They Followed a Starr
Sallie Zetterower Alumna and Teacher Retires
On August 28, 1978, local attorney, Avant Edenfield, was the leading candidate for appointment to the U.S. District Court’s Southern District judgeship; Vince Dooley was beginning his fifteenth season as the University of Georgia’s (UGA)head coach; the College of Cardinals convened at the Vatican to choose a successor to Pope Paul VI; and at the corner of Zetterower and Brannen Streets in Statesboro, Starr (Callaway)Andersonreturned home to her childhood elementary school to teach for the first time. Many children, now adults, who followed “Starr” during her career, feel her success came from her faith, grace, and caring spirit. For them, the qualities she possessed impactedas many hearts and minds as the leaders mentioned above.
“Mrs. Anderson,” taught nearly 1,000 children during her 35 years as a first-grade teacher at Sallie Zetterower Elementary. Counting her years as a student, she spent more than 40 years on the Cardinal campus.
When asked about her first day of teaching in 1978, she remembered being nervous and excited. “I came home after that first day, and I told my daddy that I didn’t think I could go back,” she smiled. She was living with her parents, Tal and Jo Callaway, and pursuing her master’s degree from Georgia Southern (GSU). “The two of them were such an encouragement. My daddy told me that I was meant to be a teacher and that I could do it.”
Anderson realized then how necessary it was to teach and love the whole child, and so she returned. “I remember thinking, 'it’s just me with these children, and all these little people are looking to me.'I just tried what I’d learned at GSU, but college didn’t prepare you for all the children’s tears you’d wipe, the zippers you’d zip or the bus tags you’d have to pin to little shirts to ensure they made it home.”
Her loving nature and lifelessons are things that her students remember. “She was just so nice and so sweet,” said Alex Morris, whom Anderson taught in 1986-87. “She had the ability to reach out and give each one of us exactly what we needed. She was a second mother.”
She wanted to be there each day for her students, so she was rarely absent. In factshe amassed nearly two years of unused sick leave, so on paper, she actually retired with 37 1/2 years of service. “She toiled over her decision to retire because she loved the children so much,” said former SZES Principal Todd Williford.
For Anderson leaving Sallie Z. was almost as difficult as moving it to a new location. During Christmas break 2010, she and her peers packed and moved into a newly constructed campusonCawana Road. When her students returned from the holidays in January, they found their new classroom at the very end of the facility’s museum-like, “swamp-themed” hall. Though the surroundings had changed, students still found their “Mrs. Anderson,” waiting with her loving spirit, kind nature and familiar treasures that filled their classroom’s learning centers.
Twoyears later,shepacked again, this time to retire. She carefully boxed decorations and resources that through the years she had either made by hand, purchased or collected. She kept certain items to pass to her daughter, Brittany, who is currently pursuing her master’s degree in early childhood education at UGA.
By becoming a teacher, Brittany is following in her mother’s and grandmother’s footsteps. Objects like Dick and Jane readers and paper hearts that were used for rewards will find life again in her future classroom. “My mom taught and loved the whole child,” the younger Anderson said. “This is what encouraged me to be a teacher. Many teachers stress about academics, and that’s important, but my mom knew that it would take more than that to make children succeed.”
While teaching special needs children in Florida, Brittany remembered her mother’s paper hearts, and she made some for her own students. “My mom used them to reward good behavior and to let children know they were loved.”At the end of the year, just as her mother had done, the children were given their hearts to keep.
“I’m now 33, and I kept the heart she (Starr Anderson) gave me all these years,” said Alex Morris. “I wanted to show her how much she meant to me, so I gave it to her at her retirement party.”
Anderson is married to her high school sweetheart, Randy, a local attorney, whom she met when she was 15. They wed in 1982, and in addition to Brittany, they have a daughter, Callie, who is studying to be a physicians’ assistant. “They’ve heard all my stories, through the years, and they’ve seen how how much I loved teaching. I feelthat I made a difference.”
Note: Bulloch County Schools had 29 retirees in 2013 with a total of 812 years of service.
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Picture Tags:
Top – Anderson with her first class, along with her paraprofessional Nell Godbee.
Middle – Anderson with the paper heart that Alex Morris returned to her after 26 years.
Bottom – Anderson with her very last class of first graders