2016 saw Indiana celebrate its bicentennial, and as part of that celebration, Hoosier teachers shared stories of the educational heritage in their families. My family’s Hoosier education heritage stretches back to the
late 1800s and has continued nearly unbroken to this day.
On my mother’s father’s side of the family, our story begins
with my great grandmother, Flora Carlile, who was born in 1862 and taught in a
one-room school house in Washington County.
Five of her children continued as teachers, including my great uncle
Edwin Carlile (b. 1886), who taught wood shop at Froebel High School in Gary;
my great aunt Bessie Pearl Carlile (b. 1893), who taught in a one-room school
house and then the consolidated Finley Township School in Scott County; and my
great aunt Goldie Ethel Carlile (b. 1896), who taught in a one-room school
house in Scott County and then for 41 years at State Street School (renamed
Lillian Emery Elementary School) and Silver Street School in New Albany; and my
great aunt Myra Jean Bailey (b. 1899), who taught in the 1920s in a one-room
school in Scott County. Her daughter,
Phyllis Anne Thompson (b. 1927), taught English at Scottsburg High School in
the 1940s and 1950s, and Anne Thompson’s son-in-law, Joe D. Smith (b. 1946),
taught English and served as librarian for 37 years at Scottsburg High School
and Scottsburg Middle School.
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| Froebel High School, Gary, Indiana |
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| Silver Street Elementary, New Albany, Indiana, preparing for a visit by President Bush |
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| Scottsburg High School, Scottsburg, Indiana |
Flora’s youngest child was my maternal grandfather, James
Hanley Carlile. Born in 1906 and named
after Indiana Governor James Franklin Hanly, he taught in a one-room school
house in Scott County in the 1920s and 1930s.
On my mother’s maternal side of the family, her cousin Ottis
Ivan Schreiber (b. 1921) served as professor and department chair of English at
Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
With such an educational bloodline, it was not surprising
that my mother, Patricia Lee Carlile (b. 1937) would want to become a teacher. Further inspired by her own 2nd
grade teacher, who captivated her attention in the mid-1940s with the first
pair of red shoes she had ever seen and then drove her when she was a senior
for a visit to what was then Indiana State Teachers College, my mom earned a
B.S in Education from Indiana State and later an M.S. from the University of
Wisconsin. She taught fourth grade from
1959-1968 at Mt. Tabor Elementary School in New Albany.
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| Mt. Tabor Elementary, New Albany, Indiana |
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| Pat Perkins |
It was at Mt. Tabor that my mother met my father, Norman Ray
Perkins (b. 1930), who taught sixth grade there after teaching sixth grade in
Lake Fenton, Michigan (1957-1959). He
had earned his B.S. in Education from Indiana University thanks to the G.I.
Bill after returning from service in Korea and later earned his M.S. from the
University of Michigan. After they
married in December of 1967, my mom left teaching at the end of that school year. My dad started in the fall of 1968 as the
principal of Galena Elementary School in Floyd County and remained there until
his retirement in 1992.
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| Norman Perkins |
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| Galena Elementary School, New Albany, Indiana |
My wife, Melissa (Stillions)
Perkins, and I have taught Latin in Missouri, Texas, and Indiana, she at
elementary, middle school, and high school levels, and I at middle school, high
school, and undergraduate levels. Since
1998 I have been the Latin teacher at North Central High School in Indianapolis
and in 2014 was named Indiana Teacher of the Year.
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| North Central High School, Indianapolis, Indiana |
