Editor’s note: This is the second in a series about the Hamilton Sisters.
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It would take a novel to write about all the ways that the three Hamilton Sisters influenced the students who had the privilege of being in their classroom. But I got so many calls last week about the article on the sisters that I thought I would add to their history.
Lillian Freel once said that she remembered being a student of Lenna Ford at Andrews Elementary School. “She was my second-grade teacher, and she also taught my husband Charles. She was very strict, and was really big on dancing. She taught school a long time, and years later, my son Scott was in her room, and she taught him how to do all of the old dances.”
Helen Waldroup taught at Marble Elementary School and she had the best sense of humor. She was naturally funny and kept you laughing at the things she would say. She did not like to stay by herself on the weekends, so she would get my cousins Carmen or Patricia to stay all night with her when Ruth was gone to Knoxville, as her husband was a state senator in Tennessee.
I remember going with Patricia one Saturday night, and we slept upstairs in a room that had two large beds. After we got in bed and Helen turned the light off, she kept talking about everything she could think of, and I was glad. I was comforted by her voice in the dark, because even though I was sleeping with Patricia, I was a little scared of the noises in that rambling old farmhouse.
The most memorable sister was Ruth Kyker, who taught at Andrews High School. She was a beloved coach who never gave up on her athletes. She made you work for being the best you could be in all sports. But to me her most impressive role was being a great American history teacher.
She had a way of making you want to do what was right and to strive to be a better citizen. She told us many times in American History class, “Do not take your freedom for granted.” She instilled patriotism into every student and the obligation to exercise our right to vote. To this day, I think of Mrs. Kyker when I enter a voting booth.
In 1969, I was in the 11th grade, and I remember our class being in a heated discussion about communism and the Soviet Union’s threat to take over the United States. Mrs. Kyker said, “Well, class, I can tell you this, if that should happen, Kandy and I would be the first ones shot, because we would not surrender peacefully.”
It would have served many of those in the Senate and House of Representatives today to have been taught the history of the United States of America by a teacher like Mrs. Kyker. And how important our democracy and our institutions are that have kept us free. When they left her classroom, they would respect our Constitution and the sacrifices that have been made to preserve it.
Those of us who knew Ruth Evelyn Hamilton Kyker will never forget her many lessons in life and, in return, we will pass them down for generations to come.
There is a favorite poem in my collection by an unknown author, that always reminds me of Mrs. Kyker:
“A builder builded a temple; He wrought with care and skill. Pillars and groins and arches, were fashioned to meet his will; And men said when they saw its beauty; It shall never know decay. Great is thy skill O builder, thy fame shall endure for aye.”
A teacher builded a temple; She wrought with skill and care, forming each pillar with patience, laying each stone with prayer. None saw the unceasing effort, none knew of the marvelous plan; For the temple the teacher builded, was unseen by the eyes of man. Gone is the builder’s temple; Crumbled into the dust. Pillars and groins and arches, food for consuming rust; But the temple the teacher builded, shall endure while the ages roll; For that beautiful unseen temple, was a child’s immortal soul.”
Kandy Barnard is a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. To talk about the Andrews Valley, call her at 361-3268 or email kandybarnard@gmail.com.