Long-time kindergarten teacher, Margaret Louise Green, died earlier this year on July 16 at the age of 83. Her husband, Elias, and daughters Felecia, Lanell and Melanie held a funeral service on July 23.
Melanie Harris McBride wanted to honor her mother’s 33-year-long teaching career by making special arrangements out of school supplies which decorated the tables at her after-funeral meal at the Patterson Civic Center.
Those school supplies were then donated to Rockdale Elementary School in her name, so another generation of kindergartners are benefiting from the largesse of Mrs. Green and her family.
Mrs. Green’s daughters are also starting a scholarship fund in her name and will be working with a counselor at the high school.
Mrs. Green retired on Friday, Dec. 19, 2003, and a celebration of over 900 people was held so everyone could tell her how much they loved her. Dawn Byrd, a fellow kindergarten teacher, invited one student from each of Mrs. Green’s classes all the way back to 1972 to present her with a rose.
“Then the impromptu standing ovation and cheering started and her final kindergarten class, many of them in tears, rushed forward to hug the retiring teacher,” wrote Mike Brown in the following week’s Rockdale Reporter.
Mrs. Green said, “I had to use every ounce of strength I had to keep from breaking down. I needed all of it. That’s a moment I never thought I’d get to in my life. It was awesome. I didn’t know anyone ever got moments like that.”
The Reporter will share information on the Margaret Green Scholarship as we learn more from her daughters.
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