Interview with Edna May Merson

Edna Mae Merson graduated from the Maryland State Teachers College at Towson in 1945 with a bachelor's degree in education with an elementary emphasis. Dr.

Merson served in the Baltimore County Public Schools for 44 years, first as a teacher and then as a vice principal and principal. She also served in leadership positions with several national

educational organizations. These are her reflections. Doctor Merson, thank you for sharing with us your thoughts about your preparation, teacher preparation at Towson

University, and your subsequent career in education. This will act greatly to our effort to document the evolution of teacher education at Towson across time. I think a good place to begin is in the beginning.

So I would ask you if you would share your earliest social context with us, where you grew up, what kinds of thoughts you were having about what you would do after high school when you thought you might want to be a teacher, and why you chose

Towson University. Thank you, Karen. Well, I grew up in a railroad town adjacent to the B&O Railroad called Lansdowne.

It's a very nice, quiet community. The parents in Lansdowne usually expect their children to finish elementary school, not all to finish high school. And nobody goes to college.

Mother had grown up on a truck farm in Arbutus, but at the age of twelve she lost both her father and her mother to tuberculosis, so an uncle took her to raise over on Washington Boulevard. at another truck farm.

My father finished sixth grade and at the end of sixth grade he left, as many other young men did, and went into the B&O and was a hire there as an apprentice. He became a master machinist and when he retired 49 and a half years

later he was in charge of all tools and machines at the Montclair shops as a supervisor. He was a very brilliant man, even though he hadn't had a lot of formal education.

Mother and Dad somehow or other married and financed their home with a mortgage from the B&O. Ten years later I arrived. Of course, that long time I guess they were glad to see me

and they waited on me. So consequently I didn't bother to talk. When my sister began to arrive thirteen months later, my parents were very worried that I was not talking and they went to the

doctor and the doctor said stop waiting on her. They did and I started to talk. Things went along well until first grade and at first grade there was no way I was going to go in first grade I was very

shy. The only way they kept me in first grade in the seat was to put my sister with me. So the two of us spent the first week of school sitting together

in first grade. After that I was able to stay by myself. We'd go home and my mother would say how was school today and my sister would tell her everything that happened.

I didn't say a word. We progressed through to fourth grade and suddenly in fourth grade they found out I hadn't seen a thing the teachers had been putting on the blackboards.

I couldn't see the blackboards. So mother took me to an ophthalmologist and got a pair of glasses and the world lightened up. I could see. Things improved from then on until seventh grade and at

seventh grade my mother went to see Dawes Garrett, a wonderful principal, and she said I do not want her to go to Catonsville High School. She's not ready.

And Mr. Garrett said we could pass her. Her grades are not great, but we could pass her. My mother said no way.

So they talked me into staying back in seventh grade because I wanted to. And whenever anybody said you failed, I said no, I stayed because I wanted to.

Well, the second year in seventh grade, I bloomed. We went on to Catonsville Senior High and I hit honors classes all the way. It was a good experience.

Straight A's. They couldn't believe it. Senior year, Senior High, Pearl Harbor. The Japanese bombed in 1941.

The boys left to join the Army, the Navy, the Marines, and I suddenly, being a tomboy, I said I want to join the WACs [Women's Army Corps]. The WACs had just been established, so I went home and said, Dad, I've decided I want to join the WACs.

My father looked at me and very quietly said over my dead body, No daughter of mine is going to join the service. I already have a position ready for you at the B&O. I said, Dad, I don't want to be a secretary.

Well, what do you want to be then? There were very few options for girls in 1942. I said, well, I've been thinking about this. I think I would like to be a teacher.

He said, I'll send you to Towson. I think I can afford that. So one week after graduation, we entered the accelerated program at Towson State Teachers College.

The accelerated program was a real wonderful thing. We went to school straight during the summer, a longer session than usual. During the winters, there were no holidays.

We even went to school on Thanksgiving Day. You did? Amazing. We were making up time because teachers were so short and Towson was trying to gear up their program to put teachers in

classrooms. It was a wonderful program. During my years at Towson, we loved the staff. They were mature, much older faculty because, of course, they

weren't... They couldn't draft them. Joe Young West's classes were exciting in science.

I remember Mr. Walther and Dr. Hartley. Pearl Blood had a wonderful geography class. We learned a lot and we enjoyed them.

They were very caring faculty members. We had a victory garden and we farmed on this campus right there at Towson. You did, and what did you grow?

