Longtime teachers retire

MOSES LAKE — Three teachers were recognized for their many years of service in the classroom at a retirement party Thursday afternoon at Garden Heights Elementary. Verna Mount, Sue Mabry and Laurel Skaug have a combined 102 years of experience in the classroom.

Verna Mount is a 47-year veteran of the classroom; Laurel Skaug has been a teacher for 28 years, and Sue Mabry has been teaching for 27 years. All three are primary grade teachers (kindergarten through third grade).

Mount estimated she had had about 1,100 students in her classes over her career. “I figured out my first class is (about) 53 years old now.” In all that time, kids are still kids, she said. “They haven’t changed in 47 years.” She spent her entire career in the Moses Lake School District, teaching first, second and third grade.

Mabry said she kept teaching for more than about three decades because “I love working with kids.” It’s a standard answer, she said, but it’s true. “Every day is a new day,” she said.

Skaug’s teaching career also included eight years in private schools and preschools. She kept teaching because she loved kids, she said. “I do. They are just so curious, they love life and they love learning. And they love their teacher.”

“I loved it,” Mount said of teaching. One of the things that kept her engaged, she said, in teaching was the moment when kids figured it out. “And you wait for that,” she said.

“Every day is a new day,” she said.

“I will miss teaching,” Skaug said. But all three women said they had made a few plans for retirement, spending time with families, a little traveling. Other than that, “I don’t know” what she’ll do in retirement, Mount said. “Find new horizons, I guess. New goals.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.