Special to the Journal
Four teachers were inducted into the
Houston County Teacher Hall of Fame on Sunday.
The hall of fame honors teachers, who
have worked for 20 or more years, have proved they are quality teachers,
contributed to their student’s success, are involved in activities outside of
the classroom and have been retired for five or more years.
According to the event’s program,
“Teacher Hall of Fame members upheld exemplary standards of behavior and
ethics; exhibited leadership; were enthusiastic about teaching and learning;
demonstrated competency in their subject matter; worked well with colleagues
and administrators; and consistently sought to encourage, inspire and motivate
students toward greater accomplishments.”
The teachers inducted into
the hall of fame are as follows:
Linda Faraone is a
native Mississippian who was born June 26, 1944. She earned a math degree at
the Mississippi State College for Women in 1966 and immediately began teaching
at Watson Elementary. The next year she transferred to Northside High. After
her husband was discharged from the Air Force, in 1968, they returned to Warner
Robins where she taught at Rumble Junior High and Warner Robins Junior High.
A member of the inaugural committee
that introduced the gifted program to Houston County, she also served as a
FOCUS teacher at Centerville Elementary. Many summers
were spent writing math curriculum, teaching summer school and Enhancement, and
taking classes to stay current in her field. Well known for tutoring students
from across the county in her home after school, she also sponsored
cheerleading, Pep Club, Prayer Club, the yearbook and newspaper. Faraone was
named Teacher of the Year twice.
Her postgraduate studies were in math at Mercer University and Georgia
Southwestern. She retired from Houston County High in 1997 after 31 years of
teaching. She continues her work in education as an adjunct math professor at
Georgia Military College where she has taught since 1995. Residing in Warner
Robins, she and her husband, Phil, are blessed to be near her mother, Lina, and
her son, Mitch, daughter-in-law, Cherie, and grandchildren, Mallory, Emma, and
Luke.
Mary Ann Gore was born
in Tampa on November 27, 1944. She graduated from McEvoy High School in Macon
in 1962. After earning a math degree at Wesleyan College, she began her
teaching career at Northside High in 1966.
She transferred to Warner Robins High
in 1970. The first AP teacher in Houston County, she introduced the advanced
level of AP Calculus to the system. In addition to serving as Mu Alpha Theta
sponsor and math team coach, she wrote grants and volunteered to help the
school earn School of Excellence.
Her numerous awards in Houston County
include: system Gifted Teacher of the Year, four-time STAR Teacher, Georgia
Presidential Award for Math and Science, and Outstanding AP Teacher in the
Southeast Region. In addition, she presented many workshops in the system and
at the state level, and she served as a College Board consultant. She also
co-authored Work Smarter, Not Harder, Calculus lab manuals.
After serving in the system for 30 years, she retired in 2000 and
continues to live in Warner Robins. Since 2008, Gore has taught at Central
Fellowship. In addition to active membership at Central Baptist Church, she
spends as much time as possible with her husband, Richard, and two children,
Andrea and Doug. They are blessed with three grandchildren, Brittany, Brandon
and Brady.
Gail R. Maye, a 1969
graduate of Warner Robins High, spent her entire professional career in the
district. A graduate of Georgia Southern in 1974, she began teaching in 1976 at
Northside Junior High; in 1988, she transferred to Warner Robins High.
In 1999, she accepted a new position
as Director of Energy Education. In this role, she developed a culture of
environmental awareness to save energy in our schools, ultimately creating an
award-winning program.
While teaching, her many
contributions outside of the classroom include cheerleader coach for 10-plus
years while also sponsoring Pep Club, the theatre program and producing the
annual. She was voted “favorite teacher” for multiple years and was a Houston
County Teacher of the Year finalist. While at Warner Robins High, she sponsored
the Anchor Club and continued to do the annual for Northside Junior. Summers
were busy too; for 17 years she organized student trips, and approximately 600
students traveled with her both in the U.S. and abroad!
After retiring in 2004, she and her husband, Calvin, moved to the
western North Carolina mountains on a farm they call Gobbler’s Moon.
Their son, Steve, lives nearby, an added bonus.
Pamela R. Stanescu has spent
her entire teaching career at Warner Robins High School. Her love of school,
reading and history began while a student at Perry Grammar School. The child of
a Methodist minister, she moved with her family to Macon where she graduated
Miller High in 1965. After earning a history and English degree from Agnes
Scott, she returned to Houston County in 1969 to teach at Warner Robins High.
For 43 years, Stanescu has taught
almost all the English and history courses offered. Part of the team that began
the gifted program, she was also the first to teach AP United History and AP
European History in the system. Along the way she squeezed in time to earn two
more degrees. In 1996, she graduated from the University of Georgia with a
Specialist in Education.
A master teacher, she has taught many
workshops and presented at numerous state conferences. Her awards are many and
include Houston County Teacher of the Year, Georgia Gifted Teacher of the Year,
and STAR Teacher six times.
She officially retired in 2008 after 36 years, but returned
part-time. She and her husband, Vincent, enjoy living in Warner Robins. They
spend as much time as possible with their children, Penelope, Vasile and James,
and their grandson, David.
HHJ News