I remember bringing in onions and potatoes and laying them out in Richmond Hall where they would dry. We all had an area in Richmond Hall where we could bring our produce and then we gave some of it to the cafeteria in Towson,

the dining room, and some we took home. But it was very interesting. We had full athletic program, lots of sports involved. We had the dining room at night with white tablecloths and good

China and glasses and we ate and received instruction on how to use the implements at the table and what to do with the table, which many of the girls coming in from the farmlands around Maryland did not know.

But Towson tried to cover all the bases. Doctor Merson, was that... So this program was comparable to a four year program, but you did this in three years.

Yes, it was. And for student teaching, not like the student teaching they have today. We had nine weeks first at Lida Lee Tall, split between a

primary grade and an intermediate grade, I had Miss Hill and Miss Kestner. The second session of student teaching, we were taken by bus from Towson to Southeast Baltimore County where we were

dropped off at various public schools. I had Chase Elementary, I had a fifth grade, and I stayed in that fifth grade for twelve weeks. I was replaced by a teacher who had just finished her work

at Towson and was coming now with her full credentials. But I held the class for twelve weeks, from September 'til the middle of November. And were you, did you have anybody supervising you at all or...

I think we saw a supervisor three times in that. It was not often. So we were basically on our own. So you really were not a student teacher, but the the teacher on...

You were the teacher of record in that class. And it was rough because they were not the easiest children to tackle, but we tackled them. And you had fifth grade.

I had fifth grade. And that's beginning to be a difficult time for a... It was a difficult class. But we made it, and I learned a great deal in that class that helped me when I went out

later on. As graduation came up, Clarence Cooper from Baltimore County came to Towson and interviewed all of us who might be interested in going to Baltimore County. He offered me some wonderful schools in the Towson area, and

I said no, I prefer to go close to home. He said I don't want to put a beginning teacher back in your home school, but I do have a neighboring school that I could put you in.

It's about three miles to the east, Baltimore Highlands Elementary School. So you'll get a letter from the principal. I got a letter from Mr.

Fitzell who invited me over for a conference and I went to see him. I was 20 at the time, hadn't turned 21, and he said welcome to Baltimore Highlands.

We have a five-room school. Now, I teach seventh grade and you will have the sixth grade and about ten seventh graders who have been having trouble learning.

So they were the slower area. He said, I think they will work better with sixth grade than with the seventh. And since we all have an extra responsibility, you will be the

cook. OK. I said, Mr. Fitzel, I can't cook. He said,

You'll learn. Oh my heavens. He said, I make the menus, I order the food. I will have a mother in to help get you started each day.

You will leave your class at 11:30, go down and I will watch them. You will have everything ready and when the bell rings at twelve, we will start down for lunch.

We will serve soup, sandwiches and milk. The teachers will help you collect the money from the children. You'll take the money home at night, roll it and count it and

put it on my desk the next day. Yes, sir. So you were not only the cook, you also were sort of the bookkeeper as well as well. For the cafeteria.

Now, there were about fifty children coming for lunch because being that time in our history, we had one hour for lunch and children went home for lunch. So of the 250 children in the school, at least half of them

went home. Another group brought their lunches because their parents couldn't afford to pay for school lunches, even though they were very small.

And then the others we fed. Baltimore Highlands was a wonderful school. The children were great. Their parents put the teacher on a pedestal.

I once had a youngster who really misbehaved and I took him home and his father met me and said one moment, please. He took him in the bedroom, paddled him and then came out and said what did he do? Oh!

I said, but you've already spanked him. He said you brought him home. Interesting. They supported the teachers completely.

I had another one of my initial seventh graders who walked the three miles over to my house to tell me not to call his mother. I went to school the next day, called his mother, she came up, she took Thomas outside the classroom, had a talk with him,

and that was the last problem I ever had from Thomas. But we could count on their support. PTAs. It was my first experience with PTA's.

Parents came up in droves to see the teachers for half an hour before PTA. Then we had a short business meeting and then there was a full length film selected by the principal, and the parents,

having no cinema in the area, all came to see the film and being the youngest teacher on staff, I had the job of running the projection. Oh my heavens. My mother couldn't imagine why PTA

meetings took so long. But the parents loved the school and they loved the PTA. And so what sort of films did did you see? They were not risque at all.

They were just good, solid films that the principal thought were good for the community. I see. So it was interesting.

