Kindergarten

Original Raymond school building

Mrs. Virginia Elmore

My mom always saved random stuff, so it’s not surprising that while going through some boxes, I found my Kindergarten report card from the 1969-1970 school year. Although (ahem) that was many years ago, I remember the old Raymond elementary school that sat right along Rt. 48 on the block where the Community of Faith Church is located today. It was a two story, red brick building and the playground was a large blacktop, and the site of many accidents resulting in skinned knees.

That’s where I met Mrs. Elmore. She started teaching Kindergarten in Raymond in 1962, and continued teaching morning and afternoon classes for 24 years. Her granddaughter, Kate Hampton-Dabbs, who provided some information and photos for this week’s post, told me that she estimates that Mrs. Elmore taught over 1,000 students in Raymond.

I clearly remember my first day of school. Although my mom was a little nervous about how I would react to going to Kindergarten since I had never had a babysitter or been under someone else’s care, there were no worries with Mrs. Elmore. She had a special way about her, and she had all of us five-year-olds under control right away. I loved school. We sat at tables, not at desks, and we kept our set of eight jumbo crayons in metal coffee cans and played with large wooden toys and puzzles. Mrs. Elmore read to us, sang to us, and consoled us when we missed our moms or got hurt. When necessary, she carefully applied the Mercurochrome antiseptic on all our scrapes and sent us on our way, good as new, with pinkish-red stains on our arms and legs. I cannot imagine the amount of patience required to put up with dozens of kindergarten students each day. She truly was a saint. 

When the new high school opened in 1971, junior high classes were moved to the old high school building and the lower grades, including Kindergarten, were moved to the old junior high buildings. The original Raymond school was eventually demolished. Mrs. Elmore retired from teaching in 1987. She continued running the family farm with her husband, Keck, and the couple enjoyed travelling the country in their motor home. 

Mrs. Elmore died last April at the age of 95, while holding her husband's hand. The couple had been married for 77 years. According to Kate, several people who paid their respects at the funeral mentioned that Mrs. Elmore had inspired them to pursue a teaching career. Kate, who currently teaches in Springfield, said that her grandmother not only inspired her to become a teacher, but also to believe in the power of prayer.

The last time I saw Mrs. Elmore was almost 12 years ago when she volunteered to help in the kitchen at the luncheon following my mom’s funeral. Ironically, the funeral and luncheon were held at the Community of Faith Church, that was built on the very grounds where I went to Kindergarten. At some point during lunch, I noticed that things seemed a too quiet and my son, Jon, who was seven at the time, was nowhere to be seen. Upon investigation, I found him on a stool in the church kitchen with his elbows propped up on the counter next to the pie plates and casserole dishes and a bowl of jello salad with marshmallows, talking up a storm with Mrs. Elmore. By then, she was in her 80's, but she had the same big smile and was speaking to him in that same nice tone of voice I remembered hearing all those years ago. I always felt fortunate to have such wonderful teachers like Mrs. Elmore in my life.

24 years of teaching

Keck and Virginia Elmore in later years