I am proud to share our first 'memoir' from our distinguished class of '74: this from Patti Manion. I wrote Patti after she shared her story and told her I could not help but have tears in my eyes reading of her life, not for any one reason. Maybe it was because of all of her accomplishments, perhaps her faith, perhaps just that the Lord has blessed her and all of hers these fifty years. Her story is both touching and funny. You're going to enjoy sitting "on the front porch" with our good friend! ~ Steven B.
50 Years Later: Where Has Life Taken Me?
By Patti Keeble Manion
So where do I begin 50 years later? Maybe I will just return to that night that I received my diploma from my beloved LaGrange Senior High School following in the footsteps of my beloved Dad’s who had graduated from LaGrange High School some 25 years earlier. That night I was filled with anticipation of what was to come.
I was blessed with a full scholarship to attend Tift College. I never thought about attending an all-female college, but who is going to pass up a scholarship that would fully pay for all four years of my undergraduate studies? I already knew what I “wanted to be.” I wanted to be a teacher just like Ellen Partridge. I had many teachers who shaped my life through the years, but there was only one Ellen Partridge!
I spent four years in the small town of Forsyth, Georgia at Tift College, and I loved every minute spent there! We managed to have lots of fun even at a strict, all-female Baptist college. One of my joys was being a part of the water ballet team. We had a spring show each year and I was honored to swim the solo for the show my senior year. I wish there had been cell phones with video capabilities back then so I could look back on the shows, but, I guess, since there’s no video, I can remember it however I want. I will just say I was pretty good, although I did end up on the wrong side of the pool a few times once I went under the water.
I also earned my Water Safety Instructor certification my freshman year at Tift, and it served me well as I was a lifeguard every summer while in school and earned enough money to have a little fun while at Tift.
The other accomplishment I will mention is receiving the first “Julia Coleman Award” for Outstanding Achievement in Teacher Education, given by then-President Jimmy Carter my senior year. Ms. Coleman was the teacher President Carter mentioned in his Inaugural Address as having a huge impact on his life, and she was a graduate of Bessie Tift College. The following year, because I was the first recipient of the award, I was invited back to graduation to meet First Lady Rosalyn Carter who was the graduation speaker.
I was somewhat of a star at our graduation: I fell off the stage trying to come down the steps. You see, I was on crutches. I mean, I was on crutches before the fall.
A few days before graduation we had a senior trip. We were floating the Flint and decided to dive off the rock at Sprewell Bluff. I decided to be the first one and to jump the first time to make sure all was well. It wasn’t! There was a rock just under the surface, and I hit it. It messed up my foot pretty good. After a trip to the ER and being told to go back to school, I, of course, went back to the campground and spent a pain-filled night in one tent with about a dozen of my closest friends.
Anyway, during the fall at graduation, a man on the front row stopped me from hitting the floor, and they still gave me my diploma.
After that, it was time to start adulting. I got my first teaching position and my first apartment. I thought I was “grown” until the bills became due, at which time I had dreams of being a child again! My first teaching position was with Troup County School System as teacher of a self-contained fifth and sixth-grade combination class at Gray Hill School. That meant that I had my students all day and taught all subjects to eight fifth graders and all the sixth graders at that wonderful school.
I could not have asked for a better first year. Mr. Dusty Mills was the best principal for a beginning teacher, and my students were absolutely precious. I will never forget them and the fun we had that year. Mr. Mills might have asked me to get rid of my junk a few times, per day, but he let me teach the way I thought best using all my “collections” in my lessons.
The next year I was sadly moved to Troup Junior High because they put the sixth grade at the junior high. No one wanted to leave Gray Hill and, since I was the last one hired, I drew the short straw. That is no bad reflection on Troup Junior, just a testimony of how loved Gray Hill was.
However, I soon settled in at Troup Junior where I taught sixth-grade math for three years and gifted education to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders for four years. I was also the coach for the football cheerleaders for several years. You all are probably laughing because I could never make the cheerleading squad while I was in high school, no matter how hard my dear friend Sandy Lindsey worked with me.
I must brag that my cheerleaders received the best squad at camp several years. If I am being completely honest, that was not due to my cheerleading skills, but my strict discipline with the girls and the talent those girls had. I also had a couple of my sixth-grade-gifted-education students compete at the national level in Washington, DC in the National History Day competition.
In 1981, I became an adjunct mathematics instructor at then Troup Tech.
In 1985, I became a full-time Mathematics instructor and served there for the next 27 years. I served on the Executive Committee that led the school to become a SACS-accredited college, I served as Dean of the General Education Department, and I chaired the technical college state-wide mathematics association.
But my most treasured memories are the many hours I spent in the classroom teaching mathematics, from Basic Mathematics to Pre-Calculus. It was a tough decision to retire at the end of 2012 after 35 years of teaching. Along the way I had often been a student myself, earning my Masters of Education degree at LaGrange College and my Education Specialist degree at West Georgia College as well as many other certifications.
During those 35 years of teaching, I also had many ups and downs in my personal life.
I married in 1981 but, unfortunately, that marriage ended in divorce in 1999. I like to look on the positive side of all things, so I can say we had many fun years together. We became runners, running the Peachtree Road Race for many years. I continued to run even after the divorce and did about 25 Peachtrees. I ran a half-marathon and too-many-to-count 5K and 10K races.
We also rode bicycles doing many organized rides together. Some of our favorites were the Bike Florida rides we did each year for many years where I became known for my silly poetry. We rode a tandem bike most of the time, and I would sit on the back and write a poem about the happenings of the day. I also had a story published in the Southern Bicycle League magazine when I wrote about a ride in the North Georgia Mountains that started and ended at the same place but was uphill the entire trip. I still stand by that!
I remarried in 2005, and in addition to gaining a wonderful husband, Jeff, I gained a daughter as well. I was unable to have children so what a blessing Jamie has been to me. We now have three precious grandchildren. We also have a son-in-law who is career Air Force and has earned one Silver and two Bronze stars.
I like to say Jamie followed in my footsteps when she became a teacher. Jeff and I are avid Atlanta Braves fans (started when I was a young child by my Daddy who followed the Braves whether they were winning or losing). We are on a quest to see the Braves play in every MLB stadium. So far, we have been to a dozen and will add four more to that list this summer. We also attend Spring Training every year. However, our best together time is worshipping our Lord!
I can’t end this without talking about my much-loved family! My Mom and Dad and siblings have been my rock through the years. They have walked this life right beside me. My siblings shared their children with me when I couldn’t have children, so I didn’t miss out on ballgames, dance recitals, and all those fun times in a child’s life. They are some of my best blessings for sure, and now they share their children, my great-nieces and nephews, with me. My family blessings are too numerous to count. I did lose my precious Dad in 2012, and that part of my heart will always be empty.
My sweet Mom just turned 88 and is in an assisted living facility here in LaGrange. She keeps me on my toes for sure, and she makes sure that together we have plenty of doctors to visit. We are both in good health, just a little advanced in years, if you know what I mean.
Have I reached my Nirvana?
Not yet.
That will come when my Lord calls me home.
But until then I am living my best life. God blesses me to the fullest each and every day. I have served and will continue to serve Him until the day He says, “Well done, My good and faithful servant. Come home to Me!”
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