Remembering Mrs. Scott- Longtime Milbank Kindergarten Teacher

Mrs. Mary Scott of Milbank died on Tuesday, January 12, just seven days before her 100th birthday. If you feel sad she missed her birthday by just a week, consider the glass half full instead. Mrs. Scott lived 99 years and 358 days. In that time, she touched thousands of lives, and her spirit lives on in each of us she guided through that exciting and sometimes scary time called kindergarten.

If you grew up in Milbank and attended kindergarten in the 50s, 60s, or 70s, you probably remember going through the front doors of Koch School and taking the first left into Mrs. Scott’s room.  But do you remember the coat room and your cubby with your very own hook? The puzzles? The well stocked little wooden kitchen? The windows flanking the kindergarten room covered in snowflakes — some real, the others cut out by tiny scissors with rounded edges? 

Rhonda Lambrechts Preller who grew up and also chose a career in teaching, remembers nap time in Mrs. Scott’s class and those little red mats. She recalls, “Mrs. Scott would have us get our mats out and we would all rest. Then she would choose someone to take “a wand” and quietly tap each one of us. We could then get up, put our mat away, return to our seats and get ready for the next activity.” 

Perhaps on January 12 it was Mrs. Scott’s turn for the angels to tap her quietly to tell her it was time for her to move on and today our turn to remember all her days on earth.
Do you have a favorite memory of kindergarten with Mrs. Scott? Please feel free to share it and celebrate her life.

Please check out the stories below that The Valley Express previously published.