Elementary Teacher Sends Student 80th Birthday Card

JeanneSager — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:57:00 GMT

If she were still manning a classroom today, Collette Hartung would be the teacher who inspired parents to start a bribing war to ensure their kids got to be her students. The ninety-year-old Hartung put down her chalk almost seventy years ago, but she hasn't forgotten her kids.

Just last month, she sent one of them a birthday card. An eightieth birthday card.

Hobart Anderson was one of the children Hartung taught during her just three years in front of a classroom. She taught his sister too - twice during that three-year span. It's no wonder she remembers them; there were just two students in Anderson's class. But there are plenty of kids from small classes whose teachers have long since forgotten them. Running into Hartung once several years ago, Anderson's wife, Charlotte, said the teacher not only remembered her husband but had kind words to say. "She said 'He was a smart little fellow but he liked his fun'," Charoltte told the Minnesota newspaper The Journal.

At ninety, she apparently had the same fond memories. Here's what she wrote in Anderson's birthday card:

"Eighty candles shine today to honor one important life that's touched so many others and been such an inspiration. And as they shine, may you look back with pride and satisfaction knowing that your life and you are cause for celebration!

Your teacher 70 years ago, Collette Hartung"

Think your kids' teachers will care when they turn 80?

Image: The Journal

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