By Thomas Sellers Jr.
It’s hard to fade into the background when you’re a respected colleague, working in a school with no walls.
The desire to want to just stay in the back drop becomes even more difficult when you excel at education and have a huge impact on hundreds of students. But the laid-back approach of Millington Elementary School Principal Kathy Wilson has helped her be a quiet foundational piece of education in the Millington/Tipton County area since 1976.
Now as she approaches retirement June 30, those who worked alongside her, set in her classroom, visited her office and admire her dedication to teaching the youth of Millington are recognizing her distinguished career.
“Actually I started off at E.A. Harrold with the third grade,” Wilson recalled. “They didn’t have enough kids so the day Elvis died, I moved over to Millington Central Elementary School and taught kindergarten.”
Before reaching that destination on Aug. 16, 1977, Wilson started her career in education in 1976 in Tipton County at Home-school. The Covington High School and UT-Martin graduate made the move to Flag City and planted her roots there.
“What made me stay was at Millington Central Elementary School – it was family,” Wilson noted. “It was an open-space school at that time. It had no walls. We divided by bookcases. There was a teacher named Ms. Joyce Gauche and also Georgia Dawson. I worked with them in kindergarten. As a young teacher I happen to get ideas from the both of them. I kind of built my career from there.”
By 2021 Wilson worked in an environment with students owning smartphones, having access to laptop and state-of-the-art personal computers. That was not the case in the late 1970s.
“There have been changes but with the advent of technology, that is the biggest change,” she said. “When I started out we were using the Apple IIE. Mostly it was just used by the teachers. It was really used for instruction the way it is used now. Basically for remuneration. We would only have one computer in the room and it really wasn’t much you could do with it.”
From her first day in front of a classroom of impressionable faces to occupying the leadership seat at MES, Wilson said one thing has been consistent.
“The basic education is make sure kids can read, write, understand, do math,” she said. :”Those things have not changed. There were the basics and will always be the basics. And that’s what we need.
“With children back then, technology has made the biggest difference,” Wilson added. “Today things are more open to children. Some positive and some negative, kids are more aware of things that possible go on in the world rather than before.”
Wilson and her colleague have impacted thousands of children over the years including her two daughters Courtney and Lauren.
Now Lauren serves as a teacher in Millington. Wilson’s family bond extends beyond her flesh and blood daughter with Millington Municipal Schools.
“There definitely lifelong relationships,” she said. “After I taught kindergarten I was a school counselor. At one time at the beginning of elementary school counselor, I was working at five different schools, Millington South, Millington East, E.A. Harrold, Millington Central and Lucy.
“From being with all those different schools, I have developed lifelong friends who have helped out with my career and talked me through different things as far as education,” Wilson added. “My kids have had fantastic educations going through Millington Central Elementary, Millington East, Millington Middle and Millington Central High.”
From technological growth, Wilson has also witnessed the birth of Millington Municipal Schools. Before the change in 2014, the educator saw Flag City undergo infrastructure changes that help set the foundation for the district.
“Just to see it grow and change like Millington Central Elementary go from the open space, that concept the powers that be decided that was not the optimal educational setting as time went on,” she reflected. “The facilities at Millington East, which was built in 1954, became in disrepair. It was not ficable to keep the children there with raccoons running up and down the halls.
“With the advent of this school which encompasses Millington South and Millington East, it was a big advantage for Millington,” Wilson continued. “Definitely with the high school when they built it was a big deal for the city.”
Wilson was selected to be the first principal of Millington Elementary School under the umbrella of MMSD back in 2014.
“It’s been great,” she said. “I had been assistant principal here when it first started. My time here has just been great. We’ve excelled here. The teachers are pretty much family. The big thing that I am proud of even before I became principal, at Millington South and Millington East came together, the faculty just came together.
“It’s like when you’re cooking stew and you have to blend the vegetables,” Wilson explained. “Over time it became one thing. It’s not just potatoes, carrots, it’s just one thing. Over time it becomes that one thing.”
The key ingredient to the recipe of success for Millington Elementary during Wilson’s tenure was the student body.
“The kids are amazing,” she said. “The kids were wonderful. And that’s what I’ll miss most. Just seeing them move from one grade to the other. To see them progress is the most amazing thing. When I taught kindergarten, I can remember the first three kids I taught to read. To see them now as adults who are thriving and moving about, it’s special.”
Wilson said all her students hold a place in her heart and it has been a privilege to work alongside great educators. She added it has been her pleasure to serve them all and watch them enjoy the deserving spotlight.
“That was the way I was brought up with my family,” she concluded, “it’s not about me. It’s about the others. It’s about what I can do to help others. I’ve always been a worker bee. I don’t have to be queen bee. I want to make sure things are correct and right for everybody else. Everything I do is to make sure things are set in motion and will work out for everybody else.”
