Thursday, November 8, 2007

Finally, The Award








A few months ago I wrote about my childhood Sunday School teacher, Jane Johnson, and how she had received a letter stating she was chosen teacher of the year for the Western Region. Well, it took us a while, but we finally pulled off a great surprise service in which she was honored. Although the award was given for this year, she has been teaching at our church for 50 years. Hey, she is not only a great teacher, but she is a classy lady, too. The recently retired district education director, Stephen Allard, brought the award (a beautiful crystal apple on a pedestal that had her name engraved on it and "Teacher of the Year") and presented it to her. We also had a young man, Monte Albalos, who was one of her students during the 70's. He gave a beautiful speech in which he told his life story of being a foster child and how much Sis. Jane influenced his life. He now works with The Lollar Foundation and they have established a "Jane Johnson Birthday Day" that provides birthday parties to underprivileged children each month. These children are selected by school teachers. This young man was inspired to do this because Jane always remembered his birthday and baked him a cake when he was a child. He presented her with roses and also awarded her with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from congressman Jim Costa, certificate of recognition from Senator Dean Flores, and another from the California Legislature Assembly signed by assembly woman, Nicole Parra. The church added a beautiful scrapbook that contained numerous letters of appreciation and pictures from small children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens. This was all topped off with a $200 gift card to her favorite specialty store, Olcotts. Jane has influenced thousands of people and is such an inspiration to many. Following the service, there was a reception and Jane insisted on serving the cake and greeting each person. What a woman! Words are not sufficient to describe how much she has impacted my life.

8 comments:

  1. This is to precious for words. I am so glad Jane received this honor. May God's richest blessings be hers.
    www.iluv2prshim.wordpress.com

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  2. She definitely deserved this honor that's for sure. Now she is my grandson's teacher and he loves her dearly. I can't think of one child or grown up for that matter who doesn't.

    She blessed my life as a young teenager. I lived in another town and she would give me a ride back and forth to this church in 1972. Now she is blessing my grandson. What a lady. You can read about her in Proverbs. She fits the scriptures well.

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  3. How wonderful to honor such a great lady. Sounds like she is quite a woman of God.

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  4. How wonderful when honor is given where honor is due. And it sounds like this was the perfect award for a wonderful person.

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  5. Jane sounds like a wonderful lady. It's inspiring to hear about people like this that impact lives. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Ronda, Cheryl, Rochelle, and Carol - I wish you all could meet Jane and have tea with her. You would leave feeling happy and glad for the experience. Truly, Jane has been the most influential person in my life. I love her dearly.

    Jolene - We are so blessed to know Jane. She is one of the most positive women I know.

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  7. Jana,

    Thanks for posting about this special day! I wish I could have been there to surprise her as well! What a "cool" Grandma I have! It's so refreshing to know how many lives she has touched in such a positive way!

    Love, Heather

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  8. Heather!! What a nice surprise to hear from you! Yes, you have a most wonderful grandma. You can be very proud to claim her. Bryn is graduating out of Jane's class, and I know after one week in the new class she will be asking to go back to Jane's. Bryn never went to nursery. She has actually attended Jane's class for three years. It is rare for Jane to ever miss a class, and she is still an amazing teacher helping poor bus kids become somebody. Thanks for dropping by my blog and hope you do again soon.

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