FYI: This article is about Miss Clark, a retired school teacher from Fouke, Ark. As you will read in the article, she taught at other schools before Fouke, and remained at the Fouke School District for the next 36 years, retiring in 1992. <<< smile >>> She was my Fifth Grade Teacher. * "For my birthday I'd like a letter from all my kids," said Clark, referring to the hundreds of students she has taught through the years. "What would be especially nice is for them to write me a letter or e-mail about a special memory they have, or what they have done with themselves. I'd like to know if they are married, have children, or even grandchildren, where they live, that kind of thing." * ** Please write to her at: Aneta Clark, Route 1 Box 131, Fouke, AR 71837, or e-mailed to anetaclark@yahoo.com. Vicki R. http://www.rootsweb.com/~armiller/ ****************************************************************************** ****** Days Gone By: Retired teacher is collecting students' memories for book By JOHN FOOKS/Gazette Staff FOUKE, Ark.-Grandma McCaskell's house was across the street from the Clark residence in the College Hill community, and she knew all the children growing up in the area. She loved to watch the children playing, and probably knew as much about them as their parents. Everybody called her Grandma, even after they were grown. "I went by to see Grandma McCaskell after I had grown up and moved to Cale, Ark., to teach seventh- through 12th-grade home economics and seventh- and eighth-grade English," recalled Aneta Janet Clark in her doublewide home deep in country farmland about 12 miles southeast of Fouke. "She told me she always knew I would be a teacher, because she used to watch me 'play school' with my younger sister, Doris, and anybody else I could get lined up on our front porch every afternoon after school. My youngest sister, Waldene Letterman, was too young to play." Whatever it was that motivated her at such a young age to become a teacher, it was motivation that stayed with her the rest of her life. The family moved to Omaha, Neb., when Clark was 10 years old. She graduated from high school in Omaha, then went on to Omaha University to major in home economics. After two years, the family moved back to Texarkana in 1950, and Clark started teaching in Cale. She taught at Cale for one year, then taught fifth grade at Bryant, Ark. Still two years short of a degree, she taught school during the winters and attended college during the summers. She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education (with a minor in home economics) in 1958 from Arkansas State Teachers College (today the University of Central Arkansas) at Conway, Ark. While at Cale, Clark was making $90 a month, $50 of which had to go for room and board. From that she had to save for college during the summers, and she baby-sat during the summers for 25 cents an hour. "One couple I baby-sat for was almost as hard up as I was," Clark said. "They hired me to baby-sit for them one day and they were only gone half an hour. The man paid me 13 cents for baby-sitting that half hour for them." After three years in Bryant, Clark moved to Fouke, where she would teach in the Fouke School District for the next 36 years, retiring in 1992. In 1996, she was nominated and named to Who's Who Among American Teachers. Her younger sister, Doris Cutchall, became a mother and housewife, and the youngest sister, Waldene, became a banker. An educator all her life, Clark has two other passions that filled her life, especially after retirement. She has a unique collection of porcelain and china dolls, a hobby she started when she was a little girl. Her mother had collected dolls and the hobby was passed along to her. Through the years she picked up rare dolls during vacations and other trips, and has 40 of them occupying just about every nook and cranny in her home. Quilting became an important hobby after retirement because it "keeps my hands-and mind-busy," she said. "I like to travel with my cousin who lives in Little Rock, and on one trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn., right after I retired, I bought a 'quilting kit,'" Clark said. "It had all the squares and materials you needed to get started and I immediately fell in love with it. I've since made about 50 quilts." Clark will celebrate her 70th birthday on Aug. 11. She recently heard about a new "fad" that retired teachers are doing and thought it would be a good idea for her. It's called a "Memory Book," and she'd like to start one of her own. "For my birthday I'd like a letter from all my kids," said Clark, referring to the hundreds of students she has taught through the years. "What would be especially nice is for them to write me a letter or e-mail about a special memory they have, or what they have done with themselves. I'd like to know if they are married, have children, or even grandchildren, where they live, that kind of thing." She herself has no children, but she has always called her students "my kids." Letters may be mailed to: Aneta Clark, Route 1 Box 131, Fouke, AR 71837, or e-mailed to anetaclark@yahoo.com.