THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
For two weeks we have traced
early settlers
to Union County, Georgia bearing the last name Self.
As we observe in April, “Teaching Career
Month,” we turn our attention to one descendant of these early Self
settlers,
Mary Self, who began her teaching career at the Henson one-room school
that was
once an integral part of education in the Choestoe District of Union
County.
It is told that one of the school
trustees of the Henson School appeared at the schoolhouse on the
opening day of
school in the early 1900’s and addressed the seventeen year old
teacher, Mary
Self, with the question: “Are you the little girl who is going to teach
these
children this year?”
A bit frightened by the query, but at
the same time determined, young Mary Self answered, “I’m going to try!”
And try she did. Those larger in
size and older than she held
no fear for her. She taught with
enthusiasm and determination and thus began her long career in
education.
During the years she taught at
the Henson
School, she spent her summers furthering her own education at the
Normal
Institutes held then at places such as Young Harris and Piedmont
College in
Demorest. She sat for the two-day
teacher examination administered for the purpose of gaining her
teacher’s
license. The certification grade (I, II
or III) she made on it determined the salary she would make. She graduated from both of these colleges,
and in her later life she praised the dean of Young Harris College, Dr.
Joseph
Sharp, for the quality influence he had on her life as a teacher and
that of
her sister, Jane Self, whose marriage ceremony to Norman Vester Dyer
was
performed by Dr. Sharp in the parlor of the college on June 17, 1915,
with Mary
Self as an attendant.
After her years of teaching at Henson
School, she taught at other Georgia schools, mainly where her
brother-in-law
and sister had employment as educators in Lilly, Nichols and Dawson,
Miss Mary
Self accepted a job at Candler Street School in Gainesville. She remained there, serving both as a teacher
and then as a principal from 1942 until her retirement in 1953.
In Gainesville Miss Mary Self met and
married J. Howard Squires. He was for
many years an officer with the Gainesville Midland Railroad. They made their home in a lovely house on
Green Street Place. After her retirement
in 1953, Mrs. Squires could not leave teaching alone.
She first began to tutor at-risk students in
her home after school.
Then the work of mentor was
expanded. Her former students, in the
1950’s and 60’s
parents themselves, sought her out to assist their own children and
give them a
boost in their school work. She enjoyed
this contact with former students and was glad to assist their children
to gain
more confidence as students.
In choosing teaching as a career, Mrs.
Mary Self Squires named the number one requirement as “a genuine love
for
children.” Combine that love for
students with an avid desire to teach and an aptitude for instruction
and
teaching may be the avenue of work one so inclined should follow.
The Self sisters, Mary and Jane, both
met the criteria for teachers as noted by Mary.
She herself had a long career as a teacher and principal. Her sister Jane followed teaching until she
and Dr. Dyer had children. Sarah Ruth and twins, Betty and Helen. Then Jane took up the full-time job of
stay-at-home mother, but always assisted her husband, Dr. Norman Vester
Dyer,
mainly a school administrator--principal and superintendent--in his
career as an
educator.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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