones to do together. Enjoy!!!
