Canal Winchester, Ohio

Honoring Our Public Servants ~ Teachers:  Most teachers don't have to work for 38 years to draw their pensions, so she must have been a public servant in love with her job and in love with her charges. Given her birth year, it is likely she may have begun teaching with only a 2-year normal-school degree. That means she would have been very young and probably not even 60 when she retired. Union Grove Cemetery. [2014]

Winchester, Kentucky

Mercator's Birthday ~ March 5: Mercator, a Flemish geographer, was born on this date in 1512. He was skilled at building globes but made his mark on history with his Mercator Projection, the grandfather of all modern world maps. Mercator's scientific mind modernized the world of mapmaking.  Since then, globes and maps have become symbolic of what goes on in classrooms everywhere. Winchester Cemetery. [2017]

Landmark, Manitoba

World Teachers' Day ~ October 5:  Lots of teachers don't have their profession commemorated on their headstones. One lies buried here, but we'll have to check back later to see what's on her permanent marker. She wasn't in the classroom long, but the love of her students ran deep. They could hardly believe she was killed in a biking accident over the summer. So young, and such a loss. Prairie Rose EMC Cemetery. [2012]

Durango, Colorado

World Teachers' Day ~ October 5:  Over 100 countries in the world follow the lead of the U.N. and proclaim October 5 as national Teachers' Day. That does not include the U.S. Nevertheless, feel free to proclaim tomorrow as your own Teachers' Day. Say thank you to your kids' teachers, honor a teacher of your own, or visit a cemetery and see how many headstones you can find that proudly identify the departed as teachers. Greenmount Cemetery. [2013]

Canal Winchester, Ohio

World Teachers' Day ~ October 5:  UNESCO honors teacher organizations around the world on Thursday of this week. By now, schools around the world are in session (unless they've been devastated by hurricanes) and teachers should be about ready for a little 'thank you' from their communities. We are fortunate that so many people who devote their lives to teaching. Here's a woman who taught for 38 years. It looks like she started in her early 20s and retired in her late 50s. Union Grove Cemetery. [2014]

Pietà, Malta

Focus on Ta' Braxia Cemetery:  "A beloved schoolmaster of Radley College who died while on holiday in Malta": only 45 years old. It looks like his body was not repatriated, but buried on the island where he died. Heading the slab that marks his grave is the Maltese cross, which is almost like getting knighted posthumously! [2009]

Corinth, Kentucky

"I Teach, I Touch the Future":  The one-room school house has become an icon of American culture. Perhaps she taught in one, perhaps that's where she touched the future. Or, perhaps, she just imagined her own classroom as a school house of its own. What are we to conclude when we compare her memorial emblem with his? That hers was a world of work and his was a world of leisure? [2012]

Grand Forks, North Dakota

"I Teach, I Touch the Future":  On this stone, no text says teacher, but it doesn't have to. Someone took their school books with them when they departed, and we might expect they were teachers' editions. Beyond history and math, however, is a book of recipes: a reminder that this teacher (and her ilk) had two full-time jobs, one at school and one at home. Apparently, she handled them well and came up smelling like a rose. No thorns on this stem! [2012]

Colerain, Ohio

"I Teach, I Touch the Future":  How do you achieve immortality? Ask a veteran teacher. They will have an answer for you, and in some way will paraphrase Kentucky writer Jesse Stuart. During what must have been no more than a decade of teaching, "Jake" touched the future and took the honor of teaching with him to the grave. Now: The Teacher is At Peace. Beavis Cedar Grove Cemetery. [2010]

I am firm in my
belief that a teacher
lives on and on
through his students.
Good teaching is
forever and the teacher is immortal.
Jesse Stuart