Gena Shepherd, who has never lost her love of children - and teaching them.
Gena Shepherd, who has never lost her love of children - and teaching them.
It's been a very long time since Gena Shepherd had to trust a 12-foot dinghy and a Seagull outboard to get to work, in preference to a five-kilometre walk, but one thing has not changed in her long teaching career.
"Kids are lovely," she said on Saturday, back at work at Pamapuria School after a farewell the day before.
Mercia Smith, who also retired on Friday, agreed. The teaching environment might have changed, but their shared love of children, and of teaching them, had not dimmed at all.
Mrs Smith began her career at Motatau in 1965, followed by stints at Russell and Manukau.
After marrying and taking time off to begin raising her own family she resumed at Kaitaia Primary School in 1976 (with principal Jack Yarwood), then worked as a resource teacher Maori at Ahipara.
Eighteen years at Oturu followed, until she joined the Far North REAP education team.
Mrs Smith wouldn't be drawn on whether education was better or worse than it had been 50 years ago, but it was different - no OSH, much less paperwork, "and you could growl at the kids, and they listened." Not that she was known as an especially growly teacher.
Now she was taking "little steps" towards retirement, looking forward to increasing her involvement with Victim Support, honing her skills as a weaver, gardening and spending more time with her family, but she would miss having contact with children.
"The time has come though. This job needs someone with more energy. I'm always having to ask people, 'Can you lift this?' I hate asking that," she said.
She might well continue to indulge her passion for children and teaching vicariously, however, via her daughter-in-law Danelle Smith-Tatana, currently teaching at Broadwood Area School and preparing for the role of acting principal next term.
She had also appreciated the rapport she had enjoyed with parents, especially at Oturu, "an amazing community".
Mrs Shepherd began her career in Papatoetoe in 1959, but it was Rawhiti, accessible only by dinghy or a long walk, that made the biggest early impression.
Her husband Robin was the sole charge teacher, but they worked as team. Their first two children, Peter and Stephen, were also born there.
"They were lovely, lovely people at Rawhiti," she said. "There was so much aroha and respect."
Mercia Smith was joined by her daughter-in-law Danelle Smith-Tatana, grandson Taipari and great-grandson Kymani at her farewell on Friday.
The Shepherds were there for four years.
"It was a time when teachers could teach specifically to the needs of the children" - until the school was closed. They moved to Hamilton, which they did not enjoy, then Te Hapua, where Mr Shepherd was principal and his wife the second teacher.
"That's the place I would go back to," she said.
"It's very special. It was a place where we really became part of the community. Heaven on Earth. And beautiful, brilliant children. I can't express how much I enjoyed teaching there.
"Teaching was different then," she added, apart from the dearth of restrictions on the experiences teachers could give their pupils outside the classroom.
"Children were expected to be good. They were expected to have the proper attitude, to display good manners, to be neat in their work. We expected them to learn, and they did.
"With a good attitude and a positive teacher influence, children will succeed. They need to develop a love of learning, and they will do well. I never taught a child who did not learn to read, and I never had a behavioural problem that lasted any length of time."
From Te Hapua the couple moved to Kaingaroa ("That was lovely too"), then in 1986 Mr Shepherd joined the staff at Pamapuria.
She doesn't officially retire until the new school year begins, but it won't quite be over even then - breeding horses and painting will have to make way for days spent back at school as a reliever.
