She Taught Me Almost Everything I Knew About Teaching Third Graders

Tribute to Ruby Vinita Martin Rice

                Anyone who knows me knows that I wave the brightest orange. Being an Oklahoma State alum, I sing Oklahoma State’s Alma Mater with fervor. I received a good education, but I could put in a sewing thimble the strategies and skills learned there to make me a successful teacher. If I gained mastery in teaching third graders, I owed that to Ruby Rice, my first colleague when I began teaching that grade.

                I do not remember not knowing Ruby. She had gone to high school at Burbank with my father, Edmund Gates, Jr., and most of the other eligible secondary students in the Big Bend in the 1930s. She recounted how my father delighted in teasing her during the long bus ride. While at Burbank High School, she was not only a good student, but a great basketball player, playing on a winning girls’ team.

                Ruby began her coursework at Oklahoma State University to become a teacher the same year Dawn, Ruby’s youngest daughter, and I entered first grade. I enjoyed the few times when no one was going to be home after school at my house, and I got to ride the bus to the Rice home with Dawn. Marion and Vickie, Ruby’s older daughters were in charge. I do not recall either of the “big girls” having to correct Dawn and me.

                Ruby used Angie, my sister, and her kittens as props for one of her photography projects. Angie, as a preschooler, thoroughly enjoyed her role as photographer’s model when she got to help Ruby set up a tea party in the yard. Plus Ruby received a good grade from the assignment.

                Occasionally, Ruby would drop by the farm to visit with Grandma, Gladys Rainey Smith, and Mother, Bernyce Gates. One day Ruby stopped, only to discover that my grandma, always the adventurer in her cooking, had prepared a carp brought to her by her nephew, Leo Rainey. Leo had caught the carp in the Arkansas River. He knew if anyone would use the less desirable catch, it would be his Aunt Lyde, the name he always called Grandma.

                Sure enough, she cleaned the fish, flavored it with onions and tomatoes, sprinkling in some other seasonings, and then cooked it in the pressure cooker. My mother couldn’t get it passed her mind, but Ruby raved about it when she sampled it. Maybe she was just famished after a full day of classes at OSU, followed by the drive home to the Bend. Grandma fixed a jar of the tasty carp and sent it home with Ruby since she liked it so much.

                 Dawn got to stay with Angie, my sister, and me quite frequently. We delighted in playing dolls and whatever else our imaginations could dream up. Dawn got to visit overnight during the summers. Ruby always seemed to enjoy visiting with Grandma and Mother when she picked Dawn up. Most of the time, they ended up talking about the Bible.

                After earning her degree, Ruby began teaching third grade at Fairfax. In her early years of teaching, she, Elmer, her husband, and Dawn were still living on their farm near the Arkansas River in the Bend.

                One wintry late afternoon, Ruby and Dawn were maneuvering the icy roads to the Bend. They were nearing the hill just west of the driveway where the Koger family now lives. The hill that can be treacherous is located in Pawnee County about one mile east of the Arkansas River bridge, dubbed the Belford Bridge.

                Ruby had been unable to reach the crest of the hill. She was stalled midway up on the east side of the hill. She saw Dad coming in his green work truck that he had bought used from Otis “Babe” Goad. Dad never valued the appearance of his vehicle. The primary goal was two-fold – get him from Point A to Point B and transport his carpenter tools.

                Ruby told me that she could not believe he zipped around her stuck car. How could he do this to her? Then she said she watched as he stopped on top the hill. He began walking down the slick hill to where her car was immobilized. He instructed her  how to steer and then began pushing. Soon she and Dawn were moving up the hill and headed home.

                Ruby and I taught together at Marlin Crowder Elementary School in Fairfax, from 1979 until her retirement. Ruby disciplined much like my own mother. I don’t recall her raising her voice. In simplistic terms, she wasn't a talker, but she said what she meant and meant what she said.

The earliest staff photo that I have of Marlin Crowder Elementary. It was my second year of teaching.
Front - Jan Weston, Sharon Stewart, Nadine Hathcoat, Nelda Shafer, Debbie Stejskal,
Middle - Rosemary Durkee, Nadine Elsberry, Norma Wulf, Carolyn Long, Ruby Rice, Woogie Adams,
Gary Klopp, Burley Hathcoat, Top - Carlene Wilson, Bernadean Gates, Carolyn Hicks, Stefanie Parker,
and Marilyn Hadlock. Just looking at these faces bring so many wonderful memories of laughter and learning!

                Mrs. Rice was known for reading the entire Little House series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder to her third graders. Since I taught primary music, Ruby read daily to all the third graders. I recall what a kick she got from John Holloway’s disdain of the character, Nellie Olsen. John would express sheer delight when haughty, snooty Nellie received her “comeuppance.” John probably never realized how he made Mrs. Rice’s day as he interacted with her shared reading time.

                Most of her students probably didn’t realize that she played the piano. Playing an hour after school on her beautiful grand piano, given to her by her husband, was her way to unwind. She had me swear to never ask her to play. She played by ear and quite well  but only for her own enjoyment.

                After Ruby’s retirement, I continued reading the Little House to third graders each year. Some have told me the shared reading of those books was one of their most memorable experiences in that school grade. I also followed her pattern for relaxing after a hectic day of teaching. Even though I might have several sets of papers awaiting my correction, I usually sat down at my piano to play the stress away, plus get in some good practice minutes.

                Even though we were relatives – her husband was my Mother’s cousin, and we shared a calling to the field of elementary education - the main point of connectedness was our love of the Lord. Ruby delighted in telling me how she and my grandmother argued about whether a person could know she was saved forever and assured of going to heaven. Her favorite part to relate to me was when she was vigorously rocking at her home reflecting on her conversation with Grandma and suddenly realized it was true that she had everlasting life that could not be lost. She loved the words of Jesus when He said in John 10:28-29:

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

                One of my personal favorite interactions with Ruby followed her retirement. We would see each other weekly at church. One beautiful Sunday in spring, as people exited the front door of the church, no one had bolted the church door back for easier departure. Ruby proceeded to bolt the door open when someone teased her about being the door keeper. With the typical lilting of Ruby’s voice and her enormous brown eyes looking sideways, she responded with the quoting of Psalm 84:10:

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. 

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,

than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

               Her quotation of this particular passage illustrated the humility in the heart of this godly woman. Her commitment to obedience of the principles of the Bible showed her desire to live a life of godliness and avoid any wicked ways in her walk while on this earth.

On the 96^th remembrance of Ruby’s birth on April 12^th, may those of us who have been so impacted by this woman of class, intellect, and grace, recall with hearts of thankfulness all she built into our lives, purposing to walk in the principles she lived by, thus carrying on her legacy.