Ah, life's greatest moments, marriage, the birth of a child, maybe a graduation, a first real job, a recognition, a remembrance. In any case I must tell a true story of a moment in relation to the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Pratt Skyline School System. Pratt Skyline was founded in 1968 and was a consolidated school consisting of small rural towns surrounding Pratt, Kansas. Those communities did not want to lose their identities by sending their children to a much larger school system in Pratt. And they kept their identity by creating a rural, consolidated school.
Actually this really is the story of Carolyn Heaton. She became a teacher at Pratt Skyline and taught there for 34 years and most likely the longest career on any teacher in that system. Remarkably, she served almost all of that time teaching 7th and 8th grade, mainly language arts, with some Kansas History and believe it or not, Sex Education thrown in.
To say that Carolyn was a popular, loved teacher is an understated truth. I now offer proof.
My wife, Carolyn and I attended the Pratt Skyline 50th Anniversary on April 9, 2018. Carolyn is 78 years old, uses a fancy walker to help her get around and has been retired from the Skyline System since 2002. In the years since retirement she has become hooked on facebook and has acquired 100's of friends, including many, well actually mostly former students. She knows all about them including children, even grandchildren.
We arrived around 5:00pm, the meal and celebration to begin at 6:00pm.
Immediately it began, people coming up to her to talk. I soon realized and underneath it all as I expected, I was merely a shadow. Now know that I taught 38 years in the big city Pratt School System. I was not the enemy, but most certainly a foreigner. Around 5:30 we began to line up for the self served meal. As we moved down a long line people came up to talk to her. smiling, hugging people. Of course they smiled at me, but Carolyn got all the hugs. We moved slowly, finally getting to the serving area and because Carolyn was tired from all the standing and walking she sat for a while, resting in her walker seat. And as the line passed the smiling, hugging and talking continued. Finally a high school student came up to us to help Carolyn with her food tray and we went through the serving line.
And now we started back to our seats. I can still see our path back, literally 100's of people in an extremely long hallway, all moving toward the serving area. We were going against the flow and really barely moving. Why, because the smiling, hugging and talking continued. We were barely moving, so finally I told the student aid that she and I would go ahead to our table and Carolyn would get to the table in a while. Well, I waited a bit, then ate my meal finally she worked her way back to the table. She arrived tired, but happy.
Some where around 7:00pm the program began. Some sort of welcome speech. A history of the founding of the Skyline School including the first school board members
And now the moment comes. Former Superintendent A.C.Boland announced he was going to introduce and acknowledge the original Pratt Skyline Staff. Now I was actually somewhat stunned by the first introduction. "The first original staff member I would like to introduce is assistant reading instructor Carolyn Heaton" I did not remember that Carolyn had been on the original staff. 7th and 8th grade yes, assistant reading instructor, on original staff, no. But that was only my brief moment. What followed was the moment. Some shouts, more noise, people standing, a bit of a roar, Carolyn struggling back to her feet, waving her arms. A true moment of recognition, a standing ovation.
Now there is a kicker to all this. Here it is. It was over, the celebration was over, people were leaving, but not all. You see there a line of people, a rather long line of smiling, ready to hug people All waiting to see and talk to Carolyn. How do I know all this. Well I was there in the shadow. The light was not bright but a warm, loving light.
And this actually happened. When the last person had left and we were ready to leave I asked Carolyn this question. "In life there are great moments, was tonight the greatest moment of your life?" And Carolyn said "yes"
