The Curmudgeon's Call: The Power of Children

Bobbie's mother, Pat, had her academic career interrupted by getting married to Bobbie's father. Further interruptions occurred, in the person of Bobbie herself, followed by Michele, Rick and Mike. Once the challenges of raising a good-sized family began to recede a bit, Pat returned to the halls of academia to complete her education. At the age of 50 she earned her degree and obtained a teaching license. Her personal light shone through her professional life. Her gifts for connecting with and teaching children are legendary in the venues in which she applied her craft. A life-long Roman Catholic, Pat answered the call to invest her gifts in the school associated with her local parish. Teaching in a public school would have been more lucrative and perhaps offered more in the way of physical plant accoutrement's. But for Pat, teaching wasn't about money or ways to make her job easier. For her, it was about the children.The children always came first. Oh yes, she attended to the curriculum. She attended staff meetings and understood the needs of the school. But her primary concern was understanding what each child needed in order to, not just learn the material, but to succeed in life. Pat strove to inspire each child to overcome impediments to their success. She was teacher, friend, coach and loving confronter. "It's the workers, not the whiners who succeed in life," is the mantra that her students proudly, gratefully chant when they talk about their experience with "Mrs. Jackson."

Pat's twenty year waltz with cancer began to claim more and more of her energy. She eventually retired from teaching to spare the students the discomfort of seeing her decline. And yet, because there was the need, she came out of retirement. She would rather, she decided, have her students understand math and have to deal with the death of their teacher than the other way around.

Upon her passing, Pat left instructions that her surviving children use a portion of her estate to give back to the world. Teaching right through her life and into her death, Pat tutored all she could influence about the importance of hard work and sharing whatever bounty one is fortunate enough to harvest. Even in death, Pat lived out the Gospel message as she understood it. And like the few loaves and fishes passed out to a multitude on a hillside long ago, the fruits of her integrity have fed many.

Bobbie sought a use, for the portion of the estate that was hers to administer, that would be a fitting tribute to the life her mother lived. Upon learning of an exhibit proposed by the Indianapolis Children's Museum focusing on children making a difference in the world she felt "way opening" (as Quakers are sometimes known to say). The result is that Pat and Dick Jackson have helped pass the torch of making a difference in the world to children and adults they have never met.

Our family visited the exhibit for the first time over Thanksgiving weekend. Her are some of our photos. For a more professional presentation, please see:
The Power of Children