Barb Grubb retires from teaching career that spanned almost four decades

School starts next week, and for the first time in almost 40 years, Barb Grubb (above) will not be in her classroom in Ripley.

After a 37-year teaching career, she has traded in her school books for a set of golf clubs, officially retiring at the end of June.

Grubb began teaching in 1980, taking on a long-term occasional job for Helen Henderson in Ripley.

“It was weird,” she recalls. “I was just out of teacher's college and the courier came in with the postings so I biked to Ripley District High School (now where Current Electric is located). The principal, Bill Turvill, said there was an opening for a long-term occasional at the high school. I didn't have my intermediate certificate so I didn't get the job.”

At the time, her mother was looking after the arena and all the grounds, so the following Monday afternoon, Grubb was helping clean up when Turvill told her there were interviews being held for Henderson's long-term occasion position for the next year, and was she interested?

“I went for it, got the job and that's how I got started,” says Grubb.

She worked for the first two years as a long-term occasional teacher, and then began teaching Grades 7 and 8 which were with the Grades 9-13 students at the old high school, then renamed Ripley District School.

“And I taught Grades 7-8 right to the end,” says Grubb.

In 1984, the high school students were transferred to Kincardine, and Ripley District School housed Grades 7 and 8, while Ripley-Huron Central School (later named Ripley-Huron Community School) had Kindergarten to Grade 6 students.

“At that point, Bill Smith had the senior students, and I was teaching Kindergarten part-time, and Grade 8 history and geography,” says Grubb.

She did that for a couple of years before Sheila Turvill returned to take on special education and Grubb took on that job at Ripley District School, working with Grades 5-8.

In 1990, the Grade 8 class was offered to Grubb after Debbie Versteeg moved to Teeswater.

“From that time to now, I have taught Grade 8, except for one year,” says Grubb.

The daughter of Ralph and Helen Grubb, she lived with her family on the farm where Brian MacKay lives, just north of Ripley, until 1976 when they moved into the old Wylds place in Ripley, at the corner of Huron and Park Streets.

She graduated from the University of Western Ontario and then took teacher's college at the University of Toronto.

“I always wanted to be a teacher,” says Grubb, “and I wanted to stay in Ripley. I'm a Ripley girl, through-and-through.”

She lived with her parents and helped out at the arena – her mother would be taking the tickets while her father was cleaning the ice.

Her mother died in 1996, and Grubb moved to a house in Blair's Grove. Her father and two brothers, Darren and Marvin, stayed at home, and Grubb helped out when she could.

“We had a tough year in 1999,” she recalls. “Dad got really sick and went to hospital in London. I'd teach all day and then go to London to be with Dad until 11 p.m., and then come home. Brian Rhody was the principal and he was very understanding. We brought Dad home in 2000, and he lived until 2008.”

Besides brothers Darren and Martin, she has a third brother, Glenn, who is married with kids; but she says the children in her classroom were her family too.

Grubb was never interested in becoming a vice-principal or principal. “I liked being in the classroom with the kids.”

She coached ringette in Ripley for 25 years, and coached numerous sports at the school in Ripley.

“I've been around kids all my life,” she says. “That's what I'm going to miss the most when school starts, being in the classroom with the kids.”

Many of her students have become successful, including Dr. Jason Murray who was in her 2002 graduating class.

“I remember Jason,” says Grubb. “He said he wanted to be a doctor. I told him if he was going to do that, he should come back to Kincardine and be a general practitioner because by then, Dr. Gary Gurbin would be too old and I was going to need a doctor. And here he is, Dr. Jason Murray, working in Kincardine.”

Grubb had a T-shirt printed each year, from 1992-2017, sporting the signatures of all her students and the staff.

“When I decided to retire, I wore one of those shirts each day, right up to the final day of school,” she says. “I chose this year to retire because two other teachers (Pam Agnew and Cheryl Wilken) were also retiring.”

