Nazareth School Retirees Say Goodbye

Written by Jack Tobias

The Nazareth Area School District bid farewell at the end of the year to eight staffers who have retired with combined service of about 200 years to the district.

Two of them were Susan Whalen, an eighth-grade middle school English teacher with 25 years of service and Ruth Smith, an associate nurse at the intermediate school with 24 years of service.

Patch recently reached out to the retirees, asking them to provide mini-biographies that would include where they grew up and went to school, why they chose teaching/library science/nursing as careers, career highlights, future plans and words of wisdom.

Susan Whalen:

I grew up on South Side Easton. I attended Porter Elementary School, Shull Junior High School and graduated from Easton Area High School, Class of 1966. My father was an Easton policeman and my mother was a stay-at-home mom until I was in Jr. High. I was in 6th grade when she went to work in a bathing suit factory to save money for me to go to college. I was the third of four children.

When I was 5 years old and it was time to go to Kindergarten, I did not want to go and did not want to leave my mom. She allowed me to stay home with her. When I did go to school I was in first grade and found I loved it! I especially enjoyed being in reading groups. I liked everything about school, all the subjects and to this day remember all my teachers' names. I even loved the smell of the classroom -- the chalk, crayons and especially the little box of cut-out letters we kept in a box on our desks!! I knew at 6 years old I wanted to be a teacher. I often wonder if my love of school would have been so great if my mom had forced me to go to Kindergarten!

I graduated from Kutztown State College with a degree in Elementary Education. I finished school in 3 1/2 years, graduated on a Friday evening in August, interviewed for a job at 11am on Monday and received a phone call at 1pm that I got my first job. I taught 6th grade, all subjects, at Brandywine Heights Middle School in Topton. After getting married, I taught several years, again 6th grade and later 8th and 9th grade, in the Easton Area School District. I left teaching to stay at home with my three children, and went back to Easton to teach 10 years later. When I came to the Nazareth School District, I taught 6th grade at Shafer Elementary School. I moved to Nazareth Middle School in 2002 as an 8th grade English teacher. I always wanted to finish my teaching career teaching just reading and I was able to do that as an English teacher. My post-graduate degree is a Master's Equivalency Degree acquired by credits at numerous colleges, most notably East Stroudsburg and Penn State. I've always enjoyed taking classes and earned 30 more credits past my Master's.

There are numerous highlights in my career. The most fulfilling has been watching my students read books I have shared with them. At Shafer I held Book Blabs and parents and students read the “Indian in The Cupboard” series. I was fortunate to be nominated by my students for awards over the years: Who's Who in Teaching several times, a Disney Teacher nomination and a Teacher of the Week at a local radio station. I enjoyed giving presentations on Portfolios, and Reading Apprenticeship to teachers in and out of the district. I also enjoyed passing on my knowledge to student teachers over the years. When I was at Shafer, I ran an after-school and weekends program called Earth-Doers for students and parents. We participated in a variety of experiences outside the classroom: whitewater rafting trips, owl prowls, bird walks, salamander hunts, biking trips, sponsored an endangered bald eagle named Freedom, listened to numerous speakers on environmental issues and for seven years I ran a trip to Wallops Island, VA, for kids and parents to study marine biology.

My future plans are to spend time with my grandchildren, gardening and reading.

My advice for future teachers: love these children, expect anything to happen and enjoy your career!


Ruth Smith:

I was born in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and named Mary Ruth Rindgen , the 3rd daughter of Ann and Henry Rindgen. I soon moved and grew up in West Pittston, Pa.  I had a very happy childhood is a small town.  I graduated from West Pittston High School and then entered Wilkes-Barre General Hospital School of Nursing.

After graduating and passing RN board exams, I worked at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in their intensive care unit and eventually became head or charge nurse of the intensive care coronary unit. In 1972 I married Robert Smith and moved to York, Pa., where I worked as a charge nurse at Columbia Hospital.  My husband was transferred by PPL to this area and we moved to Nazareth.

We had three children who all graduated from NAHS.  I became connected with the school district mainly because my middle daughter was a severe asthmatic and allergic to many things. Because she needed breathing treatments while at school, I met and became friends with Marian Whitsell, who was the school nurse at the high school and Bushkill Elementary School. When a position for the health room came up, I applied and began working for the school district.

I have worked in every school except the new Middle School.  I love nursing and working for Nazareth School District. Upon retirement, my husband and I plan to travel a bit and just enjoy life.