Kindness, patience, love defined Mrs. Prater

In the fall of 1967, clutching a fat pencil, a box of crayons, and a Big Chief tablet, I became one of the 28 little kids in Peggy Prater's first grade class at Dora Elementary School.

By the end of the first day, I had fallen head over heels in love with my teacher.

Fifty-four years later, that hasn't changed.

Though I knew she was under hospice care, when her daughter notified me on Saturday that sweet Mrs. Prater had died, I was heartbroken.

I suspect that I am one of several hundred former students who are each convinced that we were Mrs. Prater's favorite.

But I have photographic proof that I was.

Or at least, that is my story and I'm sticking with it.

With a last name beginning with W, I was alphabetically at the end of my class, which meant in the yearbook - where the elementary teachers were relegated to the bottom right corner - Mrs. Prater and I will be forever side by side.

Peggy Prater and I started first grade together. It was a double first for her because we were her FIRST first grade. We must not have been too awful - she stayed in that same classroom for 26 years.

Not all of her classes were as large as mine; a few were larger. She introduced well over 500 of us to the magic of the written word with a little help from Dick and Jane and Sally and Spot and Puff.

And she did it with kindness, patience, and love. So much love.

Thanks to Peggy Prater, I learned from day one that the most important asset a teacher brings to a classroom is an ability to unconditionally love students.

No ifs, ands, or buts.

I still have my first-grade report card signed by Mrs. Prater.

I was 50 inches tall by the end of the year, which put me within 12 inches of my 5-foot, 2-inch tall teacher.

Perhaps part of why it was so easy for first graders to adore her was that she didn't exactly tower over her students.

But in that small body beat a heart that had room for us all.

Dick and Jane are sad.

Cry, Dick, cry. Cry, Jane, cry.

Mrs. Prater is gone.

Betty Williamson is searching for her crayons. Reach her at:

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