Quitman Elementary School teacher Barbara Lynn retiring after 53 years at the school

Published 6:55 pm Monday, May 16, 2016

Classrooms had no air conditioning or technology or carpet. There were black chalkboards instead of smart boards or dry erase boards. Students were segregated and the beehive hairstyle was popular when Barbara Lynn started teaching.

“I don’t know where 53 years went, honestly. It has flown by,” Mrs. Lynn said. “I’m so glad this is what I chose to do, because I’ve been happy with what I was doing. I’ve always loved what I do.”

She has spent her entire teaching career at Quitman Elementary School, most of the time teaching first grade, although she also taught a few years in second, third and fourth grades.

First grade is her favorite, and she has taught first grade for the past 44 years.

“I just like this age. Most are eager to learn. They are sweet. They just love you. You can get on to them, and they will come right back and give you a hug. I love their hugs, and being a mother and a granny to them,” Mrs. Lynn said.

But after 53 years of teaching at least three generations of Quitman residents and seeing her students grow up to be doctors, teachers and other professionals, Mrs. Lynn plans to retire at the end of the school year.

“I just decided it was time. … I’m getting too old,” she said. 

Mrs. Lynn, 74, said she prolonged her career past the time many people retire, because it was too hard to give it up.

“Teaching as a whole to me is rewarding … every part of it,” she said. “I’ve loved kids all my life. I wanted to teach and help people.”

Quitman Elementary Principal Mary Ann Nichols said Mrs. Lynn is one of the school’s best teachers.

“She has a genuine love for children, especially first-grade students. She’s also a favorite among the staff, because she taught quite a few of them,” she said.

Mrs. Lynn comes from a family of educators and got a taste of teaching when she decided as a youngster to try to teach her mentally disabled aunt.

“I finally taught her to write her name,” Mrs. Lynn recalled. She said she gets a similar satisfaction teaching kids to read, which she said is one of the most rewarding parts of her job. 

Mrs. Lynn has bachelor’s and master’s degree from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M at Commerce, but she said the most valuable education came in on-the-job training.

“I didn’t know what I was doing (the first year). I was just learning what to do. I had sweet kids, and we made it. … I learned through experience. I think that’s the best teacher.”

Mrs. Lynn used that experience not only to teach hundreds of students but to mentor young teachers who passed through Quitman, including some of her own former students, such as Gaye Ellison, who Mrs. Lynn taught in the third grade.

Years later the two taught together, and Mrs. Lynn became a good friend and mentor to Ms. Ellison, who has since retired. 

“I told her she has been teaching me all my life, first as a student and … as a teacher,” Ms. Ellison said.

Ms. Ellison sent her daughter to Mrs. Lynn’s first grade class and eventually her granddaughter, too. 

“I was very excited, because Mrs. Lynn has always been the type of teacher to determine what was important to be taught, and I was confident with my daughter going into her class,” Ms. Ellison said. “She’s an excellent teacher, even-keeled and very kind.”

But Mrs. Lynn also was known for her high expectations – from academics to behavior. Ms. Ellison remembered a manners chart that hanged on Mrs. Lynn’s classroom wall.

“I love the kids, and I like to have fun with them, but I expect a lot of my kids,” Mrs. Lynn said. “I set pretty high goals for learning. I work hard at it. I want to do my best.”

With each class that has come along, Mrs. Lynn said, she has just tried to get them ready for the next grade, challenge them and take them as far as she can to be their best.

“I tell them we are going to be the best class there is. They like to hear that,” she said.

Mrs. Lynn still totes home a big bag every day and often works until about 10 p.m. grading papers and doing other school work, but soon, she will trade days herding elementary students for working on her farm. She said she’ll take it easy and will “probably be out gardening and chasing cows.”

Twitter: @Betty_TMT