Diane, for Icon viewers who may not know you, give us some background on your family.

Relatives who live in Bluffton: Our family has lived in Bluffton our whole lives.  We grew up in the country about 3 and 1/2 miles from town on Zurflugh Road which is actually named after my great great grandfather, Abraham Zurflugh, who came to America from Canton Bern, Switzerland in 1852.

My great grandmother was his daughter, Sarah Zurflugh Luginbuhl. Her daughter was my grandmother Ella Luginbuhl Dillman, who worked at Bluffton Hospital for over 50 years. My dad and mom were Don and Treva (Basinger) Dillman. My brother, Jim Dillman, is retired and resides in Bluffton. My sister, Marylin (Dillman) Basinger, also lives in Bluffton. My mom and step-father, Treva and Jim Suter, are residents of the Mennonite Memorial Home.

So, how did you get from Bluffton to Wapakoneta?

I retired this school year after teaching 39 years. I graduated from Bluffton High School in 1970. I attended college at Bowling Green State University. Only four of us from the class of 1970 went to BG that year: Becky Parkins, Pat Zimmerman, Bob Steiner and myself.  I majored in English and minored in journalism. I did a little work on the BG News while in college. I student taught at Findlay High School in the winter of 1974 and found my job in Wapakoneta by reconnecting with my high school principal, Walter (Bud) Marshall, who was the high school principal in Wapakoneta in 1974.

I retired on July 1, 2013 after teaching at Blume Junior High School for 15 years and Wapakoneta High School for 24 years for a total of 39 years in the Wapakoneta School system. Other "famous" Blufftonites who have taught in Wapakoneta over the years are: Darvin Luginbuhl, Jo Souder, Duane Bollenbacher, Kay Huber, Bill and Joan Steiner, Tom Potter, Deb Buck, Todd Schmutz, Luanne Steiner and Greg Hartzler.
    
With an average student load of 140 students each year, I've had approximately 5,460 students in my career. Within the last couple of years, I actually hit a couple of third generation students; I had both their mothers and their grandmothers. That was a little shocking! 

Okay, tell me a little about your years in Bluffton as a student.

As a BHS graduate of 1970, I still consider our class to be one of the greatest in the history of the school system. Our class was so large that in kindergarten they added a third section. That was unprecedented. We were seventh graders the year Bluffton and Beaverdam consolidated and were the first class to go to Beaverdam during seventh and eighth grades. 

We met a fabulous group of new classmates there, and we are still a very close class.  We've met for reunions every five years since graduation. We are approaching our 45th in 2015. It's interesting to visit my mom at the Mennonite Memorial Home each week because it is kind of like a mini class reunion. Mrs. Houshower, Mrs. Hamman, Mrs. (Opperman) Gabel, Mrs. Purves, and Mrs. Keeney are all mothers of my high school classmates. I run into classmates and high school acquaintances down there all the time, and it is really fun to reconnect with these friends.

You obviously had some teachers who inspired you to become a teacher. Tell us about them.

The people who influence you are the people who believe in you, and I was very fortunate to have a group of educators who not only believed in me but inspired me. I loved every single teacher I ever had; therefore, school was a very positive experience for me. 

I started elementary school with Miss Margaret Groman, Miss Merideth Steepleton, Mrs. Joan Diller, Miss Minerva Hilty, Mrs. Adella Oyer, Mrs. Jane Brown, Mrs. Katheryn Patterson, and Mr. Robert Ewing. I loved them all and carried a little piece of them with me as I pursued my career choice. 

I knew by eighth grade that I wanted to become an English teacher. It was my favorite subject, and I think I read every book in the library. At Beaverdam, Mr. Robert Stratton, Mrs. Carrie Stratton, Mrs. Evelyn Steiner, Mrs. Doris Smith, Mrs. Pat Persinger, Mr. Robert Ewing, and many others influenced me. In high school, I continued to excel in English in the classrooms of Mrs. Martha Franks, Mr. Richard Corbett, Mrs. Lurene Maurer, and Mrs. Jean Triplett. I also heard God's calling, the greatest influence of all.