How long did you stay? I was there for five years. OK. The parents came and asked if I would please take the Girl Scout

troop since the Girl Scout leader had left. And I said, but I've never been a Girl Scout. They said, that's all right, we'll get you the training. So I took the training and I took the Girl Scout troop and we

had a wonderful time with that Girl Scout troop. I still hear from some of them today. My heavens. But all of the work that we did at Baltimore Highlands was a

real joy and I hated to leave the school when I got a little letter that said we've promoted you to an assistant teaching vice principal at Lansdowne Elementary, my hometown school. I lived only three blocks from the school, so off I went to

Lansdowne to teach a fifth and sixth grade combination and to serve as librarian. And those were the responsibilities then that they assigned. Of the assistant principal.

I see. It was an interesting four years at Lansdowne. During that time, I finished my master's degree with an MA, then started to teach for the University of Maryland in

Baltimore one night a week, still manning the Scout troop. What were you teaching for the University of Maryland? Was this a method course? Methods courses, how to teach social studies, how to teach language arts, how to use audio visual to

supplement your lessons, et cetera. They were all methods courses. My supervisor at Maryland, Doctor Schindler, would go over the lesson plan for me for the course and then I followed

through going into Baltimore at Lumberton Green. Very interesting program. Yes. Now, after that you went into a principalship?

Not quite. Not quite. From Lansdowne, I went to a non-teaching assistant principal at Campfield Elementary School.

That was what was called a curriculum coordinator at that time. It was a new position for the county, but the basic thrust of it was to work with teachers in classrooms, visit them, teach

for them, evaluate them, improve instruction. And I did that for two years. I had not had any experience in first or second grade. I could handle third, fifth, sixth, seventh.

So I found two of the senior teachers at Campfield, Mary Callahan and Lucy Hull, and they were close to retirement but outstanding teachers and I said teach me everything you know about first and second grade, I need it.

And they did. So that was a learning experience too. Campfield was near Liberty Road and it was an up-and-coming community.

Had a wonderful staff, got into savings, bonds, safety, all kinds of extra programs. Thoroughly enjoyed my two years there.

But at the end of two years, just as I had applied to the Girl Scout Council of the United States to participate in their first big Girl Scout Roundup and been selected as a troop leader in this for Detroit, Michigan or Dearborn, Michigan, the call came.

Would I please accept the principalship at Arbutus? And I said to Mr. Cole, who made the call, I can't. I'm signed up to go to Michigan for the Girl Scout roundup.

There is no way I can go to Arbutus and do that. He said, That's wonderfu. You plan to do that. Go to Arbutus for one week and work with Miss Mary McGuigan.

Miss Mary has been at the school for 36 years. It's going to be very hard for her to leave the school. So you go work with her, find out everything you can from her, then take off for one month, come back the first of August and

assume the principalship. Oh my heavens. So I did it. I went to Dearborn, Michigan, had a troop of four patrols, 32 girls,

one patrol from Texas, one from Colorado, one from Virginia, and one from Connecticut. They were as different as could be and we had a ball. We went to visit Dearborn and all of the museums in that area.

We learned new campfire skills. We had a tremendous program. Came home. And then went to Arbutus. To be a principal.

A brand new first year principal with a vice principal who had been there 25 years with Miss Mary and a staff that included at least five people who had been there 25 years.

Well, every time I suggested we not sweep the floors in the cafeteria. This was not the children's job, I received, That's not the way Miss Mary did it.

I said, well, we have a new way of doing it now. But we got along fine. And Arbutus was a wonderful school. They enjoyed me and I enjoyed them.

I didn't tell them that my mother had attended Arbutus Elementary School in the 1800s. I didn't want to influence them, but she had, and my grandfather had owned all of the land across the street from the school, so I

was a natural for the school. You certainly were. But it was a wonderful school. I stayed there ten years.

The faculty enjoyed each other. We had Halloween parties up at the house on Lawyer's Hill that was owned by an art teacher and that was haunted by ghosts. I actually saw a cup move across the mantel with no one touching

it one year. But we had fun. We had picnics at the shore. The teachers liked to get together and they always had

fun. We had a fence painting party where one of the teachers needed a fence painted. But things were good, things moved along, children

worked hard, a lot of support in the community for the children and for the teachers in the school. At the end of ten years Baltimore County called and said we have decided to move all principals who have had ten years or more

and rotate them. So we need you at Woodmore off of Liberty Rd. So I packed up to go for Woodmore. One of my friends said this is a whole new experience for you.

