Category Archives: Education

OK Social Studies teacher Kimberly Ann Henry also served as her state’s First Lady

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Former Social Studies teacher Kimberly Ann Henry served her state as the First Lady of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011. Photo Credit: Norman Rotary Club

Many dedicated educators also make their mark in the political arena. One off these is Kimberly Ann Henry, a high school history teacher who formerly served as the First Lady of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011.

Kimberly was born in Norman, Oklahoma. As a young girl, she attended Shawnee High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma. After her high school graduation, she attended the University of Oklahoma, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education in 1986.

Kimberly began her ten-year career as a classroom teacher by joining the staff of her alma mater, Shawnee High School, in 1993. There she taught economics, US Government, Advanced Placement American History, and Oklahoma History. Her talents as an outstanding educator were rewarded when, in 1999-2000, she was one of only five educators across America to receive the Close-Up Foundation’s Linda Myers Chozen Award for Teaching Excellence in Civic Education. In addition to her work as a classroom teacher, Kimberly has been a strong advocate on behalf of troubled youth through her support of the Thunderbird Youth Academy.

When her husband, Brad Henry, was elected Governor of Oklahoma in 2003,  Kimberly became the First Lady of Oklahoma. She served in this capacity from 2003 to 2011. While First Lady, Kimberly fought to make education a priority in Oklahoma, and has been particularly instrumental in pushing for increased early childhood educational opportunities in the state.  More recently, Kimberly launched the MyTakeOnHealth Video Challenge, a program which gave young people and students an opportunity to make video spots about health topics. For many years she was actively involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Kimberly also served on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum.  She also previously served on the Board of Directors for Science Museum Oklahoma, Leadership Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. Also, Kimberly served as the Executive Director of the Sarkeys Foundation, a private, charitable foundation dedicated to providing support through gifts and grants to Oklahoma’s non-profit organizations.

For her work as an educator and as a politician, Kimberly has earned. many accolades. She was honored with the Bill Lowry Library Champion Award for her work in literacy in 2004. The same year by she was named one of the The Journal Record’s 50 Most Distinguished Women. For her tireless efforts on behalf of the people of her state, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2010, she was named the Outstanding Woman of the Year Award at the second annual Women’s Leadership Conference for Women in Public Service. The same year, she was honored by Oklahoma State University College of Education with their prestigious Vision Award.

To read more about Kimberly Ann Henry, see this article published by 405 Magazine.

Former teacher, trailblazer Teola Hunter served in Michigan House of Reps

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Former teacher and trailblazer Teola Hunter served her community in a variety of roles, including 11 years in the Michigan State House of Representatives. Photo Credit: Digital Daily

Many excellent classroom teachers are also fine politicians who commit themselves to community service. One example of this is Teola Pearl Hunter, a teacher from Michigan who has also served in her state’s House of Representatives.

Teola was born on Feb. 5, 1933, in Detroit. When she was only 15. years old, she graduated from Class Technical High School in 1949. After her high school graduation, she enrolled at the University of Detroit, Mercy, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree Education in 1958. In 1971, she earned her Master’s degree in Elementary School Guidance and Counseling from Wayne State University.

After she earned her degrees, Teola taught in Detroit public schools. She was an educator from 1958 to 1974, a total of 14 years. During this period, she founded Buttons and Bows Nurseries and Preparatory School. She operated the school from 1971 to 1985.

In 1980, Teola was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Michigan State House of Representatives. There she represented District 5 from 1981 to 1992. While in the House, Teola served as the Chairperson of the House Social Services and Youth Committee; the Ad Hoc Committee on Early Intervention and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency; and the Oversight Committee on Family and Child Services. She also served on the Governor’s Task Force on Access to Health Care. In 1987, she was selected to be the first woman Speaker Pro Temper for the House. She also served as a delegate to Democratic National Convention from Michigan in 1988.

Once her service in the Michigan State House was completed, Teola was appointed Deputy Director for Health and Community Services. In this position she was responsible for overseeing Mental Health Services, the Patient Care Management System, Youth Programs, the Co-op Extension, and the Child Care Fund. When her term there concluded, she was elected as the Deputy Director for the Wayne County Clerk, where she served two terms.

Throughout her life, Teola has served on the Boards of several nonprofits, including the College Board Kids Learning Center, the Lewis College of Business, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (Women’s Committee). She belonged to the National Order of Women Legislators, the patrons of the Arts for the Paradise Theater and Orchestra.

For her work as an educator and a legislator, in Feb., 2020, Teola was recognized by the the city of Detroit as one of four local iconic trailblazers honored during their Black History Month celebration.

Today, Teola Hunter is 90 years old and still going strong!

Math teacher and Major League Baseball player James Brideweser

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James Brideweser

Math teacher James Brideweser also played Major League Baseball. 

Many successful athletes also become successful educators. One of these is James Brideweser, a Major League Baseball player who went on to teach high school mathematics in California.

