Well, it finally happened this May. School ended, kids were promoted, awards were giving and the legendary 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Judy Anderson, retired from the classroom at POC Elementary.Administrators, co-workers, students, former students and their families honored her for her years of service and dedication to the children of Port O’Connor. She will be sorely missed.
Mrs. Anderson graduated from the University of Texas and began teaching in Kindergarten, but soon moved to 1st grade where she found her niche. She was the daughter and granddaughter of former teachers, so she came well equipped for the job.
For 40 years Mrs. Anderson has combined rigorous academics with gentle instruction in social skills and life skills. She has created an environment for success for POC Elementary students blessed enough to have her as their teacher. Mrs. Anderson has touched the lives of so many students in her years of teaching, but the parents of those students say they have been touched too.
She is an extraordinary teacher and has a gift for working with children. She has had the unique and small town special privilege of teaching multiple sibling groups, children and grandchildren of her former students and her own children in our highly rated local elementary school. She has helped numerous other young teachers develop their craft, implemented countless programs and teaching techniques, attended hours and hours of ongoing educational development and endured more administration and staff changes than you could even count. She has taught gifted and challenged students, willing learners and those so challenging even their Moms weren’t sure they would make it through 1st grade.
In her years of service in Texas education, Mrs. Anderson has endured more than twelve policy and curriculum rewrites and overhauls, but she never quit exceeding the state standards with POC 1st graders. She often went above and beyond the highly demanding duties of classroom teaching when she coordinated Christmas programs, helped with the student food pantry, chaired the Christmas Angel Tree project, supervised special extracurricular activities and provided before and after school tutoring and extra help to struggling students.
She also shared in a thriving local family business and raised two sons of her own. One son remarked when leaving Mom’s ‘s 1st grade classroom that his mom would go with him and be his teacher all the way to graduation. It seems she has done just that. In fact, when Mrs. Anderson leaves her 1st grade classroom this summer, they won’t even have to change the name on the door. Her son, Mr. Collin Anderson will step right in to teach and shape the next group of students at POC Elementary. He has a big teacher’s chair to fill. I know he will be a success as well. He learned from one of the best.
Congratulations, Mrs. Judy Anderson and enjoy your retirement!
