Here are a few excerpts from an article that ran in a local paper, the McMinnville News-Register, about a year ago, and I still have it hanging on the wall of my cubicle. It’s about a lady who was my typing teacher (and the typing teacher of just about everyone in Willamina, OR) and a personal hero of mine. I was a Sophomore the year computers replaced the typewriters, and while it was hard for everyone to adjust, it is admirable that Mrs. Mitchell not only adjusted but taught another 10 years as well. She is one of these women who are supposedly ruining the public education system:
“Tenacious Typing Teacher Leaves Classroom After 52 Years for Garden,” by Paul Daquilante, News-Register
Willamina–When the school bell signals the end of class June 9, Lucille Mitchell will close out her 52nd year of teaching high school typing, shorthand and accounting…
…if she gets bored with [gardening], she plans to volunteer with the school district.
“You’ve got to stay busy,” she said.
…Mitchell, who was hired in the fall of 1946…didn’t have children of her own and, after the death of her husband, Donnell, she poured herself into her work.
Over the years, Mitchell has become a mentor not just to her students, but for her peers as well…
“I think she has pulled it off because she believes passionately in what she has done as an educator is in the best interest of students,” [Don] Yates [principal] said. “Lucille has had the skills that students need in order to be successful in the workplace.” …
Students often realize Mitchell’s influence long after graduation. “Students come back and tell me, ‘I hated what you made us do, but thank God you did, because I have this real, real good job,’” Mitchell said…
“She always was gentle,” [Sharon] Shenk [secretary/treasurer of the Grand Ronde Community Water District] said. “I never saw her get angry. She didn’t even get mad at the boys, when they acted like they couldn’t hit a key. She was patient. I like that. I really liked her.”…
Mitchell was born and raised in Banks, and graduated from Banks High School…Mitchell attended Pacific University in Forest Grove, where she received her undergraduate degree in business administration. She did graduate work at several universities and colleges, including Linfield, and she received a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City…
“We went from manual to electric typewriters to the ones with memory,” Mitchell said. “Now it’s the computer age. It’s been real interesting. I enjoy this, and I wouldn’t go back to the way it once was.”
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy