Ward to retire after 60-year-career of service

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two part series about local school teacher Lucille Ward. Find part one here: bit.ly/42wfVdw.

FAIRMONT — A local educator will soon retire after six decades of service.

Lucille Ward, who currently teaches English at Fairmont High School, continues to live out her passion for teaching as she did when she began sixty years ago.

During her career as an educator, she has educated students at the Sampson County-based Garland High School and at Orrum and Fairmont high schools respectively. She has taught lessons in Home Economics and English during her career. Her last day in her role is June 30.

Ward said she was motivated to retire with her daughter, Angela Lamb, who retired this month from her post as an English instructor at Robeson Community College.

“She said ‘Mama it’s time.’ I said ‘I know,’” Ward said.

“My daughter and I plan to do a few things together,” she said. “I plan to take a few trips.”

The educator also will be able to spend time enjoying her hobbies like reading novels, gardening, sewing, and cooking, she said.

Fairmont High School Principal Kent Prater described Mrs. Ward as “an exceptional asset” to the school, community and district. He also described her as an “intelligent, sophisticated and elegant” individual who has a phenomenal memory.

“Her unwavering diligence in teaching and caring for her students is amazing. The Public Schools of Robeson County and the Golden Tornado family will forever be indebted to her for her dedication and commitment to the success of the students in Robeson County,” Prater said.

“She’s funny, she’s bright and she doesn’t miss a beat,” said Marian McLaurin, an Exceptional Children educator who works to provide services and support to students with special needs. McLaurin coteaches and works with Ward each day in the classroom as she has for four years.

McLaurin considers Ward to be her mentor. The two will teach together likely for the last time on June 30 before their effective retirement date of July 1.

“It is emotional,” McLaurin said. “We’ll remain friends outside of school.”

What has kept Ward teaching for 60 years

What has kept Ward working as a classroom educator for six decades is her deep love for education.

“My passion for teaching and learning motivates and kicks me out of bed each and every morning,” she said.

Her favorite parts of the job are “interacting with students and working with other teachers,” she said.

“The most challenging part of my job is helping my students reach ‘high expectations,’” she said.

As she walks out of her classroom for the last time in her teaching career, Ward will take with her memories made and lessons learned, she said.

“I’ve learned many lessons,” she said. “I’ve learned not to make a quick decision about things.”

Two of the biggest lessons learned are “to change with the times” and that “everyone needs a second chance,” she said.

Though Ward has made the lives of many better, her career also has helped shape her own life for the better.

“My patience has become even greater,” she said.

The most rewarding part of her career is the impact she has made on the lives of former students and when that impact is realized as she meets them years later, she said.

Ward’s memories of her students[Text Wrapping Break]

Ward says she meets students wherever she goes which is likely the result of teaching three to four generations of students.

“They recognize me and thank me,” she said. “Some recognize my voice without seeing me at first. They all say that I have not changed a bit.”

Ward said “reminiscing” with former students brings her joy. She even stays in touch with one of her very first students from a class she taught in 1963.

“If you throw a name out there, she can tell you about that child,” McLaurin said.

Ward even works with her former students who teach at Fairmont High School. Among them are Biology Teacher Taylor Lovin and Science Teachers Blake Campbell and Destinee Oxendine.

“We speak every morning,” Lovin said.

Ward even remembers where her students once sat in her class, Lovin said.

“She’s just always been a phenomenal English teacher,” Campbell said.

Recently, Ward was presented a plaque in appreciation of her six decades of service by the Women’s Ministry from First Baptist Church Fairmont.

A photo of Ward and her plaque posted on social media garnered attention from many well-wishers including former students and others.

“She taught me, my sister and my mom!” Tammy Britt Shackelford wrote.

Ricky Lee Bullard described her as “my favorite teacher ever.”

JoAnn Smith Lewis also described Ward as the “best teacher ever for my boys.”

What coworkers and educators have learned from Ward

McLaurin said she still learns from watching Ward engage with students and impart her knowledge gained from years of educating students.

“She keeps it interesting by the way she has her lessons structured and organized. She’s a master teacher and there’s so much that can still be learned from that generation of teachers,” McLaurin said.

“She possesses an excellent ability to change with the times and apply it to the subject materials taught in her class,” Principal Prater said.

Michael Baker, who serves as a Science teacher and Athletic Director at the school, said he has learned a lot from Ward.

“I base my same philosophy off of hers,” Baker said.

“She’s always been that sweet lady, but tough. She didn’t play around if you didn’t do the work, you didn’t get the grade … I always say ‘don’t play with Mrs. Ward,’” he said.

Her former students have even taken some lessons learned from Ward’s class to use in their own classrooms.

“She taught us to always start out firm and you could always lighten up,” Campbell said.

Lovin said one life lesson learned in Mrs. Ward’s class is that you have to earn what you get and “nothing’s handed to you.”

Her impact on Fairmont High School and the community

To many staff members at the school, Ward is more than a coworker and educator, she is a friend.

“I’m gonna miss her,” Baker said.

She checks in on Baker and always makes sure to ask how his wife is, he said. To Ward, the job is personal.

Traditionally, she is among educators like Baker, who enjoy a meal together after the high school’s graduation ceremony, he said. She will be missed in the annual get-together once she retires.

What McLaurin will miss the most about her friend is “just that daily interaction and friendship that’s what I’ll miss,” she said.

More than that, Fairmont High will not be the same without her, Lovin said.

“That’s just part of the Fairmont legacy and lore that you have Mrs. Ward for English,” McLaurin said with a laugh.

“Thank you for many years of service out here,” Lovin said. “We wish you the best in your retirement.”

PSRC Superintendent Dr. Freddie Williamson also shared well-wishes for Ward in her retirement.

“Thank you, Mrs. Ward, for your many years of service to students in Robeson County. We wish you a wonderful retirement ahead,” Dr. Williamson said. “Your legacy and your impact will continue at Fairmont High School through the students you taught and the staff members you worked with. May God bless you.”