Tag Archives: English Teachers

John Houston Ingle: English teacher and successful Hollywood actor

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Many educators have enjoyed success in other professions. One such teacher is John Houston Ingle, who earned acclaim as a Hollywood actor. Photo credit: Soap Opera Network

Many Chalkboard Champions have enjoyed success in professions outside of the field of education. One such teacher is John Houston Ingle, who also earned acclaim as a Hollywood actor.

John is probably best known as the actor who played the part of Edward Quartermain, the scheming patriarch, on the daytime television soap opera General Hospital.Others will remember him as the actor who portrayed Mickey Horton in the rival soap opera Days of Our Lives. John has also appeared in episodes of The Office, The Golden Girls, Night Court, and Boy Meets World. And, in addition, he has appeared in films such as Death Becomes Her, Robocop 2, The Land Before Time, and Heathers. He also voiced many characters in animated features such as the Jetsons, Smurfs, and the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.

This former teacher and talented educator was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1928. He graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, California. After high school, John attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. He began his career as an educator when he accepted a position teaching English and Theater at Hollywood High School in 1955. In 1964, he transferred to Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California. During his tenure there, his students included such celebrities as Nicolas Cage, Richard Dreyfuss, Barbara Hershey, Swoozie Kurtz, Stefanie Powers, and David Schwimmer. John also taught courses at the University of California, Los Angeles. John retired from the teaching profession in 1985.

John Houston Ingle, Chalkboard Champion and Hollywood actor, passed away in 2012 at the age of 84. You can read his obituary at this link.

California teacher Maria Lopez worked to secure the right to vote for women

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Dedicated English as a Second Language teacher Maria Lopez worked diligently towards securing the right to vote for women in California. Photo Credit: National Women’s History Museum 

There are many dedicated women educators who worked tirelessly to secure the right to vote for women. One of these was Maria Lopez, an English teacher from Southern California.

Maria Guadalupe Evangelina de Lopez was born in Los Angeles in 1881, at Casa Vieja, her family home in the San Gabriel. Her father, who worked as a blacksmith, was an immigrant from Mexico.

As a young girl, Maria graduated from Pasadena High School in 1897. She then enrolled at the Los Angeles State Normal School, which would later become UCLA. There she studied to be a teacher. Once she earned her teaching certificate, Maria accepted a position at Los Angeles High School, where she taught English as a Second Language. She also worked as a translator. During her years as a professional educator, Maria earned a reputation for being a devoted teacher, working diligently to educate the general public about California culture and to promote Spanish-language instruction. In 1902, Maria became part of the faculty at the University of California, becoming possibly the youngest instructor on staff there at the time.

In addition to teaching at the university, Maria became active in the local Votes for Women Club, and in 1911, she was elected President of the College Equal Suffrage League. She translated information about the suffrage movement into Spanish in order to marshal support for the movement in the Hispanic community. She traveled throughout Southern California, distributing suffrage posters and literature and giving speeches, all in Spanish. In addition, she wrote a persuasive opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Herald on Aug. 20, 1911, which advanced the argument that California could not call itself a democracy while disenfranchising half its citizens. Happily, California passed a suffrage proposition on Oct. 10, 1911, becoming the sixth state in the nation to grant the right to vote to women, nine years before the passage of the 19th Amendment.

During World War I, Maria left her teaching position to support the war effort. She relocated to New York City, where she took courses in auto mechanics and flying. Then she traveled to France, where she served as an ambulance driver. While there, the hospital where Maria and three other women were stationed was bombarded by enemy fire, and the four worked all night carrying wounded soldiers to safety. The French government honored the four women for their bravery in 1918.

Maria passed away on Nov. 20, 1977, in Orange, California. This intrepid Chalkboard Champion is buried at San Gabriel Christian Church in Los Angeles.

Caroline Boa Henderson: Teacher and Dust Bowl chronicler Posted on June 11, 2020

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High school English and Latin teacher Caroline Boa Henderson chronicled her experiences in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. Photo credit: Mt. Holyoke College

I love to share intriguing stories of dedicated educators who exhibit talents in arenas outside of the classroom. This one is about Caroline Boa Henderson, a high school English and Latin teacher who is also celebrated as an author of her personal Dust Bowl survival story.

