Employee Recognition2007-2008

Sponsored by the TABS Committee

With special thanks to Toni Sharp and her mother Bea

Friends and Family

Award Presentations

• Mike Eathorne acted as the MC.

• Kathy Edwards and Dick Lisco handed out the awards.

Dan Espeland congratulating Doreen Bliss on her thirty years of service.

Five Years Service

• Tamara Simmons• Terri Clark• Sherry Johnson• Becky Moore• Daphne Vaughn• Jane Osborne• Phil RomeroNot in attendance: Rhonda Akin Randy Christensen Lee Cole Gary Gasser

Jessica Hollon Micca Hornbuckle Toi Hubert Morris Norvell Brent Notman

Toni Patterson Ann Wiederrecht

The awards given were Pen & Letter Openers and five year pens.

Ten Years Service

• Michelle Lucero• Becky Dalton• Lona Cross• Melina Foster

Not in attendance:

Fred George Ginger Coy

Bill Pearson Mike Marcus

Deb Phipps Roberta Pearson The awards given were 10 year pens and Fleece blankets.

Fifteen Year Service

• Linda Shearer• Teri Rabun• Denise Johnson• Veva Addleman

Not pictured: Trish Cook

The awards were a 15 year pen and Fleece Vest.

Twenty Years Service

• Diane Shea• Heber Bingham• Lourena Anderson

Dee Wood

not pictured

Twenty year pens and jackets were the awards given

Twenty-five and Thirty Years Service

• Twenty-five Years– Joy Kreycik

• Thirty Years– Doreen Bliss– Tom Ketner

The awards for twenty-five and thirty years were pens with a desk plaque or bookends

Achieved Master’s

• Adeline Kohl• Denise Johnson

– Casey Lewis (not pictured)

Congratulations

National Board Certification

• Jody Ford

Way to Go !

Our Retirees

• Terry Currey• Bill Fagan• Donna Craig• Carolyn Green• Janet George• Bob Bushong• Sam Torgerson• Linda Pierce

– John Berry (not pictured)

John BerryWhat’s your most memorable moment

working in the District?– The years Jenne Twiford was principal at MS 

• What position(s) have you held in our District?

– 8th Grade Social Studies teacher—25 years coaching football, basketball

• What will you miss the most?– My 8th grade team members

• What will you miss the least?– Parent-teacher conferences

• What are your future plans?– A lot of Rockies games, volunteer work for

VA hospital

     

Bob Bushong• What’s your most memorable moment

working in the District?– Getting my first hug from a student– Getting my first “thank you” from a

student– Being treated as a “Special” person

by all staff

• What position(s) have you held in our District?

– Teacher K-8

• What will you miss the most?– All of my friends, working with them

day after day.  I will miss friends, students and staff.

• What will you miss the least?

– Paperwork, Meetings •  What are your future plans?

– Teach in Texas for 2 years

Personal notes:      I just wanted to say thank you to all the people I have come to know throughout the

years:Dan – thank you for restoring my faith in people.Toni, Donna, Merry and Shari for helping me to understand all the paperwork side of life.Lisa – You, by far, have been the best influence in my life.  I love your compassion for all

people and the positive way you have guided me these last few years.  Working with you has been an honor.

      To the old East staff, those were indeed the “good ole days”.  Bob P. hired me, but the staff developed me in to a real teacher.  Thank you, Primary staff for all of your support.

      To the Rural staff; thanks for working with me.  It was a pleasure to work side by side with all of you.

 

Donna Craig What’s your most memorable moment working

in the District? Hugs from kids Thank yous from parents Seeing former students become successful,

contributing adults. What position(s) have you held in our District?

2nd grade teacher – 7 years, 1st grade teacher – 14 years, Title I Reading teacher – 7 years

  What will you miss the most?

Students Co-workers Everyday challenges

  What will you miss the least?

Recess duty – EVERY DAY! 4 consecutive 12 hour days at conferences Meetings

  What are your future plans?

Enjoy my family and renew old friendships. Visit major league baseball parks.

 

Terry Currey What’s your most memorable moment working

in the District? I have had many but at the top of the list would be,

when I worked at South Grade and the Superintendent Millard

Meredith was going out of the building and Trudy Wilson

was going in and she said, “Hello you old fart” to him. I was outside having a smoke, of course.

