Goodbye, Mrs. Herbert Goodbye, Mrs. Herbert (June 14, 2002)

by Jeb Bing

Those who saw Pleasanton police escorting a limousine out of Walnut Creek this morning probably thought there was a celebrity inside, and there was. Making her way south for her last day on the job today at Lydiksen Elementary School after 37 years of teaching kindergarten was Roxanne Herbert, who over the past week has received accolades from many around the country who learned that their first public school teacher was retiring.

When she received her Education degree from San Francisco State University, Herbert started teaching kindergarten at Markham Elementary in Hayward in 1963. John F. Kennedy was president, most Americans watched television on black and white sets, and teachers used mimeograph machines and newly introduced electric typewriters to prepare their lessons. After taking a couple of years off to give birth and care for her son, Bill Jr., now an ad agency owner in Walnut Creek, she joined the faculty at Lydiksen, where she's had the same kindergarten classroom for the last 33 years.

Hundreds attended her formal farewell party last Friday, including many well into their 40s who had Roxie Herbert as a teacher. Good wishes came from parents, college students and those from the first grade to high school seniors. Some, like Rachel Ensler of Flagstone Drive, not only had Herbert as a teacher, but their kids have, too. Three of Ensler's four children started school in Herbert's kindergarten, and she's sorry her fourth and youngest won't have the same opportunity. As she said at the party, Herbert has always approached her job with freshness and enthusiasm. She always found that "something" very special about each of her students and helped them master their skills. Her daughter Olivia Ensler, a first-grader, wrote Police Chief Tim Neal asking that he and the community join in the praise of this "very nice and good teacher." Neal went a step farther, teaming up with Bill Wheeler of Black Tie Limousine to arrange for the police-escorted trip to make Herbert's last commute a very special event.

At age 61, Herbert considers her job just as exciting and rewarding as it was 37 years ago. She has kept up with technology - making the shift from the days of 8mm projectors to classroom videos, DVDs and computer graphics with ease. She can beat some of the most savvy of her 6-year-olds at Game Boy and X-Box games. Still, she always has the time and patience for more basic kindergarten tasks - building blocks or transforming the classroom into a farmhouse for a special project. Even with all of the electronics, the Herberts' dining room table at their home in Walnut Creek's Indian Valley neighborhood has often been covered with poster boards and felt cutouts for classroom displays.

Herbert says kindergartners have become smarter over the years. Most can now read by the time they start school; many have mastered basic writing skills. What hasn't changed is their need for some substitute-motherly love during their first year away from home - a hug and Mrs. Herbert's comforting shoulder. That's what she'll miss the most when she waves goodbye to her kindergartners this afternoon.
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Ooops! I erred last week in writing that Kathleen and Howard Neely had been married just 15 years. Neely said "it's been 31 wonderful years." He also said that it was their daughter Kate who organized his 70th birthday party.