In Remembrance of my 2nd grade teacher

I was Google'ing names of people I remembered the other night and typed in the name of my 2nd grade teacher, Miss Rambo, from when I lived in Laureldale, PA. I always thought so highly of her and she always had a special place in my heart, ever since I was 6 years old.

Anyway, I found a geneology site that had her name on it and that she was a teacher at Rosedale Grade school! Hey, that's my school and that was my teacher! I was so excited so see her name. I scrolled down the page and saw an email link to the person who put this file on the Internet, so I wrote to her and asked her if she'd like to hear about some of the things I remembered most about Miss Maryjane Rambo. Here's what I wrote:

We lived in a stone house on Kutztown Road, in Laureldale, PA. Miss Rambo lived next door in a home that was converted to two apartments. I think the house was red...not sure if it was brick or what, I just remember a dark red. She lived upstairs and her sister (I can't remember her name right now) lived downstairs.

Miss Rambo was pretty old when I knew her. Of course, being 6 years old, I guess everyone seemed old. LOL She was thin, had her gray hair tied up in a bun behind her head, I believe. She was SO nice and loved books. Once, while I was swinging on a tire swing my Dad had put up for me on our huge cherry tree, Miss Rambo appeared at her 2nd story window, opened it and called out to me. I went over and she lowered a couple of books down to me in a woven basket with a rope tied around the handle. I thought that was the neatest thing for her to do! And I'm still an avid reader! I know she'd love to know that about me. I wish I could tell her.

I also had the measles that year and I remember her showing up at our door with a few cans of juice for me, along with get well letters from each child in my class. (Mark Fisher, one of my classmates, even taped a nickle on his get well wish to me. Something I've never forgotten. Funny how you remember such things. LOL)

I remember her being very neat about herself and her apartment, which I visited on several occasions. Her sister's apartment downstairs was very nice too, although I don't remember ever going further inside than the foyer.

There was a time when we had to do some special arithmetic problems and Miss Rambo went out and bought this colorful, shiny paper for us to use as a cover for our math problem booklets. I'll never forget how she passed around the stack of papers and I had my eye on a bright, shiny magenta piece, that I hoped nobody else would choose. They didn't, and I got to choose that for my math booklet. To this day, I remember vividly that color and it's still my favorite!

Once, during the Christmas holiday, we had a Toys For Tots barrel in our classroom. Miss Rambo explained to the kids that we were to bring in a toy for the poor kids who didn't get presents and bring them in to put in that barrel. Well, I had this nurse doll that I had received as a birthday present, because I used to want to be a nurse. I hated that doll! She was tall and wore a nurse's uniform with the little white hat and was carrying two twin babies on each arm. (They were rubber banded to her arms so they wouldn't fall.) I was never much into the girly dressy dolly stuff, so I thought I'd get that ugly doll out of my bottom dresser drawer (it was still in the plastic and everything!) and give it to the Toys For Tots barrel. Well, the next day, Miss Rambo saw me putting that doll in the barrel, and she picked it up and called me to the front of the class. She put her arm around me, faced the class and told them all what a wonderful student I was to give some poor child a favorite dolly that was still new. I must've been a very good person to sacrifice my new dolly like that. At that young of an age, the guilt set in and I felt SO bad that she was just singing my praises, when the truth was that I hated that stupid doll and THAT'S why I gave it up. LOLOL I never did tell her. I didn't want to ruin her view of me, I guess.

I also remember when I was in first grade, the year before my 2nd grade year with Miss Rambo, there was a little girl in her class who was very sick. She would tire very easily and when I think back, she may have had cancer. I don't remember her name, but Miss Rambo would allow her to bring a pillow to class so that she could lie her head down on her desk when she wasn't feeling good. I wish I remembered who she was and if she ever got better or what happened to her.

There was also a 3rd grade teacher that I thought at the time was as big as an Amazon woman and almost as ugly. She used to scare me and when she came trudging into our class with those Time Tables...EEEK!! LOL

So, I think that's about all I can remember about Mary Jane Rambo. She was a much loved and remembered teacher to me, as you can tell. Are there any photos of her around that I could see? Do you have more info about her? This is just so exciting to me to have found a reference to her on the Internet!

Thanks again for writing back!

Warmly,
Lori (Shellhammer) Reed
Northampton, PA


So there ya have it. I hope she sends me a photo of Miss Rambo. I've got a memory of her in my mind, but there's no face to it. I can see her body, but not her face and I'd love so much to see what she looks like again. Weird how I don't remember.