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In church
on an Easter morning when Ginny Cale was a high school senior,
she spotted a good-looking guy sitting nearby with his mother
and brother. Ginny knew that one of her classmates,
Francie Eldred, dated this boy's fraternity brother, so Ginny
delegated the scoping out of this young man to Francie. He
was Ed Payton, a Rock Island resident and Augustana College
senior. Ginny and Ed met, and their first date was at Black Hawk
State Park. They continued to see each other and, after
Ginny's high school graduation, Ed helped her parents pack her
off to Western Illinois University in Macomb, and he joined the
U.S. Marine Corps. While in college and the Marines, Ginny
and Ed continued their long-distance friendship.
Ginny
graduated from Western in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in
elementary education. Having seen herself as
"reserved" in her younger years, she feels that college,
particularly sorority life, gave her a boost toward becoming
more confident and outgoing. (This writer was also at
Western and, although Ginny was too modest to mention it, I
recall her being named "Best Dressed Girl at WIU" in her
freshman year.) She is a Tri Sigma and gets together
annually with nine of her sorority sisters. Those "sisters," who
share a special bond, first began meeting in Chicago.
Ginny says "We don't need any more clothes, so we met for a
couple of years in Colorado. We savor the time together.
It's been 26 years now, and we'll continue to meet in new
places."
In October
1966, after college and the Marines, Ed and Ginny were married.
Their wedding reception was at Black Hawk State Park, a
beautiful fall setting, and the site of their first date.
Ginny first taught at Rock Island's Lincoln
Elementary. The other kindergarten teacher at Lincoln was
her high school classmate, Carla Hammerlund. The principal
came in one day and teasingly said he thought he had two
teenagers there. Ginny and Carla then told him the story
of how they'd gone to high school together, and now they were
back together again. Ginny taught at Lincoln for three
years but had to leave her teaching job when she became
pregnant.
The Paytons' first child, Julie, was born in
1969, and Ginny's new career was that of a stay-at-home mom,
although she sold Tupperware for a short time after Julie was
born. Ginny says, "The Tupperware experience was useful in
that it taught me about people and sales." Then in the
spring of 1973, Julie's little sister, Gina, was born. Ginny
discovered that her girls didn't have to go to preschool to find
playmates because there were 95 kids in their neighborhood.
When Gina was in
kindergarten, Ginny began substitute teaching and finished out the last six
weeks of the school year for another teacher. That got her back into
teaching, and in 1979 she accepted a half-time kindergarten position at
Ridgewood Elementary in Rock Island, the school that her daughters attended.
Over the next few years, she found herself at several other Rock Island Schools.
Then in 1991, the Horace Mann year-round school opened up. Any Rock Island
or Milan student could attend this multicultural, ungraded school. Ginny
was hired to teach all-day kindergarten. She remained there from 1991
until her retirement in 2007 and recalls that it was an exciting career for
everyone. Under the direction of a principal who liked to be on the
cutting edge, there was a lot of team teaching and trying new things.
Ginny liked the thematic teaching method.
What Ginny liked best about
teaching was seeing the children learn without them even realizing it. She
loved using music, finger plays, and poems as teaching tools and adds
enthusiastically that it was exciting for staff to research and develop their
own curriculum (at Horace Mann). "We pulled curriculum together and taught
what we believed in," she says. "If the kids can sing it, they can learn it."
Listening to Ginny, you
would find it hard to believe that there was anything she didn't like about
teaching, but she was willing to say that what she liked least was the "No Child
Left Behind" program.
Ginny was awarded her master's degree in early childhood
education in 1995. Her mother gets the credit for inspiring her teaching
career. When Ginny was in sixth grade, her mother began substitute
teaching. There were days when Ginny had her own mother for a teacher, and
she took notice of her mother's conscientious work ethic and determination to do
everything right. She recalls hearing her mother talking to other teachers
to be sure that she was doing exactly what was expected of her. Ginny adds
that Mrs. Sandway and Mr. Armstrong were among her favorite high school
teachers, and she certainly learned from Mrs. Walker how to write theme papers.
Ginny's daughters are both married, and both reside in the
Illinois Quad Cities giving Ginny and Ed the opportunity to fully enjoy and help
with their grandchildren. Julie and her husband, Jim, have two boys, Niko,
9, and Alex, 5. Julie teaches eighth grade literature at Edison Jr. High,
where she's been since 1992. Gina and her husband, Joe, are parents of
Payton, 3, and Carly, 3 months. Gina has taught first and second grades
but is currently a kindergarten teacher. She will take the remainder of
this year off. Julie and Gina both attended the University of Illinois,
and both hold a master's degree.
It's not unusual for Ginny
to hear from others that daughter Julie is a wonderful teacher. She loves
teaching and relates well to the kids. John Coolidge's twin grandsons were
in daughter Gina's classroom, and Ginny, knowing what a good teacher John was,
felt most proud when John complimented Gina on her teaching skills saying he
noticed how well organized and caring she was and how she made sure all of the
children got into the right cars and buses after school.
In 2007, Ginny and Ed
retired, he after 35 years at the Rock Island Arsenal. They've been to Italy,
Germany, Austria, Spain, Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico, and are planning a Baltic
cruise for this fall. They also enjoy going to Virginia and the
Washington, D. C. area to visit Ed's brother, former astronaut Gary Payton.
They like to dance and follow '50s and '60s bands. Live theater too is a
favorite for them. Ginny participates in photography, Jazzercise, PEO, and
Alpha Delta Kappa teachers' sorority. She volunteers for Trinity Medical Center
and Citizens to Conserve Black Hawk Park, and helps as needed in the schools.
She and Ed cherish time with their children and grandchildren and, Ginny adds,
"They are most grateful for our help." She and Ed serve as Plan B should
their grandchildren need child care during the week while their parents work.
Ginny loved her high school days, including cheerleading (Joane
Lincke taught her to cheer in junior high school), going to the state basketball
tournament and winning the cheerleading trophy, dances after the football and
basketball games, and the GAA slumber parties. Good friends who come to
mind from those days are Becky Anderson, Francie Eldred, Joan Foulk, Charlotte
Frick, Sue Geifman, Carla Hammerlund, Jackie Staley, Judy Phillips, and Nancy Jo
Powers. She recalls skating on Rock River at Nancy Jo's house. Ginny and
Carla went to New York to visit Charlotte when she was ill, and Charlotte passed
away about a week later.
Ginny says, "Hearing from
anybody would be great. If you have any input or ideas for our 50th
reunion, let me know. The committee will begin meeting in March."
Ginny is at
paytonvr@hotmail.com.
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