One-time teacher and former MA State Senator John M. Quinlan
One-time high school teacher and former Massachusetts State Senator John M. (Jack) Quinlan. Photo credit: Public Domain.
American history abounds with stories of talented classroom teachers who also made a mark in politics. This is true of John M. Quinlan, a teacher who was elected as a member of the Massachusetts State Senate.
John was born on July 11, 1935, in Natick, Massachusestts. All his life he preferred to be called “Jack.” When John was a child, he attended public school in Dover, Massachusetts, and later he transferred to Sacred Heart High School, a private high school located in Kingston, Massachusetts.
As a young man, John enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1957. Once he earned his degree, John accepted a position as a teacher at Franklin High School, a public high school located in Franklin, Massachusetts. He taught there for four years.
Once he left the classroom, John inaugurated his career in politics. His first position was as an assistant to United States Senator Leverett Saltonstall, a fellow Republican from Massachusetts. But in 1964, John was elected on his own merit on the Republican ticket to the Massachusetts State Senate. He served there until 1974. While serving in the Senate, John dedicated his effort primarily to campaign finance reform. In 1968, John accepted a position as the state chairman for United Citizens for Nixon-Agnew. That year, he also worked toward the election of the governor and the lieutenant government.
Once his term in the State Senate was complete, John served as an aide to Margaret Heckler, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also worked in 1990 as the campaign director for Jim Rappapport, another Massachusetts Republican, in his campaign for the US Senate.
This Chalkboard Champion is still living in Massachusetts. He is 85 years old.
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Glenna Fouberg: Known in South Dakota as “Mrs. Education”
South Dakota educator Glenna Fouberg, 1994 State Teacher of the Year, was known throughout her state as “Mrs. Education.” Photo credit: South Dakota Hall of Fame.
Very few teachers are so accomplished they become renowned throughout their state, but one who did was Glenna Fouberg of South Dakota. In fact, Glenna was known as Mrs. Education in her state.
Glenna was born Sept. 1, 1942, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She was raised in Ashley, North Dakota, and graduated from Ashley High School in 1960. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education in 1963 from Northern State Teachers College and her Master’s degree in Counseling from South Dakota State University in 1968.
Glenna inaugurated her career as a teacher at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. She also taught in the South Dakota cities of Sisseton, Bristol, Webster, and Aberdeen. Throughout her lengthy career, she was known as a teacher with a commitment to helping students on the margins of the state’s education system. The last 13 years of her career she was director of the Alternative Learning Center in Aberdeen. At the Alternative Learning Center she extended services to middle school students, those at the Juvenile Detention Center, and those at the New Beginnings Center, a home for at-risk youth. She also mentored other school districts in the creation of similar centers.
This exemplary educator served 19 years on the South Dakota Board of Education, four of them as its president. She also chaired the Indian Education Advisory Board for ten years, and she helped established both the annual Indian Education Summit and the South Dakota Teacher Summit. Under her leadership, Teach for America was brought to the state, and through that program many teachers were placed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. For her work in the field of education, Glenna was recognized as South Dakota’s Teacher of the Year in 1994. In all, this amazing teacher spent 38 years in the profession.
Sadly, this amazing educator succumbed to Covid-19 in her home town of Aberdeen on Jan. 5, 2021. She was 78 years old. To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this article about her published by the South Dakota Hall of Fame.
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Inspiration from teacher Patrick Nolan…
Fannie Motley made contributions to Civil Rights Movement
Alabama’s Fannie Motley, an elementary school teacher, made important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Photo credit: Encyclopedia of alabama.
Many distinguished educators, both Black and White, made important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s. One such educator was elementary school teacher Fannie Motley.
Fannie Ernestine Smith was born on January 25, 1927, in Perdue Hill, Alabama, a small town near Monroeville. As a young woman, she attended all-Black Selma Baptist University from 1944-1946. There she met her future husband, D.L. Motley, a ministerial student. Fannie interrupted her education in 1949 when the couple married and had two children.
Shortly after the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, Fannie overcame her strong fear of reprisals from the Ku Klux Klan and enrolled in previously all-White Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. Fannie was the only African American and, frequently, the only female in her classes. She graduated from Spring Hill with honors in 1956, the first African American to do so. This was her contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.
Fannie first taught second grade at A.F. Owens School in Mobile, Alabama, but in 1963 she relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, when her husband was given a job as the pastor of Peace Baptist Church there. In the Cincinnati public school system Fannie taught for 24 years, returning to school to complete the requirements for her Master’s degree in Guidance Education from Xavier University in 1969.
Fannie’s alma mater, Spring Hill College, established a scholarship in her name to be awarded to an individual who advances diversity on campus. On May 9, 2004, Spring Hill conferred an honorary Ph.D. in Humanities on Fannie Smith Motley in recognition of her efforts to promote diversity.
This Chalkboard Champion passed away in Fairburn, Georgia, on May 18, 2016, and was interred at Vine Street Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. To read more about her, see this biography published by the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
