WEST CARROLLTON — Susan Rawlins taught in West Carrollton for 41 years, leaving a mark on the lives of thousands of local kids.
“I’ve had generations. Up to four generations,” Rawlins, 68, said last week while paging through photo albums.
On one page, Joe Meyer is dressed up for Super Socks day, one of a myriad of special events Rawlins used to stimulate the children’s imaginations.
Meyer, now 38, remembers inflatable Letter People Mrs. Trent (her name from a previous marriage) used to teach phonics.
“I remember loving those things,” Meyer, a substitute teacher in West Carrollton, said.
Rawlins was among teachers recognized earlier this month by the West Carrollton Board of Education.
“Susan always knew when you needed a hug. She was there with open arms. She was also the key provider of chocolate at all staff meetings,” Kim Hall-Alt, principal at the Walter Shade Early Childhood Center, recalled.
Hall-Alt also recalled Rawlins’s special touch with parents.
“They called me the parent whisperer,” Rawlins said.
She also recalled periodic encounters with former students in the community.
“They always ask me about the Letter People or Duso the dolphin,” she said.
Rawlins and her classes often dressed up for holidays or to reinforce key topics. Hallie Addington, who now teaches kindergarten at the Walter Shade Early Childhood Center, was taken aback when Rawlins dressed as a Smurf, Rawlins said.
Born in Akron, Rawlins plans this summer to attend the 50th reunion of the class of 1961 at Millersburg High School, the school’s last graduating class.
After graduating from Ohio Northern University, she went to work in 1965 at “brand new” Harry Russell Elementary, where she split seven years teaching second and third graders.
Rawlins is best known for the 34 years she spent teaching kindergartners, first at C.F. Holliday and Harold Schnell elementary school before moving to Shade.
Rather than as a strict disciplinarian, Rawlins said she was known as “the huggin’ teacher.” Her motto: “People are for loving.”
Since retiring in 2010, Rawlins has devoted more time at Lifepointe Church, Kettering, and to helping her husband, Steve, build a handyman business.