Even though she retired from her Fairfield High School classroom nearly a decade ago, Mrs. Carole Marbury has not slowed down one bit. In fact, she'll be packing her bags and getting ready to participate in a singing competition with her group, Harmony on the Sound, later this year."I'm into singing groups. We're preparing to go to Hawaii for the international (Sweet Adelines) competition," she told me by telephone from her Stratford home earlier this week. "Last year we won the regional. There were 30 to 35 choruses competing." The event is scheduled November 4th through the 8th.
"A few years ago we went to Indianapolis," added Mrs. Marbury, a member of the Stratford Singing Sisters Chorus. "We do very well for ourselves. We held our own." She is also involved in volunteer work, reading, and swimming. In other words, she's still quite busy.
Mrs. Marbury taught biology at Andrew Warde High School for all but two years from 1971 through 1999. She taught at Roger Ludlowe High School from 1985 through 1987 prior to the consolidation of both high schools into Fairfield High School at the Warde site.
"They were shuttling faculty around," she explained of her transfer to Ludlowe. "I think they lost two biology teachers. I was fortunate. We held on by our fingernails." After returning to the new Fairfield High School, she continued teaching biology until her retirement in 1999.
Mrs. Marbury said it was easy to explain her longevity at Warde. "Working with youth is momentous to me," she admitted. "I liked working with young people, and I enjoyed working with a supportive staff and faculty."
In addition, Mrs. Marbury also holds the distinction of being a student-teacher at Andrew Warde High School the year it opened in 1956. She was a 22-year-old fresh out of the College of New Rochelle in New York.
"Oh, my goodness, it was nice," she recalls of Fairfield's newest public high school 52 years ago. "I think everything was new. I think they had the seventh and eighth-graders there at the time. There were only four halls. The next year, it was just the high school (students).
"I enjoyed it," continued Mrs. Marbury about her student-teaching experience. "I knew a lot of the faculty. The younger brothers and sisters of my friends were there. I wasn't so much older. It was nice." What made it even more enjoyable was that her mother was the receptionist at the high school from 1956 to 1971. "I hardly saw her," Mrs. Marbury joked.
As a child, Mrs. Marbury grew up in Fairfield and attended Blessed Sacrament School in Bridgeport, since her father was a practicing physician in the Park City. Later, she attended secondary school at Lauralton Hall in Milford.
After she and her husband raised five children, Mrs. Marbury returned to the classroom for good in 1971. "I stopped to have the children, and then I came back to work again. It was a lot looser back then," she recalled. "When they needed someone, they just asked." Her interest in biology, naturally, was piqued by "growing up in a family with a father who was a doctor."
Mrs. Marbury, who was one of several teachers attending the Andrew Warde High School Class of 1976 30-year reunion in August of 2006, fondly recalls working with English teacher Tom Raslavsky to help the American Cancer Society at Warde.
"The two of us worked together (to help the cancer society)," she happily remembered. "To see the kids wanting to give back, wanting to help people, that was special. The kids were just so giving. At Christmastime, they would 'adopt' a family or two, and the kids would buy gifts for each child. They would buy food baskets for the family. The kids really enjoyed doing it."
Mrs. Marbury is a special person. She taught at Andrew Warde High School for nearly 30 years and still remains quite active nearly 10 years after retirement. Good luck and stay well, Mrs. Marbury, and bring home the singing title from Hawaii.
Paul
Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.
Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.
Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".
No comments:
Post a Comment