Turning of the Tide
Barb O’Connell Retires
Deciding to retire from teaching at the Island school where she taught for 37 years was not an easy decision for Barb O’Connell because of her love for her students. She stated that getting to know her students in school and in the community was the part of her job she loved best.
Barb’s family came to the Island in 1960 to visit Rob Carr’s family and has returned every summer since then. She attended and graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 1971 and began her teaching career at Salem Central HS just outside of Kenosha. She then went on to teach at Mukwonago HS and at Arrowhead HS in Hartland, WI, where she herself had attended high school.
She became a full time Island resident in 1974 after marrying native Islander, Mike O’Connell. Soon afterwards, she began substitute teaching at the Island school and also served as the Title 1 remedial teacher.
Barb taught Spanish and French through NWTC before and after school for a number of years before being hired by the school as part of their regular curriculum.
Her Spanish classes (French were eventually dropped) which she taught to high schoolers and eventually 7th & 8th graders, were some of the most fun and best loved classes of the students. The lucky students who went on class trips chaperoned by “Señora,” (as her students called her) to Mexico and Costa Rica will never forget the experiences they had. Many of her students have gone on to minor or major in Spanish and much to Barb’s delight, have had opportunities to study abroad.
Teaching Spanish is only one of Barb’s many accomplishments. She has also acted as Senior Class Advisor, coordinating and facilitating senior meetings held at lunch to determine the details of every graduation ceremony, and used to help seniors organize fundraising events for their senior class trip.
Perhaps as important as teaching Spanish was Barb’s position as the School Yearbook Advisor for 21 years, taking the 40 page, typewritten yearbook from cut and paste photos and captions to what the yearbook is today; 130 full color, computer-produced pages. The hours Barb has put into this endeavor are unrecordable, suffice it to say, she spent countless nights and weekends making sure it was all put together and ready for press each year.
This dedicated teacher did not only serve at the Island school however, as can be evidenced by the following list of her endeavors.
She taught Sunday school at Trinity for 30 some years, helped produced Christmas programs, led the Sunday School Children’s Chorus and co-led with Donna Briesemeister and Marilyn Gau, Trinity’s Junior Choir for ten years.
She’s been in charge of Scandinavian Fest costumes since 1979 and accompanied the Fest dancers on piano at many Scandinavian Festivals.
Barb states that her second career choice, had she not become a teacher, would have been to become an accountant and bookkeeper. Apparently, it did become her unacknowledged “second” career. She took care of the books for the Art and Nature Center for 29 years, including the Music Festival (16 years), not to mention her husband, Mike’s plumbing business.
How will this busy woman be able to retire? – With the help of her children, Ted and Christine, who are both married and living in Oregon, Wisconsin with families of their own. As Barb tells it, “We really want to be able to spend more time with our kids, grand kids, and my dad– attending Christmas programs, dance recitals and birthday parties, that we’ve already missed too many of.”
Easy for Barb to retire it is not, as is apparent in her words . . . “There are so many great kids here that I haven’t had a chance to teach yet, or get through high school, and I wish I could keep going, but after 37 years here, it’s time for a new stage in my life. I’ve loved every student I’ve had and feel like I have a huge, huge family of kids. What a great experience it’s been!”
As is evident in her words, this teacher’s heart has no intention of ever retiring.
Let this time be an opportunity for the community and her students to say thank you for all she’s given. – A job very well done!
—by Evie Walter
