![]() But he was on the field and I was in the stands, and that's as close as I needed to be.Ībout Miss Smith's teaching career: In the mid-1950s, she was at Covington, La., High School - near her hometown. The answer now is, yes, I was in the vicinity at the Frisco Bowl game last week when he was one of Louisiana Tech's honorary team captains and conducted the pregame coin toss in typical good Bradshaw humor. The answer at that point was no, not in almost 30 years. She asked about Terry - yes, Bradshaw - and if I had seen him (other than on TV). ![]() 23) with granddaughter Josie (our first grandchild). Here is more - we had a good talk, and she remembered, and reminded me, that she shares a birthday (Oct. She is very proud and fond of her Woodlawn years, and those All-America-rated yearbooks - and she should be. The good news: She is as sharp mentally as she always was. She is back home now in Tylertown, Miss, and the last of her large immediate family (most lived into their mid-90s) and a sister-in-law live closeby. She is she is 90, using a walker because she had both knees replaced at the same time, and then subsequently fell a couple of times, broke the femur in one of her legs and spent five months in a Hattiesburg hospital. with trepidation, not knowing if she was even still alive. but I had not talked to her in maybe five years (my fault). I have stayed in touch with her over the years. ![]() Miss Smith was the excellent yearbook advisor (and also typing/shorthand teacher) at Woodlawn from its start in 1960 through May 1968. She was not a journalism teacher per se, but she taught journalism principles which stuck with me forever. Posted about her on Facebook and in e-mails - to our Woodlawn High School friends - after our conversation in mid-November, but I want to write more about Miss Willa Smith. She happened to be one of the key people in my first 18 years. This is often on my mind, and I could post names - I have written about many - but the incentive for the focus of this blog piece came several weeks ago when an old friend (which of our friends is not old?) asked about a particular teacher. School Accolade (she was the main reason for outstanding yearbooks) Willa Smith's photo from the yearbook section, 1965 Woodlawn High There is a long list of people, though, who were important to me, personally and professionally. But perhaps they taught me about people skills, an area in which I had much to learn. I was thinking of some teachers and some fellow employees who - frankly - I did not enjoy. Really, if you're paying attention, and if your philosophy matches mine, you can (or should) learn something from most anyone you encounter. It covers a broad spectrum, beginning with parents and we mostly think of our school administrators, teachers (coaches) and our bosses as "mentors."īut it's also our spouses, our friends, our co-workers, our kids and their friends, and now even our grandkids who can teach us. Thinking of the people who have been mentors and teachers in my life, and how thankful I am for them. Her name is Willa Smith, and to me, she is a VIP.
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