Corinth Retired Teachers Keep 14-Year Lunch Tradition

For 14 years, a group of Corinth retired teachers has kept a simple promise: meet once a month for lunch and stay part of each other’s lives. The Corinth School District shared the story of the group, known among its members as the “Old-Timers Club,” in an Oct. 27 feature.

The latest luncheon at McAlister’s Deli in Corinth drew 15 retired Corinth School District teachers and staff members.

How the Corinth Retired Teachers Group Began

The tradition started in 2012, when four Corinth High School teachers retired: Myra Byrnes, Gloria Cartwright, Vicki Shirley, and Barbara Trapp. They first met on Fridays. As more colleagues retired, the group grew, and the lunches moved to Thursdays so members could also attend the monthly Corinth Music Club concerts.

Members say the bond goes well beyond small talk. Shirley told the district that teaching “was not a Monday through Friday job. It was our life.” She said the group has supported one another through cancer, heart attacks, and spouses’ health problems. They pray together as well as laugh together.

Generations of Former Students

The retirees say their biggest reward has been watching former students grow up. Many of those students went on to become Corinth police officers, firefighters, and members of the Board of Aldermen. Some of the teachers even taught each other’s children and grandchildren.

Cartwright said she can’t go anywhere in town without running into someone she taught, and that her former students still insist on calling her “Mrs. Cartwright.” Cheryl Hurley recalled a former student who stopped her at Walmart years later to apologize for being a smart aleck in high school. She said seeing students become responsible citizens is “my reward.”

Homecoming Skits and Gum Patrol

The lunches are full of stories from the old days, according to the district’s feature:

• Trapp remembered teachers dressing up as raisins in black garbage bags to perform “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” at Homecoming.
• Carol Smith said that on her 40th birthday, her husband brought the band’s horn section to school in the back of his pickup to play a funeral march.
• Smith also recalled her husband, then the Corinth High principal, finding Trapp handling a much taller student on her own, and being told she had it under control.
• Cartwright said she and Trapp walked around graduation with napkins to make sure no one was chewing gum.

Open to Retired CSD Staff

The group welcomes retired teachers and staff from anywhere in the Corinth School District. Current members include a librarian, English, math, theatre, business, and Spanish teachers, elementary teachers, and a former finance director. The district’s article includes contact information for Barbara Trapp for anyone who wants to join the group’s text thread.

Members in the district’s photo include Suzy Marlar, Gloria Cartwright, Judy Atkins, Myra Byrnes, Cheryl Hurley, Vicki Shirley, Vonceil Smith, Margaret Dennie, Ernestine Hollins, Bonnie Dalton, Barbara Trapp, Debra Ballard, Carol Smith, Anita Martin, and Helen Moore.

Related: Corinth Warrior Tag Deadline Extended to Nov. 19

Source: Corinth School District