Three things strike me as I remember these great educators in my life: One, on the day of JFK's assassination, I remember Bob Stratton walking into Mr Ewing's sixth grade classroom with tears running down his face as he told Mr. Ewing what had just happened to the President. Mr. Stratton was a giant among men and students -- a real disciplinarian, and I was awed at the unashamed and heartfelt emotion he displayed on that day. I've never forgotten it.  

Two, I had the honor of helping to take care of Miss Minerva Hilty when she was a resident of Richland Manor. My first summer job was at Richland Manor where I was a nurse's aide.  We took our student-teacher relationship a step farther in that situation, and it has been something that I have cherished. What a grand lady! I also ran into Mrs. Joan Diller, my second grade teacher, just a few weeks after school was out this year at Meijer, and she congratulated me on my retirement. That was a special moment, too. 

So, what's next in your plans? Do you think you'll become the Clarence Kooker of Wapakoneta and substitute teach a fourth generation of students?

At this point, I have no plans to substitute teach. I hung in there for 39 years and was blessed with stamina, health, a great school system, and wonderful colleagues, and memorable students. Now I am looking forward to new activities, more time spent with family, some travel and entertainment opportunities, and rest and relaxation.

I did offer to substitute if it was for an extended period (4-8 weeks) and only in my department of English. I might also consider doing that in another school system besides Wapakoneta some day. I have a permanent teaching certificate and my BCI is up to date!  Actually, I am going to let many of my retirement activities find me rather than actively looking for them. I also plan to take plenty of time for myself as I begin this new phase of life.

(I didn't have Mr. Kooker for a teacher; my sister did. But I've always admired his ability to keep going and give so much of himself to the children of the Bluffton community.)

Back to your school days in Bluffton. Since you rode the bus, you probably have some interesting bus stories.

I must have spent half my school life on a bus. My first bus was #3, and it was driven by the beloved Joe Thompson. They lived close to us, so we were the first ones on and the last ones off. I especially liked the treats the bus drivers gave at Christmas time. Because we were the last stop, we got the left over treats, and Joe always let me sit beside him on the heater when I was little. 

Francis Basinger and Howard Habegger also got me safely to school, and Francis Williams was our bus driver to Beaverdam and back. When I was teaching I certainly learned that it "takes a village" to educate a child. Not only were the bus drivers important but the cafeteria cooks and the custodians were all part of the team.

Custodian Ben Herr sometimes monitored in the classroom when teachers were out. Loreena Leedy, Helen Neiswander, and Genise King were fabulous cooks and kept us all happy and well-fed.  Vegetable soup, chili, tuna fish and ham salad sandwiches, and cherry crumble are still like visions of sugar plums in my head. I loved cafeteria food, especially in the old days when it was homemade. I remember giving Mrs. Grant my two dimes for lunch at Bluffton Elementary.  oday a lot of the food is prepackaged and there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety in the menus. Adult lunches were $3, so I always took my own lunch to school each day. It saved time, money, and helped me count calories.

Were you on that famous Bluffton Girl Scout trip to South America?

I was. What an experience! It all started on a trip to Green Field Village and the Henry Ford Museum. Vicky Valencia and her family challenged Troop #137 to come and see them in South America. (Vicky's parents had been affiliated with Bluffton College and were returning to Bogota, South America.) 

If we could earn enough money to make it to Dearborn, Michigan on the train, surely we could do the same thing to get to Colombia, South America, and we did. We sold oodles of Girl Scout Cookies, cleaned houses, and gave operettas in the community under the direction of Christine Purves until we had met our goal. Then off we went on the trip of a lifetime. Because of the leadership of Lois Kreider, Helen Neiswander, Marilyn Diller, and Sally Lehman, the girls of troop #137 are very goal-oriented people to this very day, and we have these four extraordinary women to thank for many of our successes in life.

