The Mountain Grove R-III School District recently said farewell to their retirees.
Onita Top
Ms. Top has taught in the Mountain Grove School District for 25 years. She taught for three years outside of the district, giving her a total of 28 years in education.
Her retirement plans are flexible, but she is hoping to enjoy more time sewing, reading, crafting, and is planning to volunteer.
Of the many memories she has from teaching, what stood out to her most is the sense of community and support that is part of our school system.
Rose Makar
Ms. Makar has been a part of the Mountain Grove School District for 23 years: 17 years of it were spent teaching. Her plans for retirement are to travel to see her grandchildren. Makar plans to pick up where she left off in 1998 and begin subbing again.
Makar’s final words about her favorite memories from teaching are, “ I love the community.”
Brenda Freeman
Ms. Freeman has taught for 23 years and was a teacher’s aide for two years (25 years in education). She’s been in the Mountain Grove District for 21 years.
Her retirement plans are to spend extra time with her family, especially her grandchildren.
Freeman’s favorite memory was getting to move three years in a row with the same group of students. She got to be their math, reading, and language arts teacher. “It was a wonderful experience with a wonderful group of students,” says Freeman.
Michael Walker
Mr. Walker has been employed by the Mountain Grove School District for 20 years: 10 as a paraprofessional and 10 as a teacher.
His plans for retirement are to play a lot of guitar, read for pleasure again, and travel a bit.
Walker shared his favorite memories from teaching: “I have been the Quiz Bowl coach for six years and for the last four we have hosted the MGHS Winter Invitational: NerdBowl. Organizing and directing the event was always a very stressful experience for me, but some of my best memories will be of the aftermath of the tournament. After everyone else had gone home, I would take my time putting everything back in order, decompressing and feeling a tremendous sense of pride in our school, thankful for all the staff members who gave up their Saturday to keep score and read questions (Hey, Mrs. Sartor, Darian Gray!), taking down the poster made by Mrs. Homer and the VAS students (no other school had one of those), experiencing so much satisfaction at the effort of the members of our team, appreciating the work our custodians put into preparing the building for the tournament, and simply being glad to be here.
Maybe you had to be there.”
Janet Ramsey
Ms. Ramsey has been with the Mountain Grove School district for 18 years but has taught for 19 years. She plans to spend time her time after retirement with her family and is excited to spend time on all of the crafts she enjoys. Ramsey loved teaching kids of all ages. “It’s satisfying to see the look of comprehension on their faces when they understand something,” she said.
J.T. Hale
Mr. Hale has been in the Mountain Grove School district for all of his 32 years of teaching. After retirement, he plans to spend more time traveling with Mrs. Hale.
Hale shares that his favorite memories about his time with the district will be the relationships he’s made with many of his peers. His parting words are, “It’s a great day to be a Panther!”
