There were 13 district faculty, staff and administrators honored at the reception. Assistant Superintendent Tonya Phillips shared contributed memories and stories from retirees’ colleagues.

Here are some excerpts from those memories about each retiree:

Julia Jellison

Jellison worked in the student nutrition department for four years full-time at the high school.

She was also a substitute for classroom para, janitor and kitchens for 2-3 years.

“While working in the student nutrition department, Julia was always dependable, had a great attitude, and always a very sweet person with a big heart,” said nutrition director Barb Smith. “When she left the department to work in transportation, we were sad but we knew she would carry those same good qualities wherever she went. Enjoy your retirement Julia…you deserve it!!”

She also filled in as classroom para at the elementary school and middle school, and even did crossing guard duties a few times.  Jellison started in transportation as a sub para, then permanent para and then trained to be a full-time bus driver. She transported special needs students for several years and has always been very caring to the students in her bus.

Cherie Williams

Cherie Williams started at the district in January 2006 as a substitute bus driver.

Later that year, she gained a full-time route. In 2010, Cherie started part-time in student nutrition as a dishwasher. She then drove students to school, worked in student nutrition and then drove students home for about two years until she moved to transportation exclusively. She has served as the district’s new driver trainer since 2012, as well as our defensive driver trainer for several years.  She has also been responsible for keeping the district’s mileage logs and fuel reports up to date for the State Auditor.

Cherie has had the unique experience of driving the same route since she started her full-time status giving her the opportunity of driving two generations of students!

Darrel Williams

Darrel started at the district in 2012 as a substitute in the kitchen and a substitute custodian.

He trained to get his commercial driver’s license, with his wife, Cherie, as his trainer.  He became a full-time driver later that year. Darrel has also served as the district’s vehicle maintenance person between routes. Some days Darrel had more “attention” than he ever wanted, and typically those were the same days that it was the coldest outside!

Fun Fact: Darrel plays the violin and has even built a violin himself!

Debbie Gravatt

Debbie Gravatt served as the library aide at Tonganoxie High School since 2007.

THS teacher Cathy Cox said: “Debbie Gravatt and Donna Mages spent many years planning the high school faculty breakfasts, Christmas gift exchanges, bridal and baby showers and they were the BEST!”

Jean Willson also spoke highly of Gravatt and joked about how she would move things on Gravatt’s desk because “Debbie is very organized and likes things to be in order/lined up.”

“Debbie was not only a good worker; she is a good friend,” Mages said. “Debbie and I have been through a lot together over the years.

Mages commended Gravatt for running an “amazing Book Club” and that she knew the library’s “in’s and out’s.”

Shawn Reaves

Shawn Reaves has been an official USD 464 employee since 2014; however, she has been around as long as I can remember.

Reaves served as the occupational therapist for Tonganoxie USD 464, as well as Basehor-Linwood.

“We have missed having Shawn in the building this year,” said Kasi Brown, TMS principal. “She’s always been such a great advocate for her students. She is creative and finds ways for all students to work through their various needs.  She has a wonderful way of communicating with parents about student strengths and any shortcomings.”

Tonganoxie Middle School counselor Rachel appreciated Reaves’ demeanor.

“She was a great outside the box thinker and problem solver,” Padfield said. We will all miss her positive attitude and bright smile!”

Susan Donnelly

Many spoke highly of Donnelly, who served as a paraprofessional and then secretary at Tonganoxie Elementary School for many years.

“For a few years her ‘work area’ where she worked with students was a desk she shared with Stephanie Maurer in a corner of the main hallway at one of the busiest intersections of the old school,” said Diane Titterington, TES physical education teacher. “To say it was not very quiet or private would be a huge understatement!”

TES teacher Madelyn Lewis, who is a Tonganoxie graduate, shared experiences when she was a TES student.

“When I was in elementary school I really struggled with reading and understanding. I remember many times when Susan would pull me from class to work with me at her cute little desk in the hallway,” Lewis said. “She always helped me and never made me feel less. Today, I absolutely love reading, and I am sure it is because of the time she put in helping me.”

Noda Hileman and Nancy Patton noted that Susan Donnelly is a brave woman because she invited the whole school to her house for our end-of-the-year parties for many years and that she is an amazing decorator and gardener.

Chris Coulter

Chris Coulter graduated from Tonganoxie High School in 1982 and then attended the University of Saint Mary.

She did her student teaching with Deniece Wakeman and has been at Tonganoxie ever since.

According to Noda Hileman and Nancy Patton, Coulter loves to craft and garage sale. 

She can take something old and ugly and turn it into something beautiful, loves margaritas and Mexican food and has a great love for her family.

Reann French shared that Chris’s passion for literacy and her deep knowledge of how youths learn to read will be greatly missed.

Wanda Haney

Wanda Haney began her teaching career in 1992. She taught in Lawrence for five years before coming to Tonganoxie. She spent three years at Douglas County Christian School and two years in the Lawrence school district.

Kristin Gantz shared that Wanda makes the world’s best chocolate cake with amazing frosting. Haney also got Sonic breakfast burritos and made muffins for her Choristers members for the last before-school practice before winter break and end of the school year.

Gail Kiefer

Gail Kiefer went to Tonganoxie schools all 13 years before going to Johnson County Community College and the University of Kansas.

Her first and only teaching job was back at Tonganoxie.

