Take Me To Post Comment Form Ministerial M-uu-sings
Rev. Jane Altman Page

Remembering My Favorite Teacher, Mrs. Virginia Russell

(Note: Virginia Russell died at the age of 97 on April 22, 2008.)

Fifteen years ago, I stood in front of my students enrolled in a foundations of education class at Georgia Southern. Their assignment for that morning was to think about their favorite teacher and consider the reasons that teacher came to mind. After some class discussion I asked them to write a thank-you letter to their teachers. And as they wrote their letters in class, I wrote my own. I did not have to consider all of my options to determine the recipient of my letter. I’ve had some wonderful teachers, but my favorite has always been my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Virginia Russell. After the students shared a little about their letters, I encouraged them to mail them to their teachers. And I also placed my letter in an envelope and sent it to 12 West Kennedy Street.

I had no idea that Mrs. Russell was not at home to get that letter. She was at her beloved Fielding’s side in the hospital. Her daughter Virginia did take her mail to her though. And Mrs. Russell later shared with me that she had read that letter aloud to her husband and they both had wept joyful tears as they thought about their many students through the years. My letter symbolized for them the appreciation that all of us have felt for these two master teachers.

When I talked to Mrs. Russell’s daughter Virginia the day after her mother died, she asked me if I had a copy of that letter. I do not. The physical paper is gone. But my memories of Mrs. Russell’s 5th grade class remain – and I happily share these memories in an effort to represent the hundreds of students that she taught through the years.

I was thrilled when I got the word in the fall of 1960 that I was going to be in Mrs. Russell’s class. When you walked in the door you were welcomed with plants and terrariums and all sorts of wondrous learning activities. But the most welcoming thing was Mrs. Russell and her smile and laughter. We had fun in Mrs. Russell’s class. Oh we did our work and behaved ourselves. But we did our work and behaved ourselves because we did not want to disappoint our teacher who loved us so. And that was a valuable lesson that I learned about education. If you really care about your students and they know it, they’ll work very hard for you.

Mrs. Russell loved learning and she wanted to inspire that creativity and curiosity in us. So she would bring some exciting opportunities into our classroom. The year that I was in 5th grade, we had a snake. Mrs. Russell showed us the proper way to care for the snake and to handle the snake. Now most of the girls would not have anything to do with touching the snake. But I was always willing to try something new – and if Mrs. Russell could hold the snake, and the boys in the class could hold the snake, then so could I. So I became one of the main snake caretakers and would take that snake on walks around the playground during recess. One day, though, someone else had gotten a little anxious while holding it and dropped our pet snake on the breezeway. The students all gathered around while the snake wiggled and writhed. I bravely came over and told them to move out of the way and I would rescue the snake. I learned that day – that when creatures are mistreated and frightened, they may even bite the hand of someone trying to help them. Mrs. Russell was so concerned about my snake bite and immediately called my mom to assure her that the snake was not poisonous. But I sort of wore those two marks on my hand with pride.

Mrs. Russell not only cared about us, she encouraged us to care for one another. Ten year olds can be kind of cruel. But if some of her students started to put others down or belittle them, she did not stand by and shrug her shoulders. I can remember several occasions when Mrs. Russell would sit down with a group of students during recess and facilitate what we might now refer to as conflict resolution. Actually, I was the beneficiary of one of these sessions. Some of the students were making fun of me because I was telling them that Santa Claus was real and they were telling me that I was a baby to believe in Santa Claus. So I had the idea that we should go and ask Mrs. Russell. Because I knew that Mrs. Russell ALWAYS told the truth. So we explained our disagreement to her. Perhaps Mrs. Russell took her lesson from newspaper editor Frank Church who had answered Virginia’s letter to the SUN and responded with “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. Because the first thing she did was to affirm me and help me to maintain my integrity by saying that “Yes, indeed, Santa Claus was real. But then she began to share more and led us to a profound understanding of a deeper kind of reality. She shared that Santa had become the spirit of Christmas giving and that this very spirit could be shared by all of us every Christmas as we gave to others. Virginia Russell would have probably never labeled herself a theologian, but I learned an important lesson that very day about the incarnation of spirituality in all of us. That next Christmas, Santa Claus came to my house as usual and left presents for my brother and me on the fireplace hearth. But that year, there were also presents for my mom and dad left by Santa Claus. Because I had learned that the wonderful Santa spirit, that spirit of Christmas giving, was a part of me too.

And now after 97 wonderful years, my favorite teacher Virginia Russell has passed on. But I know that the wonderful love and compassion that was embodied in Virginia Russell lives in me now. It’s a part of me. And it’s a part of the hundreds and thousands of others that she has touched in her lifetime.

As we mourn her passing and celebrate her life, may we also commit ourselves to do as she did – and to make this world a better place by passing that spirit of love and compassion on to others.