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| Intensive Tutorial Leaders 1973 |
it was the summer of 1973...I had graduated from Sebring High School in 1971...completed two years at South Florida Community College while working as a receptionist for Dr. Jones and volunteering with Ridge Area Association for the Handicapped...married Jack Miller on Mother's Day 1973 and moved to Tampa to attend University of South Florida while working as a medical transcriber at University Community Hospital...the first course in which I was enrolled was a Behavior Therapy course which had a required volunteer tutoring component in the Intensive Tutorial program operated in the Sulphur Springs low-income housing projects in downtown Tampa...I drove my 1963 Studebaker into the Sulphur Springs area looking for the landmark water tower...
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| Sulphur Springs Water Tower, Tampa |
I found the Intensive Tutorial office located in one of the Sulphur Springs housing projects apartments...one of the leaders pictured above showed me the small space I would be using to tutor one specifc child...Nathaniel...he was just a preschooler...I was given his apartment number and sent to go to his apartment, take him by the hand, and bring him back to the Intensive Tutorial office for our tutoring session...I walked tentatively to an adjacent apartment building, walked up to the designated apartment number and knocked on the door...Imagine my delightful surprise when a sweet African-American Mom opened her door and introduced me to her son, Nathaniel...he was fresh from the bath tub, dressed in his Sunday-best clothes, a little white shirt with a bow tie, plaid shorts and shiny black lace-up shoes and socks...he took my hand confidently and we walked together to our tutoring room where we learned all about ABCs and 123s...that was a wonderful summer for me...learning to be open to new experiences, new people from different backgrounds, and how we can all work together to make things better...I'll never forget Nathaniel and his Mom, who loved him so much, she dressed him in his Sunday-best to emphasize how important education was for him...
How about you? Who are some of the most unforgetable people in your life?
I will never forget my first Sunday School teacher. I thought she was the most beautiful woman. In later years, we became good friends. Strange how things turn out.
ReplyDeleteKaren, thank you for sharing that...it is so true...one of my early Sunday School teachers later became my teacher and advisor for an organization for which I was elected president...we traveled together to Jacksonville for a national conference...so interesting how God connects-the-dots and knits us together with people...He sees beyond what we can see, amen?
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