Chatty Cathy

Thank goodness for Carol Ingle. She threads throughout my life just when I need her. And I needed her a few years ago after the Mrs. Rigourous situation (see below.)

I have 2 sons, one a teacher-pleaser and the other a real boy who, as he put it in middle school, "I'm not playing the game." (Guess what my suggestion was to him....yep, "Play the game." )

Anyway, as I was bemoaning about this interesting and independent son, Carol, who is a wildly successful adult, told me a great story to help me realize, "It ain't over until it's over" mentality.

Carol Ingle, a now retired Home Economics teacher at Heritage High School in Conyers, was mentioned in a May 21, 1999 article of the New York Times as being one of the reassuring teachers after an almost copy-cat Columbine shooting at her school. "After hearing the shots, Nita Edwards, a special-skills teacher at Heritage, found her daughter, Stephanie, a freshman at the school, and hid with seven other students and a teacher in a closet. The other teacher, Carol Ingle, recited the 23d Psalm and assured the students they were going to be safe."

That's Carol. Cool under pressure.

As you can see, Carol is not only an inspiration at her school, where she has won Teacher of the Year, I think several times, but also is a public speaker at Methodist Church conferences. My mother used to accuse me of telling everything I know. But I responded back that, "Carol Broadnax Ingle talks a lot and tells her stories that always make people feel better and that's what I want to do." I know she's MY inspiration to want to help others during down times. And this is what made me feel better about my situation:

She told me once about when she was a little girl growing up in Conyers. Carol Broadnax was a real chatter box (see? Her forte is talking and now she's appreciated by this skill. ) But this was frowned upon by her teachers and her principal.

Carol lived in the north end of the county, a "far piece", as they say in the South, from the in-town elementary school she attended. In first grade, I believe it was, she was just chatting away, when her teacher, exasperated, didn't know how to keep her quiet and sent her to the principal's office. Mr. Paul Neal thought maybe she should go home for the remainder of the day. This was not an uncommon idea in the 1950's.

But Carol's parents, she mentioned, were not wealthy enough to afford a phone, much less a car. Mr. Neal had to call Carol's mother via the next-door-neighbor's phone. This neighbor then had to walk across to Mrs. Broadnax's house to inform her that Carol was being sent home. Now another dilemma. Mrs. Broadnax did not own a car. How was she supposed to retrieve Carol?

Thanks to this good neighbor, Mrs. Broadnax borrowed her automobile and drove to the school to get Carol and bring her home. During the ride home, Carol wondered what her mother might say to her and what trouble she might be in. All Mrs. Broadnax said was, "Carol, this talking is going to make you an interesting adult."

And, oh my, hasn't it?