Mrs. PetitThe luncheon started out with only the "Inter-City Elementary" people. (Inter-City is an elementary school that is in between Texas City and LaMarque hence the name). So the first thing that came to my mind was Mrs Petit who taught there for many years.I couldn't help but think how she would enjoy seeing some of her former studnets so I asked her to come. She was thrilled. I talked to her several times in the next few months and she continued to tell me how she was looking forward to the luncheon.
On the morning of the luncheon, Madeline and I went to LaMarque and picked her up. She was dressed and waiting at the front door for us. She got to see many of her former students and meet others from our class. Just looking at her I could tell she was enjoying every minute of the luncheon.
I took her back to her house and visited with her for awhile. She walked me out to my car. As I drove away she was sitting on the little planter in front of her house waving. That would be the last time I would ever see her.
The next Thursday I got an email telling me she had died. Her neighbor, a widoewer, had noticed that she did not put her car in the garage as usual and went to check on her. He found her lying on the floor in the kitchen. She had died while making supper the night before.
The notice in the paper told nothing about her long teaching career--or that she had volunteered over 1,000 hours at the hospital. I couldn't bear for this incredible person's life to pass away so quietly. I decided to tell what those of us, who had been in her class, had felt all these years. The following was published in the Galveston County Daily News;
Mrs. Petit Was Called To Teach
At the dinner after my mother’s funeral, I looked around at all the friends and relatives and thought to myself how much Mom would’ve enjoyed the gathering. I resolved to visit those I loved while they were living instead of just going to a funeral.
I had the privilege of taking my third-grade teacher, Helen Petit, to the La Marque High School Class of 1970’s 40th reunion Oct. 9. She had taught school in La Marque for many decades. Marrying Smokey Petit in her 40s, she never had children of her own — her students were her children. Long widowed, she lived in her tidy house in La Marque, next door to a devoted neighbor who checked on her. She had battled cancer in her later years, and her face showed the scars of many surgeries. It didn’t stop her.
To be a great teacher, one must have a calling. Mrs. Petit was one of those teachers.
While with friends the following week, she had talked nonstop about the students she had seen at the reunion.
Six days later, she went to be with the Lord. It was almost as though she confirmed that day that her life had been well lived and her students well taught.
She saw those former students, now in their late 50s, each giving her a hug and sharing their memories of being in her class.
As I dropped her off after the reunion, she told me: “I can’t wait to tell my friends what a lovely time I had. I will have something to talk about for a very long time.”
Mrs. Petit touched her students’ lives in a very special, personal way. We each felt like we were the student she cared for the most.
I hope she left this world knowing we felt the same way about her. Mrs. Petit, you will be missed.
Jan Greenlee Hayes
Lubbock
The Banquet at the Moody Garden's Ballroom
Leslie Gill Biesiadecki and Kay Fox Calhoun
Greg Mazzantini (r) who teased me and gave me grief all of my school years.
Kay Fox Calhoun and Me. She was
Homecoming Queen and I was her dorky friend.