  What position(s) have you held in the District?

Custodian

  What will you miss the most?

Kids and staff

What will you miss the least? Being on a time clock and cleaning rest rooms.

What are your future plans? Fishing, hunting and just taking it easy.

 

Bill Fagan• What’s your most memorable moment

working in the District?– Teaching Social Studies at the high school

 • What position(s) have you held in the

District?– Media in all schools 1972-1993, Social Studies

at the high school since 1993 • What will you miss the most?

– Working with many fine people

• What will you miss the least?– Computer problems

• What are your future plans?– Spend more time with my wife Cookie, son

Mark and two grandsons

Janet George• What’s your most memorable moment working in

the District?– I began teaching in Douglas in the Fall of 1972 just as an oil

boom began here causing a period of rapid population growth.  On my 1st day I arrived at South Grade noticing a line out the door of the school.  It turned out that the line was actually forming at my desk where parents were enrolling their kindergartners!  At the end of the day I had 80 students – 40 in the morning and 40 in the afternoon!  Due to lack of facilities (at the time there were classes at the Fairgrounds, the Catholic Parish building, and in trailers) the feasible solution was for me to teach an 8:00 and 10:30 session and hire a part time teacher to teach in the same room at 1:00.  That reduced my class size to 27 – a considered improvement!

 • What position(s) have you held in the District?

– Kindergarten and Developmental Kindergarten teacher and Learning Disabilities Resource Teacher

 • What will you miss the most?

– THE KIDS – their love, trust and eagerness to learn!– My teacher cohorts with their enthusiasm and willingness to

go the extra mile for the sake of kids

 • What will you miss the least?

– Outside recess duty in frigid, windy and snowy weather

 • What are your future plans?

– I am moving to Thornton, Colorado to be closer to my grown children and family.

Janet was honored for thirty-five years service and as a retiree.

She received a clock and a thirty-five year pen.

Carolyn Green• What’s your most memorable moment working

in the District?– I can recall clearly that the special day for me was

January 31, 1989.  We had just finished an oceans and whales integrated unit and for our culminating activity we had a “save the whales” party.  The Douglas Budget took photos, we demonstrated whale behaviors and sounds, shared stories we had written, showed our clay whales and other artwork.  We had a cake decorated with some whales on it.  The parents were there too, and we honored two little blonde headed girls, Fawnie Green and Lyndsay Tschacher, for it was their 6th birthday.  Nineteen years later, as Fawn is about to receive her Master’s of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Wyoming, I reflect on how proud I am of my step-daughter!  Lyndsay is a beautiful and wonderful mother of two!  There is hope for our future and I had a part in shaping their lives! 

• What position(s) have you held in our District?– I’ve been a kindergarten teacher for 21 years, 2nd

grade teacher for 3 years and 1st/2nd grade teacher in a multi-age family for 3 years.

• What will you miss the most?– I will definitely miss my students and all the

enthusiasms for learning that they always have.  I’ll miss my colleagues a lot; and our intellectual conversations and collaborations. I will miss the special moments with young children when they have a-has about reading, writing, math and just life lessons.  I’ll miss the funny things they say.

• What will you miss the least?– I won’t miss spending most of Sunday preparing for the

week and doing lesson plans and other school work most nights.

– I won’t miss the NCLB law and all the testing that I have to do with kindergartners.

– I won’t miss large class sizes either.

. 

What are your future plans?To quote the naturalist John Muir “. . . we all dwell in a house of one room – the world with the firmament for its roof – and are sailing the celestial spaces without leaving any track.”  I have this wonderful yurt in Esterbrook that over looks Laramie Peak.  It’s a circular lattice walled (wooden) canvas covered structure set on a pine floor.  It’s a spiritual one room cabin.  My husband, Foster, and I love it there and are finishing a guest house, bathroom and a pole barn to house our antique cars, truck and jeep that we will be restoring.  I also plan to get more involved in the Douglas Ladies Golf Association and play golf around the state.  I also plan on spending more time with my two granddaughters and my fifteen step-grandchildren that live in Western Nebraska.  I also love to watercolor paint and play my guitar and dulcimers!  I love to take nature and landscape photographs as we travel.  I make many of these photos into greeting cards and sell them sometimes.  We plan on traveling to Alaska and the California, Oregon and Washington coasts and to Newfoundland, Canada and hopefully to Ireland, England, Sweden and Italy.  We also hope to do a lot of fishing at Glendo Lake.

