Indiana woman always wanted to teach

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June 13, 2009

BY DENNIS BARTLOW The Commercial-News Sat Jun 13, 2009, 12:22 AM CDT

CAYUGA, Ind. — Gale Overbey always wanted to teach.

“I always worked with kids,” she said. “I liked to baby-sit and I helped at Bible School.”

Overbey is retiring as a second-grade teacher after 32 years in the North Vermillion School District, where she also attended school as a student.

“I really enjoy the little kids,” she said. “You can watch them grow from year to year.”

Overbey loves to watch the kids learn to read.

“I am now teaching kids of kids,” she said. One of her former students is Terry Naylor, who teaches third grade at North Vermillion.

Overbey said the biggest change is in technology.

“We have to learn to use that in the classroom,” she said. She mentioned the SmartBoard as one of the key new things.

She is going to miss her fellow second-grade teachers.

“We work together so much,” she said. “We also have some great parent volunteers.”

Monica Hartman, one of those second-grade teachers, admits that Overbey will be missed.

“She is the most generous and loving teacher,” she said. “She is going to be missed. The three of us (in second grade) work together. She is an amazing person.”

Hartman said Overbey has more books than a bookstore.

Overbey remembers Cayuga teachers Susie McLain and Mary Porter who helped guide her career choice,

“It was always teaching,” Overbey said. “If not elementary teaching, I would have been a music teacher.”

Overbey said it is all worthwhile when you see the accomplishments of the students later on.

“It makes you feel good,” she said.

Overbey plans to take the summer off and then try to find a part-time job in the fall.

“I do a lot of flower gardening and yard work,” she said. “In the winter I like to read.”

She is pianist at the Eugene United Methodist Church.

Overbey and her husband, Jon, live on Raccoon Lake east of Rockville. He is the minister of the Newport and Eugene United Methodist churches.

Overbey said she will miss teaching.

“It is time for younger people,” she said.

GALE OVERBEY

Position: Second-grade teacher at North Vermillion Elementary School.

Age: 56

Education: 1971 graduate of North Vermillion High School, Vincennes University and Indiana State University.

Experience: 16 years at Newport Elementary School; 16 years at North Vermillion Elementary School.

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