teacher

Ethel Hawkins, who taught in and around Clay County for 25 years, died on April 25th at the home of her daughter in California at the end of a long illness. Her teaching career spanned 50 years. In the 1930's, as a young woman, she taught in one room schoolhouses on the prairie of western Canada and during the 1940's at the Government High School in Nassau, Bahamas. Starting in 1957, she began her long career as a Clay and Putnam County educator teaching mostly math and some science classes at Reinhold Junior High School, Orange Park High School, St. John's River Community College, and Clay High School.

In February I had a teaching assignment for a gentleman who had suddenly and tragically lost his brother. I felt immediate compassion. Simply because I know grief and loss myself. It is a long road. Just after college in 1987, I worked for Community Hospice and its Foundation for a total of 10 years. 

My hospice training has provided a foundation that has kept me strong in the most challenging situations.