In memory of a special teacher Ms. Jones...

 

Today, I attended the funeral service of a dear teacher known affectionately, as Ms Jones, with my middle daughter accompanying me. 

She was fondly remembered as my history teacher in my last year at high school. Through her, I learned about the English history of the Kings and Queens of the 15th to the 16th centuries of England.

She was a passionate teacher and really cared about her students. I remember that she was the first feminist teacher that I had ever met and she was active in Teacher Union and advocacy circles. 

However, today I found out that she was also passionate about NZ pottery and hiking. From her example, I too decided to call myself Ms. Tau'au as a teacher when I first started teaching with other female teachers preferring to use Mrs. or Ms.

I attended my high school of Ngā Tapuwae College as being reported of as the first multicultural high school of it's kind in NZ. At the time, most of our teachers were European and at her funeral, I met with many of my past teachers of Maths, English, History and they all seemed to have kept in contact with each other.

There were a few students, like me, who had come to pay tribute and even the first infamous principal of the school was there. I think she's in her 90's and even the deputy principal was there of whom I would sometimes joke with but he was a good mentor and helped me to navigate some of the difficulties of being in a South Auckland high school at the time.

It's funny, but looking back I couldn't wait to finish high school and then to get on with my life in never knowing that I would eventually become a teacher. I had thought at the time that you had to be pretty smart to be a teacher. I now know that you just need to have completed tertiary educations and to care for students and that's a pretty good pre-requisite to becoming a teacher.

I bought some flowers for the occasion but upon arriving a little late at the funeral service (went around in circles twice trying to find the chapel at the Elderly village) we finally found the place and ended up sitting in the second row from the front as there were no chairs left for two to be seated together.

I then decided to talk with the funeral director about where to take the flowers. She gave me the option of giving it to the family or going with the coffin. I decided to place it on top of Ms. Jone's coffin and they left with her in the funeral car.

It was a bittersweet moment in reflecting about how she had touched many of our lives as students only to then be present at her funeral. I thank our mutual friend, Christine McGuirk, for inviting me to attend. It was a real honour and privilege to stand in honour of the many lives that she touched as a teacher. 

I was also glad that my child was able to witness the special time in meeting with some of my former teachers only to now be a teacher myself. It's amazing how people can touch lives and not even be aware that they have gifted so much...