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She won't miss the report cards, the annual learning plans and long-range learning plans, Professional Development days, changes to the curriculum and the constant political nonsense.

“That takes the pleasure out of working with the kids,” she says. “I'd sooner sit down and chat with the parents than do report cards.”

Over the years, Grubb has seen a lot of changes to education and to students, themselves.

“When I started teaching, the students respected the teachers, and if they got out of line, they were sent to the office and it was a serious infraction,” she says. “Now, kids feel entitled and society is feeding that entitlement. This business of moving students along with their peers, no matter what, means a lot of kids aren't prepared for high school. Then they get to Grade 9 and they're shocked that they are failing. We're not doing them any favours.”

She says there is a lot of technology out there. “I'm not afraid to ask the kids for help with technology. We need to take the time to distinguish between fact and fiction on the Internet. When I started teaching, we had the Gestetner and ditto machines; now, we have photocopiers which are a lot easier to work with. We have cell phones and laptops and computers. It's a lot different but if you gain the respect of your students, you won't have problems during the school year.”

That's one of the reasons why she started learning to play an instrument, to gain the respect of her students.

“I sat with the kids in music class and they watched me struggle to learn to play the clarinet,” says Grubb. “Then I joined the Kincardine Community Concert Band, and now I'm playing the timpani. I didn't even know what it was!”

Besides her music, she enjoys knitting and golfing.

In fact, the first day of school, Sept. 5, she plans to be golfing. “I'll be at the tee at 9 a.m.”

A self-declared home-body, she isn't keen to travel, but always enjoyed the Grade 8 trips to Toronto and Ottawa every year.

“I've been so lucky,” says Grubb. “I loved my job. I loved the kids, the parents and the staff. I never once got up in the morning and thought about not going to work. I've taught children of my former students and if I didn't soon retire, I was going to be teaching their grandchildren.”

As she finished cleaning out her room after the last day of school, Grubb said her next Facebook post was going to read: “Goodbye school, Hello Ainsdale!”

“It's been an awesome ride!”



Barb Grubb (left), Cheryl Wilken and Pam Agnew hold up their Happy Retirement Day sign on the last day of school in June

CHERYL WILKEN

Cheryl Wilken is also retiring after 31 years of teaching. She spent her first two years at Ignace in northern Ontario before coming to Ripley where she has taught mostly Kindergarten and primary grades.

“I'm ready to retire,” she says. “I want to spend time with my family and travel.” She and her husband, Dan, have two children, Ashton and Bethany.

She also plans to supply-teach for awhile.

“I'm going to miss the kids and the staff,” says Wilken. “I always loved the Kindergarten graduations, and the wonderful Christmas concerts. The kids were always so excited, with their smiles and their enthusiasm to learn. It's a great community school and I have loved working with the kids.”

She won't miss filling out report cards.

On the first day of school, she will be returning home after dropping Bethany off at Queen's University, and Ashton off in Ottawa for a work term.

PAM AGNEW

Pam Agnew is retiring after a 28-year teaching career. Of those, seven years were spent out west and she taught one year in Mildmay before coming to Ripley.

“I taught mostly Grades 3 and 4 students,” she says, “and there certainly was never a dull moment.”

The highlight, she says, has been the past year teaching alongside her daughter, Caitlin Kloosterboer, who is taking over classroom in Ripley.

“I'm done,” says Agnew. “I have grandchildren. I want to spend time with them and I want to travel. We have a Rhine River and Danube River Cruise planned for next May, and a trip to Amsterdam. I love travelling and reading.”

She will miss the kids and the staff, and the wild and crazy antics in the classroom, but she won't miss filling out report cards and the Grade 3 provincial testing days.

On the first day of school, she will be in New Orleans.

Principal Graham Martin also said goodbye to Ripley school in June as he has been transferred to Kincardine Township-Tiverton Public School. Tanya Leppington, teacher and vice-principal at Huron Heights Public School in Kincardine, is taking over as principal this school year.