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Caroline High School government teacher Joanne Blanton retiring after 50 years Date published: 6/28/2010
BY PORTSIA SMITH Joanne Tuck Blanton didn't have any children, but for the past 50 years she has claimed the thousands of students who The Caroline High School social studies teacher, known for sending her students to local government meetings, is retiring this year. "I've spent 48 years in Caroline and for a long time I was a 'come here,'" the South Carolina native said. "I hope I'm part of Caroline County now." Although she's not a native of Caroline, the 71-year-old educator has taught three generations of students and has become a county icon. After graduating from Erskine College in her home state in 1960, she taught at nearby Dixie High School in Due West, S.C., for two years. Wanting to venture out, she looked at teaching jobs in Virginia, where her father was building bridges as part of the construction of Interstate 95. In 1962, Blanton started teaching in Ladysmith as a social studies and physical education teacher at what was then called C.T. Smith High School. In 1963, she married Haroll "Hack" Blanton of Caroline. They were married for 36 years until he died of cancer in 1999. Blanton said she has wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember. "Teaching is more than a profession for me, it is a passion," she wrote in a biography she prepared for her 50-year college reunion earlier this year. "If you find a job you love, then you'll never work a day in your life and I truly believe this because I love teaching." What's been most enjoyable, she said, is teaching the second and third generations of students. She recalled a time when a misbehaving student told her that she had taught his grandmother. She replied by saying, "Yes, and I know she wouldn't want to hear that you are acting like this." A regular part of Blanton's curriculum for the past five decades has been to send students to the county government and school board meetings for extra credit. "No matter what else these students become, they are going to become citizens," she said. "In order to be good citizens, they need to get out and see what's going on in their county."
Read more stories about Caroline Date published: 6/28/2010
A wonderfully positive story. Congratulations to Mrs. Blanton on her years of service to the community.
Interesting how no one ever comments on the postive pieces only the negative or controversial.
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