What are some of the activities in Wapakoneta that you've become involved in over the years?

As a teacher in Wapakoneta, I was extremely active in the work of the Wapakoneta Education Association, the Western Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Education Association (OEA) and the National Education Association. I saw early on in my career that it was necessary to be politically active to advocate for ourselves as teachers and the students in our classrooms. I was also quite active in the International Reading Association for many years. I am the President of Alpha Delta Kappa, Alpha Xi Chapter, in Wapakoneta, an international sorority of women educators, and I am a member of the Lima Chapter of AAUW (American Association of University Women). 

I am still a  member of First Mennonite Church in Bluffton, but I attend the First United Methodist Church in Wapakoneta with my husband, Jim, each week. I was presented the OCTELA (Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts) award for Outstanding English teacher in 1987, and I also received two Ashland Oil Golden Apple teacher achievement awards. I was the school newspaper advisor for 15 years, and I am a registered track official. I've attended hundreds of games, plays, concerts, teachers' meetings and parent-teacher conferences over the years.

Your husband, Jim, isn't from Bluffton. Tell us about him.

Jim was a career educator in Wapakoneta for over 30 years, teaching physical education and health. He was also the head football coach in Wapakoneta for 19 years. He retired in 1999 and worked for 13 years at Schwieterman's Pharmacy in Wapakoneta. He is an avid golfer and volunteers each month at St. Vincent-DePaul, a community organization of churches, that lend guidance and support to people who need help with rent, utilties, groceries, and money for gasoline. Jim also played on OSU's only baseball team that won the college world series in 1968.

What book are you reading at the moment? What's your next book?

I am currently reading Rosa Parks, My Story.  An excerpt from this autobiography was in the textbook that I taught out of, and I have never read the full text until now. I recently saw a new biography of Ann Frank at Readmore in Lima. That may be my next purchase. I also taught "A Lincoln Preface" by Carl Sandburg and love reading about Abraham Lincoln's life. I enjoyed Speilberg's portrayal of this iconic leader in the recent movie. I'm also a fan of historical fiction, Disney animation, and Batman movies. I saw "Man of Steel" last weekend and was a little disappointed with it.

What advice do you have for young people considering teaching as a profession?

 First of all, I would tell young college students that they should be sure they really want to teach. It is not an easy profession, and one does not go into teaching simply to coach. Students should explore their passions and let their passions lead them to their career fields. Know that if one majors in English and teaches that subject in a school system, there are always going to be papers and projects to grade and assess. 

You will see teachers in other disciplines walking out with very little sometimes, but as an English teacher, you will always have work to do outside the classroom and a pile of papers to grade. Also, be aware that teaching is not a get rich profession. Students will have to earn a college degree and continue their educations often at their own expense throughout their entire careers. Teachers work very hard and are not always compensated well or recognized for all that they do.

Recently the profession has borne the brunt of criticism for all the ills of public education. Learn to be a voice for change and believe in public education. Also,get involved in your teachers' union. Finally, have a back up plan. Everyone who goes into education may not be cut out to be a teacher. Make sure you have a plan B!

What was your favorite part about teaching?

"Teaching is the choicest of professions because everybody who is anybody was taught how to be somebody by a teacher." (anonymous) Teaching is the only profession that allows a person to start over every year. If you didn't get it right the first time, you can  "try, try again." 

It was marvelous to see the light go on when a student finally understood a concept, and knowing and respecting these young adults has given me the opportunity to see many of them become leaders in the community and to become personal friends.  I became colleagues with at least a dozen of my former students while I was teaching in Wapakoneta. What an honor and privilege to work along side them and see them grow in the profession.

Do you have a couple favorite quotes?

"My heart is singing for joy this morning. The light of understanding has shown upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed." --Anne Sullivan

"Much have I learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues, but most from my students."  --Talmud