News, Citizen Profile, Henrietta Emilie King Tannehill, LaSalle Parish, La. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Submitted by: Craig Franklin of The Jena Times, Jena, LaSalle Parish, La. Henrietta Emilie King Tannehill - Citizen Profile Wednesday, September 20, 2000, page 7B A Times-Signal Feature "Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute Retired Urania teacher spent 30-years in the same classroom For thirty-one years, this week's Citizen Profile was a fifth grade teacher in LaSalle Parish . . . and thirty of those thirty-one years she taught in the same classroom. She is known and loved by all of her former students, which also included two of her own children and one of her grandchildren. Mrs. Henrietta Emilie King Tannehill was born and raised in Urania, and would spend thirty years teaching the fifth grade at the Urania school. To Mrs. Tannehill, teaching was more than just a job, it was her passion. She describes the most traumatic event that ever took place in her life as being the day she retired from teaching. "When I retired, it took six months to get over it," she said. "That was the most traumatic thing that every happened to me. I cried . . . I really did because I loved teaching that much." Mrs. Tannehill was born on April 2, 1929, in Urania. Her father, Cary King, Sr., worked in the oilfield and eventually retired as a superintendent from Hardtner Oil Company. Her mother, Lillian Chromchak King, was a stay at home, full-time mother, raising seven children of which Mrs. Tannehill was the oldest. "My mother's father was originally from Hungary," recalls Mrs. Tannehill. "When he was 15 years old, he was a stow-a-way on a ship bound for America. After being in America for a while, he met my grandmother and they were married." Being the oldest child of seven, Mrs. Tannehill remembers that she was the designated babysitter for all of her younger brothers and sisters. Helping her mother raise her siblings aided Mrs. Tannehill later on in life, when she would eventually have children of her own. She remembers many things about growing up in Urania back in the 1930's and '40's. "It was a different life back then," she said. "This was before we had electricity so washing clothes was done outside on the old rub boards. Ironing was performed by heating up the old iron and of course, the bathroom facilities were outside as well." Later on, the family would get a gas light, which hang from the middle of the living room from the ceiling. The gas light didn't stay long inside the King home though, as her mother removed it because of the fire hazard. "After a while we also got a telephone, which was nothing more than a wooden phone on the wall," she said. "Back then, everyone was on a party line and we'd have to ring it ourselves." As a young girl, she also remembers the family owning an old battery operated radio, which was used to listen to the news, especially during the war. "Daddy would also like to listen to the fights and Joe Lewis was his favorite," Mrs. Tannehill said. "At night, we'd listen to the news or the fights, and every so often we'd slip back into the living room after going to bed and listen to some music without daddy knowing. Of course, we'd run the battery down and then we'd get in trouble." Mrs. Tannehill started school in Urania and in 1946 graduated from Urania High School. She started college in September of that same year at Louisiana Tech in Ruston. "When I first started to Tech," she said. "Daddy sold timber off of land we owned to be able to send me to college. It cost $235.00 my first semester - and that was everything - tuition, books, everything." She recalls that neither of her parents graduated from high school, much less college, but they wanted the very best education for their children. "Daddy only went to school through the sixth grade and Mama through the tenth grade," Mrs. Tannehill said. "But all seven of their children graduated from high school and four of those graduated from college." Mrs. Tannehill graduated from Louisiana Tech in January of 1950, with a degree in Home Economics. However, it wasn't until 13 years later that she would start teaching school in Urania. So what happened during those thirteen years? A lot, according to Mrs. Tannehill, including a marriage and three children being born and partially raised. Actually, the marriage took place nearly two years before Mrs. Tannehill graduated from college. It was in the later part of 1947 at La. Tech that she met a young man, who was also going to Tech, by the name of William "Billy" Morris Tannehill. Mr. Tannehill was actually born in Winnfield but his family moved to Urania in 1936. And even though Mr. Tannehill finished high school at the same school as Mrs. Tannehill, the two never met until they found each other at Tech. "He was on the GI Bill going to Tech after the war," she said. "It wasn't love at first sight - it more like grew the more we were together - but it was definetly love." They were married on August 7, 1948, after "courting" for about a year. "We went to the movies a lot and went out to eat or just drink a coke," Mrs. Tannehill remembered. "We'd walk the railroad track from Tech into town where everything was. Occasionally he'd borrow someone's car, but mostly it was walking the tracks. One of my favorite things I liked back then was cheery sundaes." After they both graduated from college, the Tannehill's moved to Winnfield for one year, and then moved back to Urania in July of 1952. They lived with Mr. Tannehill's parents until their new home was built by the Urania Lumber Company, of which Mr. Tannehill was employed. They moved into their new home - which by the way is the same home they still live in today, in November of 1952. During the next several years, three children would be born to the couple: Inez Fragala now of Archibald; Steve Tannehill, still living in Urania; and Janet Matter now of Choudrant. Mrs. Tannehill recalls that although she wanted to teach school full-time, they both thought is was more important that she stay a home and raise the children, at least until they all started school. "So that's what I did," she said. "I stayed at home and raised them, until they started school, and I've never regretted it. Oh, during that time I substituted, but mostly I was at home with the little ones." When their youngest child started kindergarten, Mrs. Tannehill decided it was time to start her teaching career, an occupation which was had