Minnesota's longest-serving teachers
by Tom Weber, Minnesota Public RadioThere are two teachers in Minnesota who have been on the job for more than a half-century, according to data from the state Department of Education.
Karene Churchill and Jerry Tedrow both graduated college in 1957 and have spent nearly every year since in western Minnesota.
KARENE CHURCHILL
In 1958, the school in rural Herman, Minn. opened a new wing for elementary classrooms. The school also hired a new teacher named Karene Churchill. Both are still around.
Churchill, just days from her 72nd birthday, doesn't seem that old when you spy her full head of dark, red hair, and you see the way she commands her class of 14 third-graders.
"I don't use my voice a lot - I'll raise my hand or I just stand there," Churchill said, in an interview. "They'll say 'Mrs. Churchill is standing there with her serious look' and that means 'be quiet!'"
Churchill also coaches high school speech, but her favorite subject is reading - she almost gets bubbly talking about it.
"You need to read with excitement and get them to read many library books or magazine articles - find what interests children and go from there.
"From a little girl I've always wanted to be a teacher," she added. "And I had a little sister and her and I always played school."
Churchill got a three-year degree from Moorhead State in two years, which put her into a classroom at age 20. That first year was in Elbow Lake, but she then moved to Herman to marry her husband, Linden.
Linden reads with his wife's students a few times a week; plays Santa during school Christmas parties; and has also been Herman's mayor for more than 20 years.
"A lot of the people I'm on the council with have been her students," he joked.
It's one thing for everyone in a small town to know each other. But when you teach there for a half-century, your classes start to fill with the children and grandchildren of former students.
Jane Oachs remembers how snazzy Churchill dressed when she was her teacher back in the 60's. Oachs is now a fellow teacher at Herman-Norcross and appreciates Churchill as a mentor.
"She not only expects a lot out of her students but she expects a lot out of her colleagues, too, which is good for all of us," said Oachs. "It keeps us on our toes."
JERRY TEDROW
Drive 90 miles southwest of Herman and you'll find Jerry Tedrow teaching a German class in the very early morning hours. He's not full-time, like Churchill, but sure seems to share the enthusiasm.
"This is too much fun," he said, after a recent class. "A lot of people hang on because they don't know what to they're going to do with their free time. I don't worry about my free time.
Tedrow has taught at New London-Spicer School every year except one. He has just four students this year, but the thousands of students he's had over the years have been from many western Minnesota schools, thanks to video conferencing courses New London and its neighbors take part in.
Tedrow is known in New London as the guy who - for years - threw water balloons from a bathtub in the town's Water Days parade. But he also directed school plays for four decades and still has keys to the town's small theatre across from the post office - where school performances are held.
Tedrow recalls his years in a way that also looks to the day he isn't teaching anymore.
"I would like to have a more positive attitude on the part of young people looking at teaching as a career," he said. "I taught 7th grade drama. Every 7th grader got to be in a one-act play and for some of those kids, that's the only time in their life that anyone would clap for them.
"The moms and dads were so proud of their kids, so looking at education and the positive things we can get out of kids, it's terribly rewarding."
This school year is Churchill's 52nd and Tedrow's 51st. Both actually retired once before but came back just weeks later and both plan to teach next year.
The two also appear to have health on their side: Churchill lives four houses from Herman-Norcross School and plans to walk to work this spring. Tedrow, at 75, still gets up on his roof once a month to pour hot water down his standpipe when it freezes.
It's worth noting, though, an honorable mention for longevity. John Bendix started teaching the same year Jerry Tedrow did, 1958. But Bendix took one year off to go back to school, so technically, he ranks third because it's 'only' his 50th year.
But Bendix arguably has the best job security of the three. For one, he's free: He gave up his part-time salary this year to help the district's finances. And the principal where Bendix teaches - Waseca High - is a former student.
