An unexpected comment in 1971, my senior year in high school, stuck to my heart and surfaced many years later. It was springtime on the Colorado plains, and my graduation loomed over my future. Another comment happened a few months later. Here’s what happened!
Mrs. Miller In My School Life
I respected Mrs. Miller’s opinion. I attended a small rural school where I was one of four in my graduating class with 72 in the whole school, kindergarten through high school. Mrs. Miller still today stands out as an influential person in my high school life.
I took several classes from her: typing, bookkeeping, shorthand and journalism. Thankfully, I did well in each of these classes. Also, she was our cheerleading/pep club sponsor, so we spent many hours with her on long bus trips to basketball games. On top of that, she taught Girls’ P.E class. She touched so many areas of my life—it seems like we were together constantly.
So, I took her comments to heart!
Mrs. Miller’s Taught my Journalism Classes
Because of our small school, I headed the school newspaper for two years as editor. I never saw myself as a writer then—I just loved to write and layout the newspaper. This was back before computers, so we typed up an article on a typewriter and added slash marks at the end of the column to count the spaces needed to justify the column. Then we re-typed the article adding the spaces identified by the slash marks and we had a nice, neat justified column. What a labor of love, but I truly enjoyed it. Those journalism classes were during my Junior and Senior year’s elective classes—more time spent with Mrs. Miller.
Mrs. Miller’s Unexpected Comment
During those classes, I don’t remember any specific compliment or positive feedback from Mrs. Miller about my writing. Positivity flowed from Mrs. Miller in her behavior and manners about our little newspaper. Quietly she sent off copies of it to Trinidad State Junior College, without my knowledge and with no fanfare. That’s why her comment caught me off guard. Later another serendipity happened because of her confidence in me.
As my final school year came to an end, in a casual conversation, Mrs. Miller looked me in the eyes and said with confidence, “I want a copy of your first book!” I’m sure my jaw almost dropped to the floor. Nothing more was said, but the comment lingered.
Another Unexpected Comment
In the fall of 1971, I attended Trinidad State Junior College, fifty miles from my hometown, and I enrolled in a degree in Secretarial Science because of Mrs. Miller’s classes that I loved. On a Greyhound bus ride to Denver, Colorado one weekend, another TSJC student slid into the seat beside me.
I don’t remember her name, but her comment floored me.
“You don’t know me, but I know you. You’re Larada Horner, right?”
What a surprise! Often, I had seen her around campus and I knew she was in the Journalism department. Any time I saw her, she appeared important.
I answered, “Yes, and I do know who you are. How do you know me?”
As she settled in and group a bag of chips, she related a story connected to Mrs. Miller, “Well, when I applied for the Journalism scholarship that I eventually won, I was told my strong rival candidate was you, Larada Horner.”
Shocked, I had no idea! Mrs. Miller must have entered me into that scholarship contest when she sent the college our newspaper. Sadly, at that time, I didn’t call her and thank her for her vote of confidence.
Results of Mrs. Miller’s Unexpected Comment
In June 2014, I self-published my first book, This Tumbleweed Landed. I’ll never forget when the box arrived with my new books. When I held that first copy in my hands, I remembered Mrs. Miller’s comment and sent her the first copy.
Deep down, I knew her belief in me had finally come to fruition so many years later—in fact, 43 years later!
Over the years, we have stayed connected, exchanging Christmas cards and newsletters, so she has kept up on my writing career. Interestingly, she has never commented on any of my books, but I have no doubt she has supported me from afar.
Finally,
Ten books later, Mrs. Miller’s comment fueled my writer’s heart without me even knowing it—see what one unexpected comment can do!
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Larada:
That’s a very moving story!
In 2nd grade, I had a teacher who decided to teach an after-school Spanish class. I don’t think we learned a lot of vocabulary, mostly the numbers and our names in Spanish, but I so enjoyed it. Because of that, I couldn’t wait until I got the chance to take a language in school in 7th grade, and jumped right into Spanish.
Good teachers can have such an influence on us!
Thanks so much. Yes, that is true & then I became a teacher for 27 years. I hope I touched a student like Mrs. Miller touched me.