By Joel van der Veen
June 21, 2010

KENASTON - As the closing speaker at the party given in her honour, Linda Purves recalled her first years as an elementary school teacher.

When she first arrived at Kenaston School in 1980 as a fresh graduate from the University of Regina, she didn't intend to stay long, she said.

"My plan was to teach about two or three years, get my tenure... and get back to the city," she said.

That turned out not to be the case, and last week, Purves found herself being honoured by friends, family, colleagues and former students at the close of her 30-year career at Kenaston School.

Over 150 guests attended the retirement party on June 5 at Kenaston Place. The evening included a program emceed by retired teacher Melanie Kerpan.

Purves - who taught Grade 1 for her whole career, often in a split class with Kindergarten and Grade 2 students - was lauded for her decades of service and for her cheerful, colourful personality.

As a Grade 2 teacher, Kerpan often inherited students after they'd spent a year in Purves' class.

"She made my work much easier than it could have been," she said.

"Grade 1 has become Linda's area of expertise," said teacher Kathy Enns, who added that upon Purves' arrival at Kenaston, "she soon became a vital part of the school staff."

She was also an instrumental force behind the school's recycling and environmental programs, Enns said. Outside of school, she has been involved in numerous local dinner theatre productions.

Kenaston Mayor Dan O'Handley, who served as principal from 1976 to 1998 and whose son Patrick was one of the 18 students in Purves' first Grade 1 class, recalled hiring her three decades ago.

"I'm responsible for Linda's being so organized," he joked, to great laughter from the audience. "She learned it from me."

Tables in the auditorium were covered with memorabilia, such as scrapbooks from each school year, created by Purves. Also on display was the September 2000 issue of Today's Parent, in which she was profiled along with six other "top teachers" from across Canada.

The evening's program included many tributes, beginning with a military-style performance by her former colleagues. The teachers sang in call and response, going through the alphabet with verses describing Purves' many merits and quirks.

This routine mostly went off without a hitch, although the letters "M" and "N" somehow got out of order. (They were followed by the letter "O", which coincidentally stood for "organized.")

The teachers also added an additional letter to their alphabet: the "P" with a smiley face "Miss P" uses in her signature. The sketch ended with a dance routine, set to Kool & The Gang's "Celebration."

Teacher Kim Johnson, who taught next door or across the hall from Purves for 21 years, recited a poem entitled "And To Think That I Heard It In Miss P's Classroom," featuring many of her trademark expressions. These included "spillage in the village,"  proclaimed in response to a mess, and her favourite retort to noisy students, "I can hear you in Bladworth."

Her best-remembered quote - a declaration of insanity, "I'm going coo-coo-ka-choo" - was cited repeatedly throughout the program.

Her colleagues also honoured Purves with a "Super Teacher of the Day" badge, decorating her with the same "Superkid" cape she often bestowed upon her students. After donning the cape, Purves ran around the stage and declared, "I'm just being a goofball because I'm not crying tonight, no way."

Angie Weisner, a former student from Purves' 1989-90 class, sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." Colleague Cindy Menzies offered some suggestions for Purves' retirement and a dictionary of her expressions, printed on reused paper and bound in a second-hand duotang, while Rosemary O'Handley and Melanie Kerpan acted in a skit illustrating a day in the life of two retired teachers.

Representatives from the School Community Council, the town and the Sun West School Division board made presentations to Purves. The program also included a slide show put together by Rosemary O'Handley, featuring pictures from throughout Purves' life, from childhood to the present day.

Verna Eaton, a former teacher at Kenaston who joined the staff with Purves in 1980, sent a letter with her greetings and regrets. The note also shared the story of an incident in which Eaton rescued Purves after her hair had become entangled in an electric mixer she was demonstrating to her class.

At the evening's close, Purves was given the final word. As she approached the podium, she called to the servers at the back.

"Close that bar till I'm done, boys," she said, and they obeyed her orders.

She remembered how she gradually decided to stay with the school, especially after she bought a house in 1988. She credited the staff, the parents and the community - which, she said, was much like Cheers, a place "where everybody knows your name."

Her students also factored in her decision to stay, she said, as she liked to watch them continue to grow after they left her class. She recalled the honour of being invited to serve as guest speaker when her first students graduated from Grade 12 in 1992.

Purves, a Regina native, said she does not plan to move, as Kenaston now feels like her home. The program ended with its guest of honour, who'd kept her promise not to cry, thanking everyone present for "the most awesome night of my life."

The leaderonline is a division of The Davidson Leader, Davidson, Saskatchewan, Canada.