Friday, May 23, 1997
Fern Taylor Day in Eastland
By Ken Ellsworth / Abilene Reporter-News
EASTLAND - Retiring middle school secretaries don't often receive
great honors, but folks in Eastland think Fern Taylor deserves
all the honors Eastland can muster.
And that, apparently, is a lot of honor.
For one thing, Mayor Don Griffin is proclaiming today Fern
Taylor Day. He will make the official announcement at a 4-6 p.m.
retirement reception for Taylor at the Eastland Middle School.
According to the school's principal, Rick Pack, all sorts of
wonderful things are planned for sending Taylor away with good
memories, including the presentation of a huge scrapbook filled
to the edges with mementos. But some of the goings on, he said,
he did not even know about.
"I just know there are some ladies just going wild with
all kinds of plans," Pack said.
Taylor is grateful, of course, but seemed a bit embarrassed
by all the attention when I spoke with her a few days ago in her
office. As we spoke, a few of the school's students, grades 6-7,
gathered outside her office door. Taylor, they knew, was there
to help.
"This is very, very special, but I'm not very good at
these types of things," Taylor said of her impending day
of honor. "I'd rather just quietly fade away."
No chance for that exists, though. Taylor, according to Pack,
is too adored to be allowed to go away quietly after 20 wonderful
years with the Eastland Independent School District.
"Fern has been the most caring individual and she has
been that for all the people here, not just the children,"
Pack said, "She's seen thousands of kids and she has been
just like a mother to them. And she is not just a secretary. She
has been their counselor and their doctor, talking to them and
fixing up their cuts and scratches too. Kids from years past talk
about her and send her things all the time, remembering her. People
from town come to see her too just to get her opinions."
Pack continued. "Everybody knows, and this includes the
faculty here, they can come to Fern Taylor. She's a well-read
and level-headed lady. She'll even tell you what you don't want
to hear. It will be the truth, but she'll say it very lovingly."
Taylor, who began her career as a remedial reading aide, shook
her head modestly when I told her the good things the principal
had said in her behalf.
"He is very kind," Taylor said.
I asked her how she felt about leaving.
"I have mixed emotions," she said. "I am looking
forward to traveling with my husband, but I know that I will worry
about the children. I shouldn't, though. I know they'll be fine,
because this school has is a very good staff."
Taylor said she and her husband, Joe Taylor, had travel plans.
Mr. Taylor, she said, recently retired as vice president of the
Eastland National Bank.
I asked Mrs. Taylor if she knew the names of all the school's
312 students.
"Pretty close, and their faces." Mrs. Taylor said
and smiled. "And I know about what they make on their report
cards, too. You get to know the children in small schools more
than in big cities. And I love working with this age group. If
you can get the children to be successful at this age, they'll
usually do just fine. But kids this age have a lot of troubles.
They might seem to be small troubles, but at this age nothing
is ever small."
I asked Mrs. Taylor if a few tears might be shed at her retirement
reception.
"I think that is very, very probable," she said.
This column covers the cities and communities of this part
of West Texas. To contact Ken Ellsworth, call (800) 588-6397 or
(915) 673-4271, Ext. 381, or write to P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX
79604.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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