longed to do for many years. She started teaching at the Urania School in 1963 full-time. She was assigned to the fifth grade and would retire some thirty-one years later, still teaching the same grade. For thirty of those years, she had the same classroom at the Urania School, and it wasn't until her last year of teaching that she changed classrooms. "During my last year of teaching, I had to teach in Olla because of consolidation," she said. "This brought to an end 30 years of the same classroom and the same school - of which I loved." She retired in 1994, two years after Mr. Tannehill retired from Louisiana- Pacific, where he'd worked for 40 years. "It was a real big adjustment for me when I retired," Mrs. Tannehill said. "I really loved teaching, being around all of my friends at the school, and the students - I just loved being around the children." Mrs. Tannehill said that while the teaching profession has changed quite a bit from when she started, teachers should still teach for the same reason - for the children. "It was like night and day," she said, comparing her first year of teaching to her last, "You just can't imagine how the young people have changed during that time." She remembers a time when teachers were treated with respect by their students and there were less problems with the parents of students as well. "What I loved about teaching, for one thing, is seeing how some of the children turned out to be outstanding adults," she said. "One of the greatest thrills as a teacher has to be when the children would catch on to what you're teaching. But really, I just loved being around the children." Her husband says that what surprised him the most was the number of visitors his wife has received over the years, former students thanking Mrs. Tannehill for her inspiration. "There has been a lot of people come by thanking her for teaching them," he said. "I'm always amazed at how many of her former students come by just to see her." Mrs. Tannehill says that to be a teacher, one must have a great amount of patience and the ability to be fair. "You have to have a bunch of patience, and that's not easy many times, but you have to learn how to be patient with your students," she said. "Along with that, you must make sure you know your subject matter, be fair with your students, and take time to listen to them. Being fair and listening are two very important traits." Her love for teaching is probably only second to one thing - her love for her husband. The Tannehill's have been married now for 52 years, and attribute their strong marriage to their up-bringing from strong moral families. "Probably one reason marriages don't last like they used to is because of a break down in morals in this country," Mrs. Tannehill said. "It probably all started in the 1960's with the Baby Boomers." "For that matter the morality of the whole country has gone to pot," added Mr. Tannehill. "They don't take responsibility for anything - and the television hasn't helped a bit." Mrs. Tannehill said that many young people today don't try to work differences out in marriages and that divorce is an easy way out. "I don't think the young ones try to work anything out when they do have problems," she said. "And it's too easy to get a divorce today. We were brought up differently than young people are today . . . morality was taught to us by our parents." Continuing to note the ill effects of television, both Mr. and Mrs. Tannehill remember a time when programs were clean, moral and family oriented. "I can remember when the soap commercials came out and it showed a lady's arm washing," she said, "and I thought that was risky." Mrs. Tannehill refers to the television as the "idiot tube", and prefers to spend her time outside, rather than inside watching TV. On any given day, you can drive past the Tannehill's residence in Urania, and find Mrs. Tannehill diligently working in her yard (which is always kept immaculate). "I love working outside in the yard," she said. "I do all the mowing, weed eating, trimming and such. I would just rather be outside than anything." Along with doing lawn work, Mrs. Tannehill loves to collect things - let's rephrase that - she loves collecting beautiful things. For over 11 years now, she has been involved in the hobby of collecting. Most of her collections involve porcelain objects, such as dolls, birds, dishes, Santa Clauses, etc. All of her collectibles are genuine authentic, certified collections of art, complete with certificates of authenticity. She has over five albums of certificates to accompany her collection. There are so many works of art in her collection, that her house will not display them all. While many are displayed in antique hutches, many are stored away in closets because of the lack of room. She also has a collection of China dishes from Mr. Tannehill's parents, as well as the original set of China dishes from their marriage. If you have ever been inside the Tannehill home, you know that words cannot describe the beautiful collections that are on display. The art is so impressive, the Tannehill's might want to consider opening their home as a local attraction. However, if you know Mrs. Tannehill, you know that her home is always open for anyone to come and visit, with free assess to the beautiful collections. "You know, I'm basically a very shy person," she said. "I don't even know who would think me interesting enough to write about. I'm just a retired teacher enjoying life to its fullest. I just hope that all the children I taught over the years have kind thoughts about me when I was their teacher." It has been said that many times teachers live their entire life without having any of their former students return and give thanks. Mrs. Tannehill is one of those exceptions. Over and over again her former students return to say thanks, to visit, or just to see her smile once again. Yes, Mrs. Tannehill is one of those exceptions. Not only for the students she taught, but for her family and many friends. Urania should be proud to claim as one of their own, Mrs. Henrietta Tannehill, this week's Citizen Profile. (Caption under photo) Mrs. Henrietta Tannehill of Urnaia, this week's Citizen Profile, stands next to one of her porcelain collections in her home - this one featuring birds. For 11 years now she has collected beautiful works of art as a hoby. She is best known in Northwest LaSalle Parish as a fifth grade teacher at Urania, a position held for 31 years. (See Story.)