My editor had initially told be the Trib couldn't send a photographer out for this story so I drove to Sandy to take the picture. When I got out of the car all these 50 plus year old ladies at the reunion were looking at me trying to figure out who I was. I ran up that steps and said, "HI, IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!" They all said hello and told me how great I looked. Then I asked, do you know who I am? They said "Help us out." I said I am the reported from the Tribune. Ha ha, I am soooo funny I make me laugh!
North Layton choir teacher reunites with students — after 40 years
By Carol Lindsay
Published: November 4, 2011 11:02AM
Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune A group of women who once sang in the North Layton Junior High choir staged a reunion last month in Sandy to recognize their former teacher, Susan Taggart, holding bouquet.
Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune A group of women who once sang in the North Layton Junior High choir staged a reunion last month in Sandy to recognize their former teacher, Susan Taggart, holding bouquet.
Lillian Taylor traveled 1,500 miles to sing the praises of a former junior high choir teacher — a tribute that has been decades in the making.
Long before Saturday Night Fever swept the nation, Taylor was warming up her vocal chords in Susan Taggart’s ninth-grade choir class. It was 1970. And North Layton Junior High was a brand new school.
Although Taggart was a young teacher — just nine years older than some of her students — she had such an impact on the class that nine of the 20 choir members reunited last month in Sandy. Taylor was among them.
“It’s fabulous,” Taggart said. “They have such kind hearts to want to share their lives with me.”
It was a long journey for Taylor — she booked a flight from Katy, Texas — but also a sweet reunion with hugs, photos and stories aplenty about memorable moments more than 40 years ago.
They reminisced about a “steak house”:
“Wow, we are going to eat!” That was Taylor’s first thought upon hearing that her choir group was going to sing at an LDS “stake house.” She was disappointed to learn that the performance was at a church, not a restaurant.
They laughed about a sunburn so severe that a classmate had to miss school:
“Ms. Taggart had some of us who skied come and spend the night at her house north of the Capitol building,” Joni Abrams Schofield, of Layton, recalled. “We went skiing at Alta. Lark Harris got so sunburned that she missed several days of school.”
And they remembered an unfortunate encounter with seafood:
The dish was shellfish. Laura Conroy, of Plain City, still remembers having an allergic reaction to the food at a cookout at Taggart’s parents’ home.
The memories run deep for the junior high choir class. Taggart was a 23-year-old University of Utah grad when she started teaching at North Layton Junior High. Despite the relatively small difference in age between her and her students, she quickly earned the class’s respect.
“She was an authority figure,” Kim Mechtly Forsgren, of Longmont, Colo., said. “She was given respect, she earned respect.”
And the students loved her.
“We all looked forward to that class,” Conroy said. “The class was fun. We all strived to work our hardest to produce that balance and tone she was looking for. If you were doing a lousy job she would say, ‘Come on,’ until she got the results she wanted. It was a result of that teamwork that made it so pleasant.”
“She was tough on us,” Taylor added. “We worked hard — she didn’t settle for less. She cared. She got to know who we were as individuals and she taught us in different ways. You can do anything, say anything, but it’s how she treated you. I went to school in Europe and California, but this one teacher stood out. She was sincere.”
Taggart, who now lives in Salt Lake City, spent 22 years in the public school system, teaching an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 children. She ultimately retired in 2004 — sort of.
“I still taught a couple hours a day for a few years,” Taggart said. “I had to ease out.”
Among Taggart’s achievements was singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 22 years.
“She was a talented, caring educator — strong, straight to the point,” Taylor said. “[She] brought out the best in me and used the art to keep me engaged. She helped us develop self-esteem and confidence at a time in our life when we needed it. She taught us how to take control of our lives and lead.”
At the end of the reunion, Taggart shared a memory she has preserved on paper for more than 40 years. While escorting Taylor to her car, the former choir teacher clutched her guest’s hand, “I have something for you,” she said.
It was a note:
“Dear Ms. Taggart: We wish to commend you on your outstanding success in helping our daughter acquire musical culture,” it read. “Also, you are to be commended on your choral groups in which you dedicated most of your time. We can be thankful and proud that there are teachers like you who help us develop our children into outstanding citizens. With appreciation: Mr. and Mrs. E.R. Taylor.”
closeup@sltrib.com
—
By the numbers
9,000 to 10,000 • Estimated number of students Susan Taggart taught during her teaching career.
22 • Number of years Taggart spent in the public school system.
9 • Students from the teacher’s 1970-71 choir class who staged a reunion last month in Sandy.
4 • Decades since Taggart has had a get-together with those students.
© 2011 The Salt Lake Tribune
--> --> --> -->
No comments:
Post a Comment