Coolest Woman on the Planet
Dixie Monroe – teacher at Lamar High School, Lamar, Colorado is the coolest woman on the planet.
Occasionally, you come across someone so totally awesome that you simply have to comment on their personality. Such was the case at the grocery store recently when I ran into a former educator. She’s knocking hard on 90 these days, and still sharp as a tack. The lady greets the day with a glimmer of sunshine in her smile, and livens up the world with grammar and spelling rules. I can vaguely remember why dangling participles are a no-no. And to this day I can quote why various literature pieces are more appropriate for intelligence quotient testing than others (although I still disagree with her).
I don’t have a photo of Mrs. Monroe, but there’s an image in my mind of the woman standing in front of her students, properly correcting their grammar and educating them in the basic code of good manners. Her hair was coifed in a softly curled frame around an expressively beautiful face with an encouraging smile. Her pristine white blouse had short sleeves, a button front, and an open collar with a single strand gold chain and a small locket at her throat. Her pleated skirts fell smoothly over a nicely shaped body, and though the years had added a few gentle curves, she had a spring in her step that every high school girl admired. The words graceful, mature, and eloquent come to mind in describing Mrs. Monroe in her position as high school English Instructor. She hadn’t been born to wealth, but she had comfort, intelligence and a goodly measure of that gentle quality you simply understood meant, she was a lady.
Good grammar, English, and punctuatin weren’t here only interests, she knew history well and could explain national politics as well as any other. The core foundation of her existence was in helping others. She set out each day to teach, to give, and to assist others in their endeavors. I never knew her to seek self fulfillment or selfish desires, her hands were always open, in an effort to give.
There may have been those who saw her differently, and there were times when I wanted to skip her class as well, but looking back I realize her intentions were simply to help me be a better me.
Thank you Dixie Monroe, educator in the Lamar, Colorado schools for many years, for your efforts to help others to learn, to inspire and encourage as you motivated your students.
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