I Am Proud Of My Wife

For those of you who know my wife, Janis, you know that I am indeed a blessed man. What an excellent lady she is. When we met, she had already begun her career in teaching. She was teaching English at her High School alma mater, Calwell Parish High School, in Columbia, LA. All of our married life, she has been a teacher - an excellent teacher.



Being a minister, I traveled from place to place in my career seldom stopping very long at any one place. I knew she was an excellent teacher and the school system and the principal of the school just didn't realize what a great employee she was. If they had known, they probably would have given her special recognition every where we went. Instead, just about the time she was making her mark, about 2 yrs., I felt the urge to travel on, so we packed up and moved to another city and/or state, there to start all over again in our lives. For me, it was a new church and the preaching ministry and for her, it was a new school and the teaching ministry.

She stayed at one school for 9 years even though I pastored two different churches during that time and we lived in two different cities, or towns. She probably enjoyed those years best of all. She was teaching Special Education at that time and she was recognized as the Special Education Teacher of the Year for LaSalle Parish. I think her supervisor realized what a great teacher she was but that recognition didn't seem to carry the prestige as being recognized as Teacher of the Year would have and does carry.


Now in my retirement years, we have settled in (for now anyway) here at Cleveland, TN and Janis is making her impact again, in the Cleveland City School System. She was recently nominated by her peers as a candidate for Teacher of the Year at her school, Cleveland Middle School, and chosen by the supervising committee to receive that recognition and was then a candidate for the City School System as Middle School Teacher of the Year. She achieved the next step of recognition by the City School officials who selected her as Cleveland City Schools Middle School Teacher of the Year. Now, that means she, as well as the winner for the Bradley County School System will be entered for the regional slot in the state of Tennessee. I guess it could go on, but we are so appreciative for this recognition that we will just bask in the sunshine of it and enjoy it for now. Check the article in the Cleveland Daily Banner dated 03/03/09.


Where would she be and what would she have become if I had stayed in one place for 20 or 30 years? Who knows? It may have been good and it may have been bad. But the fact that she was willing to up-root so many times and restart the whole process, shows me that she held me and my career, the ministry, in high regards. What can I say? Isn't she the greatest? What a blessed man I am. You can see why I am proud of my wife.