Remembering Mrs B

5h grade. Ah yes, the glory years of childhood. We were starting to enter that magic land of pre and mid puberty. What was especially unique about my 5th grade class was that we had a teacher who had taught Noah in the Antediluvian period. Mrs. B had taught my older brother and my sister who is 12 years older than I am. . Mrs. B had also taught my  family doctor when he was in the 5th grade. So, in essence and in reality. Mrs. B was old.

In all fairness to Mrs. B, she also provided care for an older, invalid sister, who had once been the postmistress in Burke,so in addition to her teaching us young hooligans and being old, Mrs B was very tired all of the time from being up late taking care of her sister. They lived just several houses up from us on Cedar Street., and so I often watched Mrs. B walk with her stooped back down the sidewalk. She walked though the heavy Wallace snow, the summer heat, and the golden leaves of Fall. She walked everywhere.

Mrs, B, because she was so old and tired, was often the cause of childish mirth for us when right in the middle of a sentence, her head would begin to nod, and soon, she was fast asleep.She  would wake with a start, and continue to talk without missing a beat. Once, during a parent-teacher conference with my mother, Mrs B had been telling my mother that I was a very good student. Right at that point she decided to take a nap,and while my mother sat there, Mrs. B slept. Waking up with a start, Mrs B looked right at my mother and said" And I need to talk to him about that. It is totally unacceptable".I took her word for that, and vowed that year to never be a good student again.

Now, with all that being said, Mrs. B was actually a very good teacher and a very intelligent lady.
As I got older ad understood a little more about the heavy load that she had. I felt very guilty for making fun of her when I was a kid.

Mrs. B you were a good teacher and a very nice person. I hope that you are resting in peace .You certainly deserve it.