Caroline Boa was born on April 7, 1877, in Wisconsin, the eldest daughter of affluent farmers. Even as a young girl, Caroline dreamed of someday owning a piece of land she could call her own.

After her high school graduation, Caroline attended Mt. Holyoke College, where she earned her degree in Languages and Literature in 1901. The new graduate accepted her first teaching position in Red Oak, Iowa, where she taught high school English and Latin from 1901 to 1903. She then taught in Des Moines, Iowa, until 1907. Then, in pursuit of her childhood dream, Caroline relocated to Texas County, Oklahoma, where she staked out a homestead claim on a quarter section of land and moved into a one-room shack which she christened her castle. There she accepted a teaching position in the local school.

In 1908, Caroline married named Bill Henderson, a Texas County farmer. The couple established a farm in nearby Eva, Oklahoma. The following year, Caroline gave birth to a daughter they named Eleanor. When Eleanor came of age, the youngster enrolled at the University of Kansas, where she eventually completed her Bachelor’s degree. In order to help pay for Eleanor’s education, Caroline relocated to Lawrence, Kansas, where the two women shared an apartment while Caroline taught school part-time. During this period, Caroline also enrolled in graduate courses in English at the University of Kansas. In 1935, she completed the requirements for her Master’s degree.

During the years from 1931-1937, at the height of the Dust Bowl, Caroline published a series of letters and articles in the prestigious magazine Atlantic Monthly. These letters and articles chronicled the grueling conditions faced by farmers who elected to remain on their farms during the severe conditions presented by the Dust Bowl drought, as harsh a natural disaster as any our nation has seen, even in recent years. She also included descriptions of daily life on her own farm, including her experiences with housekeeping, canning, cooking, tending her vegetable and flower gardens, ironing, and caring for her chickens. Her letters and articles earned her a national following, and were included in a PBS special on the Dust Bowl created by Ken Burns in 2012. To read some excerpts from these published pieces, click on the link Letters from the Dust Bowl.

This very amazing teacher and talented author passed away on August 4, 1966, in Phoenix, Arizona.

NM teacher and coach Andie Gudbegsson Redemann named Pepsi Teacher of the Month

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There are many outstanding educators who have earned recognition for their work with young people in our nation’s pubic schools. One of these is Andie Gudbegsson Redemann, a middle school Language Arts and English as a Second Language teacher and track coach in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been named the Pepsi Teacher of the Month in April, 2026. View the YouTube video below to learn more about Andie.

Iowa’s Phyllis Love: Talented educator and successful actress

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Talented educator and former successful  actress Phyllis Love of Des Moines, Iowa. Photo credit: The New York Times

There are many fine educators who enjoyed success in the entertainment industry before they became classroom teachers. One of these was Iowa’s Phyllis Love, a movie and television actress who also taught Drama and English.

Phyllis was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on December 21, 1925. Her parents were both small business owners. Her father owned a food market and her mother owned and managed a small restaurant. As a youngster, Phyllis attended first Perkins Elementary School, then Callanan Junior High School, and finally Theodore Roosevelt High School, all in Des Moines. While in high school, one of Phyllis’s close friends was actress Chloris Leachman.

Once she graduated from high school in 1944, Phyllis attended the School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. She earned her Bachelor’s degree there in 1948.

After college, Phyllis relocated to New York, where she honed her skills as an actress at the Actors Studio. Paul Newman and Marlon Brando were her classmates. Her talent earned her roles on Broadway and in the movies. She performed in The Rose Tattoo (1950), The Country Girl (1950), The Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Egghead (1957), A Distant Bell (1959), and Flowering Cherry (1959), and The Young Doctors (1961). She also performed in numerous roles on television, including appearances on Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The FBI, and Twilight Zone.

After Phyllis retired from acting in the 1970’s, she launched herself into her career as an educator. She taught Drama and English for 15 years at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California.

Sadly, in her later years, this talented educator and actress suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. She passed away on October 30, 2011, in Menifee, California. She was 85 years old. You can read her obituary, see this link to the New York Times.