Summary
Given these varied circumstances, the class did not cohere particularly well: Only a minority seemed certain to pursue their education while many of the others assumed rather hard-bitten, skeptical, even cynical attitudes to the whole exercise. To this varied and largely unreceptive group, [Margaret Thomson] found herself trying to explain a particular poem's rhythm and how it served what the poet was seeking to convey. I do not recall the poem in question, but its unfamiliar language and structure were proving a barrier for many in the class and Margaret clearly sensed this. "Perhaps," she said, "it would be clearer if you thought of how it might be sung," at which point she began to sing it -- in quite a fine voice -- to a melody that seemed of her own devising but one, obviously, she thought would help illustrate the point she was making.
Professionally an outstanding teacher, Margaret also had an extraordinary private life. Her retirement from teaching to marry Glenn Robertson -- rightly described in her obituary as her "childhood sweetheart" -- was the culmination of a remarkable story of a love that triumphed over the most unusual circumstances. She and Glenn were both studying to become teachers during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In those years -- quite remarkably for a young woman of that era -- Margaret went off to the University of Chicago to do a master's degree. Neither had much money and Glenn, one suspects, was not the sort to take a wife if he was unable to support her. They agreed to defer marriage until times improved, but the Second World War intervened and Glenn went off to war. On his return at war's end, however, he inexplicably broke off their informal engagement and they went their separate ways.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Teacher Who Made a Difference
William Neville
THE Free Press recently published the obituary of Margaret Jean Robertson, who died March 15 at the age of 95. The obituary rightly acknowledged that she was a remarkable, accomplished woman of high ideals, committed to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge, ...See the full content of this document
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