 

Linda Pierce• What’s your most memorable moment working

in the District?–   I’m not sure if it was when all the lockers were tie

wrapped shut with plastic locking ties, each needing to be individually cut loose; or when all the commons tables and chairs were piled up against the office doors with toilet paper strewn up and down the hallways and over the light fixtures.  Or, maybe it was the food fight from about ten years ago when the whole student body had a lunch in the main gym.  Yep, those were the memorable bad ol’ days!

–       But, then again, the summer that all the movable walls were taken down and the carpets replaced was definitely memorable.

–       There was also the day I was introduced to the new high school principal.  I thought, as my jaw dropped, “They make high school principals that young?”  Little did I know that he would become a fearless leader. 

• What position(s) have you held in the District?–       I’ve had three positions, none for which I had to

interview . . . . thank goodness.  My first job was by phone invitation to teach two Spanish speaking students English for two hours a day.  My hours, and number of students expanded as the years progressed.  Eventually, I ended up mostly tutoring students to read.  This even turned into a successful private tutoring business.

      Following that, I put in a request for transfer to work as an evening custodian at the high school.  That job was like a three year retreat.  When the lead custodian retired eleven years ago, Jim Twiford asked if I would be interested in taking the position.  I said, “Sure, I guess.  Why not?”  The lead position, at the time, didn’t involve much and I found it easy . . . . that is . . . . the first year.  I now consider myself lucky to be retiring fairly unscathed needing only high blood pressure medicine and tranquilizers.

Linda Pierce• What will you miss the most?

– I’ll miss the staff and many of the students.  The staff that was originally here when I came to work was around my age and most have retired.  Now, I’m surrounded by youthful, energetic teachers many of which are young enough to be my children.  I’ve seen one era pass and another begin.  I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie of both generations of staff, but I admit to relating best to the old fogies like myself.

•  What will you miss the least?– Ripping hair from frozen dead cats off the student parking lot, emptying mice from mouse traps,

and cleaning up vomit from various locations.  Lately, I’ve lost interest in working during June, July, and August.  I feel like I’ve missed out on too manyWhat will you miss the least?

– Ripping hair from frozen dead cats off the student parking lot, emptying mice from mouse traps, and cleaning up vomit from various locations.  Lately, I’ve lost interest in working during June, July, and August.  I feel like I’ve missed out on too many beautiful Wyoming summers.

–   beautiful Wyoming summers.

What are your future plans?      June 15th, I’m flying to Seattle to meet my two daughters.  The three of us will board China Airlines and fly to Jakarta,

Indonesia to meet up with my son who’s been there for three years.  He’s now working as a private English school director, and also writes personal adventure articles for an Indonesian magazine.  He’s been begging us to come to Indonesia so

that he can serve as our personal guide and interpreter.      We’ll be there for three and one half weeks.  Our agenda includes:  climbing volcanoes, snorkeling, jungle treks,

seeing Old Buddhist and Hindu temples, bicycling, seeing monkeys, and other tropical animals, riding Indonesian trains, ferries, planes, taxis, horse and buggies, and dugout canoes.  We’ll be eating all kinds of exotic fruits, many dishes of rice,

and who knows what else.      I’ll see pollution and poverty on a scale I’ve never seen before.  I’ll experience heat and humidity, as I’ve never felt

before.  And I hope to get home without some horrid parasite or disease.      When I get home, I’ll need to catch up on house and yard work, enjoy the rest of a Wyoming summer, then read, study, and maybe take a college class or two in the fall.  Later, I want to get involved in some worthwhile causes, and maybe, just

maybe do a little substitute custodial work, or better yet get a job where someone else picks up my trash.

  

Sam Torgerson• What’s your most memorable

moment working in the District?• Has not yet happened•  • What position(s) have you held in

the District?• Custodian•  • What will you miss the most?• The kids• The staff at DIS•  • What will you miss the least?• The snow•  • What are your future plans?• Anything I want too!•  

Retirees and Staff

Thank you for your dedication

and service