At Woodmore you will have a clientele that is 95% Jewish and you were not raised with the Jewish community. So we would recommend, my good friend said, that you go to Auman and Werkmeister, which

is a furrier in Baltimore City, purchase a stole and have your name embroidered in this stole. Then at the first executive board meeting, you walk in with the stole over your arm.

I said you're kidding. They said no, we're not. I said I'll do it, and I did. I went to Woodmore. Isn't that remarkable.

I found the faculty welcome me with open arms. The faculty did not like the former principal. I see. The parents liked the former principal, they had full access to the records and I immediately stopped all that.

We got along fine, had a wonderful staff and they supported me all the way. It was the parents I needed to bring into line. So as I walked into the first executive board meeting with my

stole draped over my arm, the climate changed. There was a noticeable change in the climate and I was accepted and the PTA president said anything we can do for you, we will do.

Amazing. What a good piece of advice that was. It changed the climate. The school was a larger school.

We had 18 classrooms, excellent teachers, but they needed help and we worked on that. That faculty still gets together every year. My heavens.

We had one get together this fall down at Silver Run when 19 of them came back to enjoy each other and to say hello. And how long were you there?

I was there eleven years, during which time the community transitioned. When I left the school, we had about 95% Afro American. I said to Bob Dubel, I think it's time that I left

at this point, the community is stable. I had turned down some other requests to leave because I didn't feel the community was stable, and at that point I thought it was stable.

I had been working very hard at Woodmore with the other outside groups, with the Alliance for Progress in Baltimore City, where Woodmore was assigned a school in Niteroi, Brazil, as a partner school.

And one summer I took off and took a tour through South America for four weeks. When the tour reached Rio, I left the tour and took a boat to Niteroi by little ferry.

I got on the ferry and everybody sat down on the ferry, all speaking Portuguese, and they all read. It was quiet. I got off in Niteroi and I thought, now what do I do?

And I saw someone from the Alliance for Progress there on the street and he said we'll take you to the school. So he took me to the school. I thought it was a public school.

I was taking books, beautiful picture books of Baltimore and Maryland, et cetera, and it turned out to be a Catholic Brothers school. They were as shocked to have a woman at the door as I was to

see Catholic Brothers running a school. But we had an enjoyable time and we continued our correspondence after we left Brazil. Amazing.

I was also very active at that point in the Maryland Principals Association and continuing graduate work. I had finished my doctor's degree in 1961, and right after I finished that, I took off for Hawaii.

I like to travel. And in '62, I was sitting at my desk and the NEA called because I had worked with the NEA on a number of professional committees and said, would you direct a tour to Alaska?

And I said, well, I don't know. I have to think about that. I don't know what I'd wear. And one of my parents said, we'll go in and buy you some

nice warm slacks so that you can go to Alaska. And if they fit, you pay us, and if not, we'll return them. So I said, all right. So I called the NEA and said, all right, I'll take a tour, direct

a tour to Alaska. So they sent me all the material and off we went. I hope that was a summer tour. A summer tour to Alaska for one month by plane.

And it was wonderful. And the second year, 1963, they called back and said would I go again? And I said, all right. So I went back up over familiar ground and

in 1964 they called and said, would I go again. I said, no, I've been through there, I don't want to do it. They said, suppose we change the route. I said, how?

They said, well, we'll work out another route. So they called me back later and said up by steamship and then back - and bus and then back down the Alcan Highway. I said that sounds good.

So in 1964 off I went again to direct that tour through Alaska. So it wasn't unusual that I went to Niteroi during my years years at Woodmore. But at the same time I was also working, helping with the

PTA and working with the PTA, and the Baltimore County Council of PTAs became quite involved. From that I went on to the National PTA and served on their board, which was an interesting thing.

Worked with McGruff the crime dog and served on his board for a while. So where did you move to in terms of your career? You said it was time to leave.

I left Woodmore, and from Woodmore I came back to Lansdowne. Oh, you did. And Bob Dubel said you are going to take cut in salary.

I said that's all right, Bob, I'll make it up on the Beltway. Well, that's true. Lansdowne was a smaller school than Woodmore, but I've never

seen so many white, blonde, blue- eyed children in my life. I'd stand in the hallway every morning and every night, and very soon I knew all their names. Thoroughly enjoyed Lansdowne. Once again,

it was a very closely knit community. If any child got into trouble, I just took him home. And I knew either the mother or the grandmother, because once again I lived in the community and there was never an incident

or a problem or a worry. The kids soon found out that that little convertible out there on the parking lot would take them home. There you go. And what was that little convertible?

