Hampton Elementary School recently bid farewell to one of their longest serving and beloved teachers, Mrs. Leavens, who has retired after 37 years of sharing her expertise, her creativity, and her patience with hundreds of primary grade students, providing them with the fundamentals that would serve as an educational foundation for the rest of their academic lives.

Along with teaching, Deb Leavens has served as the Hampton Education Association President since 1992, advocating for teachers in the school, at board meetings, and at the negotiation table. Recognizing the vital role teachers play in children’s lives, she also understood the crucial role of respect for the profession.

Mrs. Leavens has also been instrumental in providing important links between the school and the community, by writing tributes for retiring teachers and staff, and by submitting student work to our newspaper. What a delight it’s been through the years to read their poems, letters of opinion to the principal and the president, and their interpretations of familiar proverbs. How else would we have known that “Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket” means “do not rush because sometimes it gets really messy”?

On a personal note, Mrs. Leavens never forgot to invite my father to the school’s holiday senior luncheons, recalling with every invitation, and with tenderness, those sweltering afternoons when he would “surprise” his grand-daughters’ classmates with refreshingly cold cups of fruit punch, and captivate them with one of his favorite stories. A retired principal, she understood how much he enjoyed the children’s entertainment at the luncheons, and entertaining them with folktales in her classroom.

On January 29, parents and staff organized a luncheon in Mrs. Leaven’s honor at the school, and in the afternoon, students gathered in the media center to present her with the best sort of gifts for a teacher, those which were made with their own hands, and to read poems and sing songs from their hearts.

For your service to our community, your dedication to our school, and especially for your love of our children – we thank you, Mrs. Leavens – and wish you a long and healthy retirement.

Dayna McDermott