James was born on February 13, 1927, in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio. After his graduation from Washington High School in Los Angeles, he served his county in the military during World War II. He then earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California.

The 6-foot, 165-pound shortstop and second baseman inaugurated his MLB career on Sept. 29, 1951, with the New York Yankees, for whom he played a total of three years. In 1954 he played for the Baltimore Orioles, and then he was traded to the Chicago White Sox, for whom he played in 1955-1956. The last team he played for was the Detroit Tigers. In all, James’ career spanned the years 1951 to 1957.

Once he completed his career in baseball, James earned his teaching credentials. He secured a job as a mathematics teacher and Title IX counselor at Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach in Southern California. He also served as the coach of their varsity baseball team, which logged two championship seasons under his leadership. In addition, James coached the baseball team for nearby Saddleback College from 1982 to 1985. The team made it all the way to the Mission Conference championships in 1983 and 1984.

Sadly, James passed away on August 25, 1989, in El Toro, Orange County, California. He was 62 years old.

Missouri teacher and author Ellen Gray Massey shared her love of the Ozarks

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Ellen Gray Massey, English teacher and prolific author of juvenile fiction, expressed her profound love of the Ozarks in her classroom and in her novels. Photo Credit: ellengraymassey.com

Many talented authors have also worked as dedicated educators. Ellen Gray Massey, a high school English teacher from Missouri, is one of these. She has published numerous award-winning novels and publications with settings in her beloved Ozarks.

Ellen was born on Nov. 14, 1921, in Nevada, Missouri, although she was raised in Washington DC. As a youngster, she spent her summers at the family farm, Wayside, near her birth town of Nevada. While there, she fell in love with the Ozarks, a lifelong appreciation which was reflected in her later writings.

After she graduated from high school, Ellen earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maryland. After she married Lane Massey in the 1940s, the couple settled on a farm in Laclede County and started their family. Unfortunately, Lane died while he was still a young man. After his passing, Ellen and her three children ran the farm by themselves.

When Ellen decided she was ready to go into the classroom, she accepted a position as an English teacher at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Missouri. For ten of the years she taught there, Ellen led her sophomores, juniors, and seniors into the writing and publishing of their own periodical, Bittersweet Magazine. Through this project, her students interviewed older residents around the Ozarks in order to preserve in writing and photographs the history and stories that were dying off with their generation. “She sent those kids out into the boonies interviewing old time Ozarkians about how rough it was, how they made do with what they had, how they embraced the culture. It was wonderful,” remembered friend and fellow author Veda Jones.

After retiring from Lebanon High, Ellen continued to share her vast knowledge of the writing process and her love of the Ozarks at Drury University, where she taught graduate education courses.

Over the course of her lengthy career as an author, Ellen earned numerous accolades for her writing. She won 15 First Place awards from The Missouri Writers Guild and was awarded their annual Best Book Award five times. She also earned three finalist awards from the Western Writers of America. In 2014, she garnered the Western Spur Award in the Juvenile Fiction category for her novel Papa’s Gold. In addition, in 1995, she was one of the charter inductees into the first Writers Hall of Fame of America.

Sadly, Ellen Gray Massey passed away on July 13, 2014, in Lebanon, Missouri, at the age of 92. To learn more about this Chalkboard Champion, visit her website at ellengraymassey.com.

Pioneer, author, and rural schoolteacher Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Pioneer and author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the popular Little House series, once worked as a teacher in a rural one-room schoolhouse. Photo Credit: Public Domain

Most Americans have heard of famous author and pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder. They have either read her Little House books, or they have watched the syndicated television series called Little House on the Prairie, which was based on her books and was popular in the 1970s. But did you know that Laura was once a rural school teacher?

When Laura was a child, her family relocated frequently to wilderness areas, because her father wanted to indulge his desire to settle land in unknown territory. The Ingalls family traveled into thick woods, across vast prairies, through raging rivers, and over icy waters in their covered wagon. Their journeys included settlements in Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Iowa. Finally, the family settled in De Smet, South Dakota, where her father claimed a homestead. These pioneer experiences became the source material for Laura’s children’s books, which have been read by millions over the 60 years they have been in print.

Laura was only 16 years old in Dec., 1883, when she took an examination with the county school superintendent and was granted her teaching certificate. She taught her first term at the Bouchie school, a rural one-room schoolhouse, that winter. She taught her second term in the spring of 1884, and her final term in the spring of 1885.

Laura’s first teaching job was a difficult one fort her. Her school was located in a small settlement 12 miles away from her family’s home, and she boarded in the home of a family who was always arguing. The students she was expected to teach were nearly her own age, and Laura felt that she had little control over her class. Laura was also very homesick.

After Laura married her husband, Almonzo Wilder, she left the teaching profession. But she continued her work as an educator by home-schooling her one surviving child, Rose Wilder.