It was a Buick convertible. I've always driven convertibles. I still have my convertible in the garage from 41 years ago, Penny. Who has... 420,000 miles at this point, but getting back

to Lansdowne, the PTA was so wonderful at Lansdowne. They had Richard Sher come out with the Channel 13 Award for community service. They had a proclamation written by Baltimore County giving a day

in my honor. How nice. You couldn't ask for more at the school. It was during those years also that I began work at the

national level, helping with a lot of the national committees, issuing federal grants, selecting schools that were blue ribbon schools, being elected zone director for Zone Three. That was Washington, DC, West Virginia,

Virginia, Ohio and Maryland. And that was for what organization? The national elementary school principals. Following that, I continued to work with them, going up to

Educational Testing Service, Wingspread up in Minnesota, for a number of their conferences on teaching French in elementary schools and doing things like that. Since my dissertation and research had been in teaching

listening lessons, it came in very handy. And by the way, that dissertation did show that by teaching children how to listen, you could also improve their reading comprehension and their reading vocabulary.

So it held some good food for thought. Findings. Yes. Following those things, the Maryland Association of

Elementary School Principals put my name up for president of the National Elementary Principals. Maryland had never had a president for National. And I said, all right. So we started.

We got together a committee, and we selected a slogan. Merson is the person. We made T-shirts and hats and golf tees and paper clips and pens and everything you could imagine.

We campaigned in Denver and a big committee from Maryland went in support. Byard Williams was called aboard. He helped, too, from the Board of Education.

And following the campaign, I was able to win the position, beating a young man, very nice young man from Arkansas. I took 36 states. It was on a person by person vote, you know, but 36 states.

He had 14 down the Mississippi. I had the West Coast, the North and the East Coast. The following year I said there's no way I can take over the position of president and still run a school.

It's not fair to the children. So I retired and we had a big retirement, a wonderful retirement celebration after 41 years in Baltimore County. Yes. That was a long time.

30 as a principal. Yes, absolutely. The fear at NAESP was one of travel. I think 1,000,000 miles. Really?

36 different states putting on workshops and giving speeches, keynote addresses, missing planes, catching planes, one point I missed a plane in Albuquerque to Ruidoso, New Mexico, and I called and

said I can't make it. The plane was late getting in and I missed the connection. And they said, oh, you've got to be here by morning. We've got to have you, for we've had one thing after another

happen. We don't know what we'll do if you don't come. I said I'll come. Give me directions. So I rented a car and drove during the night over 200 miles

across salt plains into Ruidoso, New Mexico. They had a woman sitting by the sign that said welcome to Ruidoso, and I followed her up to the Inn of the Mountain Gods where it's the only time I've ever received a standing ovation

without opening my mouth. Well deserved. Because I had made it. They did not think a woman would drive it and make it. They did not know you.

They didn't know me. But I stayed that night and thoroughly enjoyed the inn and then went on back to Albuquerque, drove back, and then flew home.

But one section, one point, the plane in going into Nashville lost the ability to land. And I never will forget the woman across from me crying out. Oh, lordy.

But gradually, after circling for about 45 minutes, they decided maybe the landing gear was down and would hold. So they tried, and it did. And we were lucky.

Going into North Dakota, we had a snowstorm. The plane landed and I thought, now what do I do? I was not at my destination. There stood a North Dakota principal.

Come with me. We're putting you up and we will drive you down to the meeting. Very nice. So we did.

But it was a wonderful experience of going to that many different states and seeing things. And that appointment was for... One year. One year.

The following year, as past president, I was sent by the State Department and the United States Department of State to the Far East to work with principals of independent schools along the Pacific Rim, starting in Japan and ending up in Singapore.

Once again, a wonderful experience. English was not a problem. Everyone knows English along the Pacific Rim and Singapore, being a former British colony, was very good.

The cleanest city I've ever been in. I understand that at that point no one was allowed to rent in Singapore. You had to buy, and if you bought, you took care of your

home. Very clean. While I was there, the Department of Education in Singapore picked me up and took me on a tour of all of the

schools and then I was to meet with the Singaporean teachers in their general meeting and talk to them about education in the United States, which I did. They had questions which I answered.

Their biggest concern was open space education, which at that point was going strong in the United States. I told them not to worry, that train was going to pass through too, and it did.

Teachers were building walls every day. Coming home from Singapore was a long flight, but I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Back home, with all of my responsibilities gone, I got bored.

