I too remeber Ms Coffey, Ms. Anderson, Mr. George, and many more.  Mr. George and Mr. Scott was my inspiration.  I remember people like Ricky White, Pamela Walker, Zina Thomas.  The bestmemories I have is the time I spent at Willard.

I remember the long smoke stack(chimney) and the scary boilerroom..... where the bad boys and girls went  for spankings......giggle

Mrs. Caroline Lee 6th grade was my very favorite teacher.  She taught the entire class how to knit.  One boy even knitted a sweater, he was an overachiever, lol. 

One cold winter day an 8th grade student came to school with nothing on his head or ears.  His ears were so red and swollen.  Mr. Lee brought him into our classroom and treated his ears and sent him on his way. 

She was an extremely kind lady, as were many of our teachers. She had beautiful white hair.   We were overall good kids who had a thirst for learning and they taught us so much about the 3 R's, about life, and so much about African American History.   I feel so sorry for kids now who are missing out on so much of what those teachers had to offer!

Kindergarten

I just hope someone recognizes this photo and will respond. It has been a number of years, but I still have wonderful memories of my days at Willard. My kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Lewis. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Prudhomme - grade 1B.  Mrs Coffey was second grade. Mrs. Stamps for third grade. It would be wonderful to make contact with someone who knows this history. Dont wait too long.  That was  50+ years ago. We all are getting older.

I remember i cut school one day in 8th grade and my teacher Ms. Pratt politely walked across the street to my house to personally tell my mother (1972).  I realized i lived too close for comfort and never ditched AGAIN

What has happen to all of the dynamic neighborhood teachers? We had fantastic teachers who taught and expected all students to learn; teachers such as Ms. Taylor, Mr. Cook, Ms. Stamps.

Teachers from Vincennes Upper Grade Center such as Ms. Graves, Mr. Gayles, and other outstanding teachers are most defintiely missed during these days when our students and their parents have little respect for education. I can;t remember all of the names, but I do know that they taught and we learned!!!!!

My first memories of this school are close to 35 years-old! So, if I stumble a bit, please forgive me. I was a student at Frances E. Willard from 1973 to 1979. My favorite teachers were (forgive me if I misspell their names) Mrs. Strickland, my kindergarten teacher; Mrs. Jarret, I think I had her for 1st and 2nd grade; and Mr. Cook, he was either my 4th or 5th grade teacher. Mr. Cook really inspired me to keep developing my passion for drawing.

If my memory serves me correctly, Mrs. Strickland, my kindergarten teacher, had beautiful white hair that reminded me of mid-summer clouds. The kind of clouds you only see at a picnic or a parade. Don't laugh! Her hair really looked that soft, and that white! I can't really remember what her face looked like, but the badly faded image in my mind, is one if kindness and warmth.

Mrs. Jarret was my 1st and 2nd grade teacher. I thought she was coolest white woman I had ever seen! Her hair was always cut short and she always wore pants. Her sleeves were usually neatly rolled up, exposing a sleek wristwatch and shiny bangles on the opposite arm, and her glasses were normally found on top her head... like a neatly placed tiara. Mrs. Jarret had a habit of making smart remarks like, "Have you flipped your sweet cookie?" A remark I repeated at home, to my mother, and almost got my sweet cookie spanked! I really liked Mrs. Jarret. In my young impressionable mind, she was the perfect mixture of elegance and toughness. Needless to say, when it came time to move on to another teacher... I wasn't too thrilled about it.

The first time I set foot in Mr. Cook's class room, I was immediately awestruck by the drawings displayed all over his walls. Most of the drawings were of my favorite superhero; Batman! When I learned that he had drawn the pictures himself, my excitement grew as I realized I was going to be taught by a teacher who shared my love of drawing, and most important; Batman! Everyday, in between my lessons, I would do my best to not only copy his drawings, but outdo them!