Editor’s Note: March is Women’s History Month and Spirit of Abilene will be highlighting women who have made a difference in the lives of others. To honor someone, send her name, photo, and reason for the honor to editor@spiritofabilene.com

By Marianne Wood

She handed me a pecan and said, “I believe it’s the best. It’s from the house on the corner.” Then, she pointed down the street. Looking where she pointed, then down, I learned she takes a pigtailed and sweater-clothed poodle on these walks. She samples the neighborhood pecan crop to discern the best producer and rewards her with a request for her choice of pesticide. 

This petite, older woman, overcome by a large tan overcoat, had once been my 12th-grade English teacher. She had a sister named Pete.

While the fog of time impairs my memory of many details of the year “she had me,” I do recall some aspects of that interesting adventure in learning. First, the class itself offered a subject of study, which, taught by most any other person, would have sent twenty or so seniors on a journey past Chaucer through the high points of Shakespeare and Browning and up to the most contemporary English writers in a somewhat hurried fashion to achieve the curriculum objective: a survey. 

Instead, we memorized the prologue to The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. Granted, it is memorable. To this day, it is repeatable! The exercise was good discipline, but I discovered British writers A.J. Cronin and P.G. Wodehouse, and others, much later. I can’t fault Pete’s sister in the broad realization of things, for she was, as we were, ready to retire from high school. Yet her quick wit, shining smile, and sincere goodwill toward all of us made the hour a day worthwhile. 

What made the year incredibly fun was her lack of stuffiness. She was silly a lot. Make that daily. As soon as the bell rang, she turned around so that her back was to the entire class, then whirled back around, putting up the peace love sign we were familiar with in the mid-1970s. And we adored her for it. 

A lot of silliness erupted again promptly at 11:00 each morning when my girlhood friend, Melinda, got her daily attack of dyspepsia. (She had stomach problems, chiefly due to hunger.) Melinda’s active maw made loud gurgling noises that reached a crescendo before abruptly ending. However, Pete’s sister was more than patient; she stopped teaching until no gurgle or giggle was left, including her own, and promptly picked up wherever she left off. 

It is common for high school seniors to feel that they are or should be in charge of the school and, naturally, the classroom. Working to get a teacher off track is common. (Melinda is innocent.) But I saw this accomplished in several ways that final year, the most effective being getting Pete’s sister to talk about Pete.

All year, we heard “my sister, Pete” stories. All year, we laughed and wondered how anyone could be so lucky to have a sister like Pete. While embroiled in adolescent sibling rivalry at home, how could we imagine such a friendship? Still, I thought my siblings might be funny at 50! They were.

Then, one day, we got a substitute teacher. It was Pete. We tried to make her feel welcome, but we were quickly disappointed. She was all business. She wasn’t funny. How could this be “my sister, Pete?!” No doubt she knew something about substituting, even for a good class. I learned all about that decades later.

I took the barrel pecan from Pete’s sister and watched the two figures turn toward their home. I mused and felt warm inside, knowing she still cared to share more than carefully planned lessons––herself. 

From the beginning of The General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer:

Whan that Aprille, with his shoures soote,

The drought of March hath pierced to the root,

And bathed every veyne in swich licóur

Of which vertú engendered is the flour;

Marianne Wood, right, with her teacher, Allene Free

My Cooper class celebrates a big, big anniversary this year. So, for Women’s History Month, I honor one of our teachers, Allene Free, and her sister, Pete. Both taught thousands of Abilene Independent School District students with excellence and good humor. Mrs. Free also accompanied a group from my class on an Exchange Club trip to Wyandotte, Michigan, New York City, and more. You can see her cute personality in this photo taken outside our school.

Marianne Wood works as an editorial assistant and researcher for Bill Wright