Fun fact: the principal who hired Kiefer as a second-grade teacher, was her second-grade teacher, and also had been her father’s teacher (in a one-room schoolhouse).

One year when she was teaching in one of the mobile trailers at the former TES, she turned the trailer into “Polar Express.:  It was very cool and the students loved it!

Diane Titterington shared this: “In the new building, one day, Gail kept feeling hotter and hotter in her room. 

She kept turning down the thermostat, but kept getting hotter. She stripped off her outer jacket and was still feeling hot and sweaty.  Later, she found out that Tyler Hall kept sneaking back into her room between PE classes and kept turning up her thermostat on her.”

Linda Vernon

Linda Vernon graduated from Missouri State University in Springfield in the spring of 1991. She taught first grade in Crane, Mo., from 1991-93.

Vernon started in Tonganoxie as the STAR (at-risk) para in 1993, then Title Math in 1994, before getting a classroom position in the 1995-96 school year.

TES administrators said this about Vernon: “When we think of Linda Vernon we think of doing whatever it takes.  This last year Linda has reinvented herself as a teacher. Through the challenges of remote she was a shining example of doing what’s needed and best for kids.  She is proof that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. Very inspiring person.”

Brent Smith

Brent Smith began his teaching career in 1991 at Workman Junior High in Arlington, Texas. He spent four years in the blazing Texas heat, and then moved up north to enjoy five years at South Junior High in Lawrence.

Smith then spent spend 20 years at Tonganoxie High School.

Steve Harrell shared this: “On more than one occasion, Brent and I were awkwardly standing in the hallway ‘twinning.’ It never was planned, but the same ‘teacher attire’ from head to toe. I am not sure why that happened: maybe we are cut from similar patterns. I never knew Brent as a teacher, but given the way he handled the building as admin, I am sure he would have been a student favorite. Brent sponsored debate, forensics, and eventually scholars’ bowl trips for me.  He was an ace-in-the-hole when I needed help. During his scholars’ bowl outings during the last couple of years, he came home with more intel about the event than I ever carried away. I guess that is the coach in him.”

According to Jodie Smith: “Principal Smith was my eighth-grade science teacher at South Junior High in Lawrence. Who would have thought that he’d one day be my father-in-law and a great mentor. It was through his encouragement to apply for the basketball coaching job years ago that led me to Tonganoxie that helped me find my true calling in life and a place that I like to call ‘home away from home.'”

Pam Arevalo

Arevalo graduated from Kansas State University in 1981 and took a job in Wray, Colo. 

She taught Spanish and geography there for three years. In trying to get back closer to home, Pam then took a job in Osage City in 1984.  There, she taught Spanish, a few middle school mini courses and was the yearbook adviser.  Finally, in 1989 Pam got to move back home and took the Spanish position here in Tonganoxie.  In all three schools, Pam spent time as a cheer sponsor and has always sponsored a foreign language club.

Although she graduated from Leavenworth High School, her parents had moved into the Tonganoxie School District her senior year, so her brother and sister came to Tonganoxie and she finished in Leavenworth. 

Arevalo said, “I don’t think I could have found a better fit for me than this little town.  It’s been 32 years of blessings!”

She has also been in the same classroom the entire time she has been here!

Ben Morrow discussed being new to the district in the fall of 2018 and getting married later that fall. Arevalo made an engraved “M” for Morrow and underneath it said “Ben and Keeley, Oct. 26, 2018.”

Morrow said it has been in the couple’s dining room ever since. He said she was a great example of how staff are treated like family.

Steve Harrell noted that Arevalo started at THS the same day. That first day of school, former superintendent Lee Smith and former THS principal Mike Bogart picked up two new Ford LTD station wagons across the street at Sutton-Kolman Ford and took the new teachers to lunch at Bitler’s. Arevalo was in a regular seat, while Harrell was relegated to the backward facing jump seat in the back of the vehicle.

“When we got there, I remember Pam reminding the admin to let me out the back door. If it weren’t for Pam, I might still be there,” Harrell joked in his sharing of memories. “I always felt Pam and I shared a bond from Day One. I am so glad to consider her a friend.”

Chris Weller

Weller began his career in education in 1981 and spent his entire 39-year teaching career in Tonganoxie teaching grades 6-9.

TMS teacher Kathy Harrell shared a story about Weller.

“We had a student several years ago who thought it would be a great April Fool’s Day joke to play on Mr. Weller by faking getting his thumb cut off in shop class. Being the diligent professional that he always was, Chris rushed over to attend to the injured student. When Chris realized it was a joke, let’s just say his teaching career almost ended then and there!”

She also noted that Weller has been the star of the TMS Christmas assembly, as there he was riding into the gym on this student-pulled sleigh with “the thinnest Santa you have ever seen” accompanied by the elective teacher elves, throwing glitter, snowflakes and candy into the delighted crowd of students.

“All kidding aside, I can’t think of a more respected or beloved teacher who has ever taught at TMS,” Kathy said. “Both students and staff adored working with him!”

Josey Eastes reached out to Chris’ daughters and they shared a few gems:

l He hit his head on a board when I was in school and had to get stitches and had a Band-Aid on his head, so one day all the teachers and students in the school had Band-Aids on their head. He was so mad but couldn’t stop laughing.

l He used to wear a red and white stripe Tonganoxie polo all the time, which made him the real life Where’s Waldo.

l He still can’t dribble with his left, but he can coach others to!

l He called everybody Margaret.