Monday, July 13, 2015
When Mrs. Seaward was only 21 years old, she was my 6th grade teacher at Brookside School. I can still see her standing in front of the class on the first day of school in her white princess-style dress with the butterflies that tied in the back, the brown shoes with the chunky heels that were fashionable at the time, and her blonde hair pulled back in a silver barrette. She was my favorite and most influential teacher of all time. Her approach to teaching was totally unique, and she genuinely cared about every single student. I developed my love of biology from her and ultimately went on to earn a degree in biology years later. I have so many fond memories of being in her class. I can't share them all, but I would like to share a few. Not only was she a wonderful teacher, but she went above and beyond her obligations and taught special interest fun courses after school for the girls. In one of the classes she taught us how to crewel. In another class, we made eggs out of granulated sugar and designed dioramas for the inside. Then, of course there were the film flowers (can't remember what the technical name was), but we formed the petal shapes out of thin wire, then dipped them in a substance which dried into a cellophane-like material. Those were great memories. But I mostly remember her for her kind heart. There was one time when one of the kids in the class didn't want to say the pledge of allegiance. Mrs. Seaward felt very strongly that he should say it, and she forced the issue. I don't remember exactly how she did it, but she may have forced him to recite the pledge by himself. It seemed so harsh. And then she left the classroom for a few minutes. I found her several minutes later in the restroom, crying. She had felt she needed to make a strong statement about the situation, but she was so gentle inside, that it broke her heart. Years later, she was my younger sister's teacher at the French Road School. One time, she gave my sister a zero for a missed homework. My sister insisted she had turned in the homework, and Mrs. Seaward told her that she hadn't. A week or so later, Mrs. Seaward found the missing homework in her desk. She started to cry and apologized to my sister repeatedly for having misjudged her. I remember that Mrs. Seaward would rearrange our desks every few weeks, so that every student in the classroom would have an opportunity to sit near every other student. She wanted us all to get to know each other and be friends. I remember several very interesting field trips we took. One of them was a field trip we took to Ward's (science supply warehouse). On another occasion, we went to 'Satellite School' on the 5th floor of Sibley's downtown where we had our first hands-on experience with a new electronic educational tool called a 'computer.' Mrs. Seaward was so excited about the purchase of the rambling farmhouse in Holley. At the end of the school year, the entire class was invited to the house where the Seawards treated us all to a barbecue. I thought the house was so neat because it had two staircases. One of the staircases lacked a railing at the top landing, so it was a little dangerous. Mrs. Seaward remarked that the railing situation would be need to be corrected to ensure that any future children wouldn't fall. She wanted children more than anything. I was so happy when I heard that her dream had become a reality. I have thought of Mrs. Seaward so many times over the years and have thought so often about phoning her and sharing with her what a wonderful influence she had been in my life. Ironically, I was thinking of her as recently as a few weeks ago. I now wish so much that I followed through and phoned her to say hello. My heart goes out to her family for their loss. The whole world will be a much sadder place without Mrs. Seaward. Sincerely, Cynthia Stein
