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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
Wallowa County Chieftain News wallowa.com May 18, 2016 A7 TAMMY Continued from Page A1 She came to Enterprise in 1986 after four years of substi- tute teaching and coaching vol- leyball in Arlington, Ore. That early experience showed her something she hadn’t expected — she really enjoyed the classroom. Crawford was hired in En- terprise by Larry Christman and Bob Eddy for a one-year position to ill in while Eliza- beth Oliver was on maternity leave (in those days they took a year-long sabbatical) and took over the ifth grade. The next year her long-time friend Lorri Fischer went home for materni- ty leave and she took on fourth grade. That temporary teaching position — which eventually led her to math and reading for junior high — just kept stretch- ing right down to the inish line of a 30-year career. She blames her move to ju- nior high on the late Leo Goeb- el, who was teaching in Joseph when she was in seventh grade. “Leo put the Teacher’s Curse on me,” she said, “He said, ‘when you’re a teach- er, and you will be a teacher, you’re going to have students just like you.’” Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain Tammy Crawford assists seventh-grader Grace Collins in retrieving work from a thumb drive. There’s something in that curse that reverberates in Wal- lowa County. Enterprise School District has an extraordinary number of teachers who fall into three rare categories: grad- uated here and came back to have a career here; graduated here and are starting a career here; and graduated from some other very small town and found themselves serving an entire career here. That’s rare. “I don’t know anybody out- side the county who can equal that,” said High School Prin- cipal Blake Carlsen. “Let me put this in perspective for you.” And he begins naming every teacher and their hometown and career in both the elemen- tary school and high school. “It’s always a privilege to have someone who commits themselves to serving the dis- trict so long and with such ded- ication as Tammy Crawford,” Carlsen said. “That brings such a consistency and stability to the district. You can really move forward with purpose and direction when you don’t have all that turn over. You can develop a real steadfastness — which is real critical to a kid’s success.” That stability extends be- yond teachers. Carlsen graduat- ed from Enterprise, as did Ken Kunkle, head custodian. Crawford said almost exact- ly the same thing in explaining why she stayed so long in one district, through the dark times as the timber industry died, through Measure 5 and the loss of half the staff, through the temporary loss of Secure Rural Schools Act money — through it all, good and bad. “We have a really close staff,” Crawford said. “Our staff is very close-knit and it’s a pleasure to work with them and be in a community that cares about their kids’ education.” Wallowa County is differ- Courtesy photo A blast from the past shows a young Tammy Crawford, just starting her career with her fourth-grade class at Enterprise. ent, Crawford said, because of how much parents value a good education. Being a teacher is a respected position in the county — and it’s not that way in other places. “I tell someone in another place I’m a teacher and they ... “ She demonstrates a visible STILL RUNNING OUT TO FETCH THE PAPER? 6 months $26.00 1year * $40.00 1year, online $40.00 Subscribe Today! 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He showed up in Colby Knifong’s room to scare the wits out of her in her irst weeks on the job and then he made the mistake of scaring a custodian, who took swift ac- tion and tossed Mr. Earl in the garbage. Crawford’s husband Mike retired from teaching in Joseph last year. Now, the two will have time to decide who gets to decide what they’ll do each week. In the meantime, the family/Wallowa County teach- ing tradition continues as their son Kyle Crawford contin- ues his career as a sixth-grade teacher at Enterprise Grade School. TIME TO STEP UP TO A STIHL. NEW! MS 180 CHAIN SAW NOW JUST WAS MS 170 CHAIN SAW NOW JUST WAS loss of interest and a turning away. “But education is valued here. People become teachers and stay because education is valued here.” Crawford was valued here for who she was in addition to the role she played. “As a friend she shares much of my school history and has been a loyal, trusted friend,” said fellow teacher and friend Lorri Fischer. “She taught my girls and I, her boys. She was full of ideas and energy. Even this past year; she spent hours planning how to best prepare her students for the upcoming assessment tests.” She will be remembered, too, as the woman who began the rocket launch for the fourth grade, a tradition that continues to be the big bang of the year for the kids. She also was behind a lot of great jokes, Fischer said. “She adds humor to many conversations in the teachers’ room,” Fischer said. 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