I guess so. So I heard there was an opening for the executive director of the Council of Educational, Administrative and Supervisory Organizations of Maryland.

I had helped form that council many years before, maybe 30 years before. So I applied and I was selected and I became their executive director or administrator for the next thirteen years.

That meant planning a yearly conference, holding monthly meetings, keeping the books and doing all kinds of little extra things. What was the purpose of that organization?

What was their... There were eleven organizations that became part of this organization, and it was to pull them all together and keep them going in one line toward better education in the state.

It was a statewide organization and the supervisors belonged, the elementary principals, the secondary principals, middle school principals, pupil personnel workers, guidance counselors

although some of them had divergent interests, they all pulled together for a common good and it was really a wonderful organization. And I worked on that for thirteen years.

While I was working on that also, I was inducted into the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and ended up being president of that for three years, 2002, 2003 and 2004, receiving the Geri Award.

And what is the Geri Award? The Geri Award is a gerontology award. I see. A child's hand in a large hand. They induct 50 people statewide in Maryland every year for outstanding community work.

It can't be paid. It's got to be volunteer work. And after the 50 are selected, they select five for the Geri Award of their most outstanding, people who have done tremendous

things throughout the state. So I kept going with community service still, over all of these years, I kept with the Lansdowne Improvement Association, my own

hometown improvement association, so that when I left, the governor sent a beautiful citation, the Councilman, Delegate, and Senator sent beautiful citations, Delegate Malone and DeBoy and Senator Casemiro were

all present when the Community Association dedicated a bench in my honor to the Lansdowne Library. Very nice. And also the Soroptimists.

I helped with the founding of Soroptimists in Arbutus while I was still there at as principal of Arbutus Elementary. So the Soroptimists have continued to function and I still belong to the Arbutus Soroptimists.

And what is a Soroptimist? Soroptimists are women in business and profession who lead and do a lot of community service. And of course, community service has been one of my hallmarks

because I always try to do that and give scholarships wherever I can. Edna Mae, I think that gives us a nice segue into your long-standing continuous involvement and commitment to Towson University.

And if you would, I'd love for you to talk about the two scholarships that you have established and just your relationship with the institution across time. Well, Towson has always been very special.

Years ago I was asked to serve as a secretary on the committee that selected Jim Fisher, and that was a really enlightening experience. I then worked with the Alumni Association at Towson for years

and served as its president at one point. I knew the need for scholarships because as costs increase, young people just do not have the funds. So I set up a bequest with the alumni and have funded it every

year, sometimes more than others, but it's still a rather large bequest there that now they can give two scholarships every year on the interest from that bequest. In addition, I've been giving one scholarship to Kappa Delta

Pi every year. And Kappa Delta Pi is... The international honor society for students in education, undergraduate students in education. Delta Kappa Gamma is the international honor society for

women in education where I was northeast regional director at one point. But I know that it's important with Towson to keep students coming and to help them to come.

And now, of course, and there hasn't been for years, this tuition waiver for those who are going to teach for a certain amount of time. That did not apply to us because during the war years, there was

no tuition waiver. Right. There was later on, when I went to visit a father and convinced him that his daughter should attend Towson and that there was a tuition waiver, a Baltimore Highlands girl who really needed

to go to Towson, and she later became a member of my staff at Arbutus. Interesting. But it was wonderful to see that he would be willing to do that.

He was very opposed to girls going into education, which was part of the psyche in Baltimore Highlands, Lansdowne area. Right. I was one of the very first people from Lansdowne to go to

college, but was only thankful for my father, who agreed that I could. Yes. And then my sister followed me to Towson one year later, and she also was in the accelerated program.

I took you away from talking about your relationship with the university. Wonderful that you have established these scholarships so that students can come and become teachers.

What have we forgotten? What did you want to say that we haven't touched on? Just that you will never earn a great deal becoming a teacher.

My first job was 1,800 a year. That's $180 a month and no pay during July and August. Salaries have come up considerably since then, but you still will not get a lucrative salary, but you will receive

lots of bonuses with youngsters coming back to say thank you after 50 and 60 years. You just can't believe it, that they would remember and yet come

back and say yes, thank you for what you have done. Yes, yes. So this is the wisdom you would share with folks who... I would say, go into teaching, it is a very rewarding profession.

The knowledge that you can gain, the work that you do, the studying is all wonderful. Thoroughly enjoyed it. So for a kid who really couldn't talk or wouldn't talk to a

person who did talk for the National... And continues to talk. And continues to talk. Thank you. You're welcome.