Category Archives: Education

Schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer: Pioneer of the Texas Panhandle

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Schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer became known as a pioneer of the Texas Panhandle. Photo credit: Texas State Historical Associatoin

I enjoy sharing stories of intrepid educators who courageously braved the dangers faced by our early pioneers. One of these was schoolmarm Mary Ann Dyer, who has often been called a pioneer of the Texas Panhandle.

Mary Ann, who was frequently called Molly, was born September 12, 1839, in Madison County, Tennessee. Her family included prominent lawyers and government officials. When she was just a teenager, her family relocated to Weatherford, Texas. There her parents died, and the young woman was forced to raise her five brothers on her own.

Mary Ann was just a young woman when the Civil War broke out, and the elder two of her brothers enlisted in the Confederate Army. To help support the three younger brothers, Mary Ann accepted a position as a schoolmarm in the local school.

In 1870, the young schoolmarm married Charles Goodnight, a Texas rancher and cattle-driver. After first settling in Colorado, the couple established their Texas Pandhandle ranch, at first living in a sod dugout while Charles built their log house. On the ranch, Mary Ann became a nurse, homemaker, and substitute mother to the cowboys who worked for her husband. She taught them to read, patched their clothes, and hosted parties to entertain them. Over the years that followed, Mary Ann rescued and raised orphaned buffaloes. She helped establish the Goodnight buffalo herd, which became well-known all over the world. Some of her buffalo were crossbred with range cattle to produce a new breed, the “cattalo.” The breed is now known as “buffalo.”

Over time, many more settlers established homes in the Panhandle, building churches, schools, and other organizations. To help educate these newcomers, Mary Ann helped establish Goodnight College in 1898. The college was open until 1917, but closed with the opening of West Texas State Normal College in Canyon, Texas, and Clarendon College in nearby Clarendon, Texas.

Mary Ann (Molly) Dyer passed away on April 11, 1926, in Armstrong County, Texas. She was 86 years old. Her headstone reads “One who spent her whole life in the service of others.” In 1991, this Chalkboard Champion was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

To read more about this amazing teacher and pioneer, see Love Untamed: Romances of the Old West by Jo Ann Chartier and Chris Enss. The volume can be found on amazon.

Educator and community activist Cheryl Chow of Washington State

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Physical Education teacher and community activist Cheryl Chow of Seattle, Washington. Photo credit: The Seattle Times

Many dedicated and talented educators make substantial contributions to their local communities. One of these educators is Cheryl Mayre Chow, a PE teacher from Washington State.

Cheryl was born in Seattle, Washington, on May 24, 1946, the daughter of Chinese restaurant owners Ping and Ruby Chow. As a young teenager, Cheryl graduated from Franklin High School, and then enrolled at Western Washington University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Teaching. Later she earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Management from Seattle University.

Upon her graduation from college, the neophyte educator became a physical education teacher. As a teacher, she was known for her toughness, high standards, and tenacious advocacy for children. Eventually she became a principal of first Sharples Junior High (renamed Aki Kurose Junior High) and then Garfield High.

Cheryl’s devotion to young people is very evident. Among her many achievements, she served as the Assistant Director for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington, a girls’ basketball coach for the city parks and recreation department, and she also directed the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team. “Everything that Cheryl did, she worked to instill leadership among the girls and kind of mentor them for their adult lives,” remembers friend Lorena Eng. In addition to this work, Cheryl helped to form an outreach program for teens involved in Asian street gangs.

Cheryl also served as the President of the Seattle School Board and worked at the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In addition, she served two terms on her local city council.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away from a central nervous system lymphoma on March 29, 2013, at the age of 66. She is interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle. To read more about Cheryl Chow, see this obituary at The Seattle Times.

New Mexico teacher Sylvia Garcia succumbs to coronavirus

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With great sadness, we announce that New Mexico teacher Sylvia Garcia succumbed to coronavirus on Nov. 29, 2020. Photo credit: Las Cruces Sun News

With great sadness, we announce that the coronavirus has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Sylvia Garcia, a longtime teacher within New Mexico’s Las Cruces Public School District, passed away on November 29, 2020, after battling COVID-19. She was 60 years old.

Sylvia inaugurated her career in education in 1991. Most of her career was spent at schools where a large percentage of students were considered high risk. Over the three decades of her professional life, Sylvia taught at Sunrise Elementary, Hermosa Heights Elementary, and Valley View Elementary.  In 2019, she accepted a position at Lynn Community Middle School, where she taught math and reading intervention to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. In addition to her responsibilities in the classroom, Sylvia served in several leadership positions within the teachers’ union NEA Las Cruces.

Sylvia’s colleagues remember that she worked diligently on behalf of her students. “She was a unique teacher whose reach went beyond the classroom. She invested in the lives of her students and her colleagues and she made students feel like they were her own family,” recalled Lynn Middle School Principal Brenda Ballard. “During our remote learning time, she would find ways to engage students in something personal.  She knew details about students few others did,” Ballard continued.

To read more about this wonderful educator, see this link to the Las Cruces Sun News.

High school English teacher and author Frederick Houk Law

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High school English teacher and widely-published author Frederick Houk Law. Photo credit: Garrison House Ephemera

Many talented classroom teachers have also earned fame in areas other than education. One of these was Frederick Houk Law, a New York teacher who also earned acclaim as an author.

Frederick was born on September 7, 1871, in New York.

Frederick taught courses in English at Stuyvesant High School n New York. Throughout his life, the accomplished educator traveled widely, treking across Europe on bicycle, touring the African continent from Cape Town to Cairo, and exploring the interior of British Guiana.

This intrepid teacher wrote essays, reference works, biographies, textbooks, and other nonfiction books. In all, he published 102 works in 277 publications. The volume most often found in library collections is his Mastery of Speech: A Course In Eight Parts, published in 1918. His How To Write And How To Deliver An Oration published in 1926 is also frequently found in libraries.

Frederick also wrote plays, children’s tales, legends, and short stories for pulp fiction magazines such as Munsey’s. The periodical advertised itself as “a magazine of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout.” The teacher’s most famous fiction work was The Heart of Sindhra: A Novel, published in 1898. The novel is set in 19th-century northern India, and relates the story of a revolutionary force that derives its inspiration from wisdom and treasure emanating from a lost world in the mountains.

This talented educator and gifted author passed away in his home state of New York on his birthday, September 7, in 1957.

See this link for a list of books by Frederick Houk Law that are available on amazon.

Gail Goolsby: The educator who worked in Afghanistan

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Gail Goolsby spent many years teaching in Afghanistan as an international K-12 administrator overcoming challenges in a patriarchal society. Photo credit: Gail Goolsby

Many gifted educators have shared their expertise in international settings. One of these is Gail Goolsby. She is a teacher and international K-12 administrator who has worked in the patriarchal society of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Gail decided to move from the United States to Afghanistan to develop and lead the international School of Kabul after the terrorist attacks of September 11. She spent seven years there, facing the challenges of working in a place where women were devalued and considered weak. Her book, Unveiled Truth, vividly describes her experiences during those years.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion retired from a career in education after serving 25 years as a teacher, school counselor, and principal. Today she is active in the community writing, speaking, counseling, and serving as a certified life coach in her own business, Learn to Live Well.

For her outstanding work as an educator, Gail was inducted into the prestigious Delta Kappa Gamma Society in 2013. She has been a member in both Missouri and Kansas. Within the organization she served on the Educational Excellence Committee. Currently, she serves as Beta Rho Chapter Vice President. Gail encourages members in the chapter and region to take advantage of Delta Kappa Gamma opportunities.

To learn more about Gail Goolsby, check out her website at gailgoolsby.com.