Published: August 29, 2008 12:19 pm         

Teacher recalls fond memories of school days

By Millie Jean Coppedge

Special to the Herald-Banner



“I just loved being with the kids and helping them to learn. I taught a lot of kids to read and do math,” said Bonnie Fay Davis of Royse City. “I taught for 30 years”.

Mrs. Davis started teaching in 1935 at the age of 21 after earning a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University.

“Teachers were plentiful but jobs were scarce,” she said.

The Addison School Board had eliminated over 30 other applicants for this position and there was a tie between another teacher and me. In the end, I received the job. Beginning salaries were $90 a month. That doesn’t sound like much today, but I thought I was rich!”

She taught sixth and seventh grade students in Addison. At that time, public school only went through the 11th grade. She remembers one day, the first grade teacher, who was also the school’s principal, came to her and said the boys were out on the playground “talking dirty”. She told Mrs. Davis to line them up and give them a lick with the paddle.

“One of the boys was academically very smart. He thought that if he got at the end of the line, I would be too exhausted to swing the paddle very hard by the time I got to him. But I was wise to him and he got the hardest lick of all.” Mrs. Davis just laughed and laughed as she told the story. “Oh, I didn’t hurt him, you see. But he did get the hardest lick.”

“At that time, a teacher was really looked up to and well respected by the students, parents, and the whole community,” she said raising an eyebrow. “It’s not that way any more.”

She taught in Addison until 1943. Her husband and she moved to Rockwall County. Dude Smith of the school board needed to replace a teacher who was moving, so he called Mrs. Davis and asked her if she would teach in Fate. She agreed to take the position. There she taught grades 1-4 for three years and only had six students. How times have changed. Classrooms now days, have 20-30 students in one grade.

Mrs. Davis took some time off from teaching to have a family. When her daughter began school, she was hired for a vacancy in Royse City. There she taught third and sixth grade, then taught about two years at Ralph Bunch School. Her 19 years in Royse City completed her career of 30 years. At this time, elementary, middle school, and high school were all in the same building.

Mrs. Davis earned her masters degree and counseling certificate in about 1960 at East Texas State University and went on to work with seniors, where she administered, scored, profiled, and recorded achievement tests.

When asked what her favorite memory of her teaching career is, she laughed and replied, “All of my memories are special! I taught some really special kids.”

She remembered that one time a girl brought a cake to school and wanted Mrs. Davis to cut it and eat a piece right then. She was insistent. Mrs. Davis said that she was a little eerie at her insistence, and as she looked around the room, the other students were rolling their eyes and had funny looks on their faces. Finally one of them shouted out, ‘Don’t eat it, Mrs. Davis! It has hot peppers it!” She laughs about that cake to this day.

She said that the students would put snakes in her desk drawers but that didn’t scare her at all. It ruined the kid’s fun when she didn’t make a big fuss.

Another time, a former student came up to her at a reunion and asked if she remembered him. She had taught so many students over the years, she just couldn’t place him. When she couldn’t put a picture and name to his face, he told her “You hit me with a board!” Mrs. Davis laughed as she talked about the event, once again saying “Times have really changed. Teachers can’t paddle kids anymore.”

She talked about how former students come to her all the time saying how she had changed their lives, by encouraging them to strive to make the most of their lives. What a blessing she has been to so many children.

Mrs. Davis served on the Royse City School Board, serving with some of her former students, for 10 years. She was secretary-treasurer of the Royse City Cemetery Foundation for 10 years, and taught Bible Study in Fate for many years. In 1993, she was selected as “Distinguished Woman”, by the Soroptimist Society, an international society that works to improve the lives of women around the world. She was the first woman in Royse City to be selected. For many, many years, she has played cards and 42 with her friends and at the age 94 is still very active in the community.

Royse City built an elementary school named after both Mary Davis and Bonnie Fay Davis in honor of their long careers of teaching and their dedication to the children of Rockwall County. The two ladies are not related, though they share the last name.

After she retired, she was substituting one day and a new kid to the school thought he would give her a really hard time and misbehave, since she was a substitute. After a bit, one of the other boys in the class spoke up and said, “You better behave. That’s Mrs. Davis!

Nothing will light up her eyes and bring on laughter quicker than talking about her students and her teaching days, so long ago.