Four more longtime teachers have turned in their textbooks and chalk and retired from the Annandale School District. Fifth-grade teacher Dorothy Kersten, life skills teacher Pam Klingelhofer, fourth-grade teacher Mary Johnson and first-grade teacher Judy Howard all called it quits after 30-plus years in education. “We might take a trip,” said Klingelhofer of her new-found freedom. “I want to be spontaneous … stay up as late as I want.” Klingelhofer and the rest submitted their request to the school board Monday, June 28, and now it’s just a matter of cleaning out their rooms. Or is it? “It’s going to be hard come fall when I should be going back to school, but won’t be,” said Kersten. She has taught in the district since 1968, the same year colleague and close friend Howard started. Both began at the elementary level. Kersten spent her first 10 years teaching first grade. She took a two-year leave of absence to have a family of her own, then returned in 1983 as the elementary librarian, a position she held for 19 years before transferring to fifth grade. “A lot of kids got to know me and I got to know a lot about a lot of kids,” she said. “There is so much I am going to miss; the joy of making a difference in a child’s life, the day-by-day, inch-by-inch making a difference.” Howard has taught at the elementary level throughout her career, alternating between first and fourth grade. She spent some time away from the classroom to raise her own children, then a few more years teaching in Kimball before she returned to Annandale in the mid-’70s. She was instrumental in starting the Annandale Title I program. “I will certainly miss the kids,” she said. “It’s magical teaching first grade, when the light comes on and they know they can read a story.” Johnson has been with the district 16 years, though her education career began back in 1969 in White Bear Lake. She has taught in Osseo and the Iron Range where she was instrumental in setting up the gifted and talented program that is still going strong today. She hasn’t thought much about what’s next. She’s a teacher through and through. “It’s who I am, it’s what I do. I never wanted to do anything else,” she said. Teaching is also what got her through a car accident four years ago that has left her dependent on a cane and susceptible to illness. “Teaching is what keeps me young,” she said. “Every day is different and exciting. There is always something new to challenge me.” “I will miss the kids; getting invited to graduation parties, open houses, reading about former students in the paper. It is so much fun to watch them grow up, to see them succeed and know that I played a small part in that.” Klingelhofer has dedicated 35 years to the Annandale School District. She taught life skills back when it was called “Home Ec.” and was a required course for students. “Certainly there are kids I will miss, the daily contact with the kids and the people more than anything,” she said. “But I will also miss the teaching. I felt passionate about a lot of the content I taught.” Klingelhofer was also the one to get the National Honor Society off the ground. She has been the adviser for NHS for the last 20 years. “I took over when the national organization said the principal couldn’t be the adviser,” she said. Since then NHS has become more visibly active in the community. All four teachers have had a long history in education and saying goodbye won’t be easy. “It will be a grieving process,” said Johnson. “I’ve never had anything but school,” noted Klingelhofer. But before they called it quits, they all had one piece of advice to share with new teachers. “Pick your battles,” said Klingelhofer, “and don’t get bent out of shape over little things.” “Enjoy the kids, enjoy what you’re doing,” Johnson said. “When you teach you have to enjoy it.” “Remember how impressionable young people are and the tremendous trust we are entrusted with,” Kersten said. And finally, “remember that every child is someone’s daughter or son and the most precious thing in the world to them,” Howard said. “We have to do the best we can for them.”