Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006150738
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
\ 7:30 a.m.: Wilma Snuffer walks into Christiansburg Primary School, down the hall decorated with construction-paper flowers and smiling butterflies made from glue-splattered popsicle sticks, past the giant mural of the world and the posters proclaiming, "Virginia - The Mother of Presidents" and under the banner that reads "Welcome to Second Grade."
\ 7:33 a.m.: Wilma Snuffer is in her classroom, waiting for the children.
It's the kind of morning routine that the teacher has followed for 44 years - 7,920 school days, give or take a few.
\ 7:35 a.m.: Wilma Snuffer is thinking about today. It's the last day of school. The children will be all atwitter with anticipation of summer vacation.
It's the very last day of school.
Snuffer, 62, is retiring.
"I've been in school all my life since I was 5 years old," Snuffer said. "At this point I'm ready to retire. I think I've taught long enough. I'm going to let someone younger take over."
Snuffer, born Dec. 5, 1927, in Russell County, started her teaching career at the ripe old age of 16. She had not yet earned her undergraduate degree.
"At that time, they couldn't get teachers," she explained. School officials "came to my home and recruited me. I started teaching when I was right out of high school. [I] took classes every summer and at night until I was able to earn my degree."
Snuffer's first teaching position was at Crabtree School (named after her grandfather's family) in the Southwest Virginia town of Cleveland.
"It was really special because that's where I went to school," she said. "It was a two-room schoolhouse. One side was in Russell County and the other was in Buchanan County. I taught for Buchanan County and the other teacher was employed by Russell County. I taught there seven years."
Snuffer got her degree from Radford College in 1954, three years after her marriage to Jack Snuffer.
"I met Jack when I was at Radford College and he was at [Virginia] Tech," she said. "He's always been very supportive of my teaching."
The Snuffers have one daughter, Cynthia Smith, who works in cancer research.
"I thought my daughter might go into teaching," Snuffer said, "but she didn't. From the time I was a little girl, I wanted to be a teacher."
Over the years Snuffer has taught more than 1,200 children. She has wiped their tears, touched their feverish foreheads, refereed their playground battles and guided them through those giant leaps of childhood.
"The most important things you teach children are things other than subject matter," she said. "You teach them how to cope with different situations and how to get along with people. You teach them about life."
Apparently, Snuffer knows what she's talking about.
J.C. Callahan, principal at Christiansburg Primary School, has worked with Snuffer for more than 20 years and has seen the results of her influence on children. Callahan's own son, now 28, was one of Snuffer's second-graders.
"She heaps praise on children, no matter how big or small their accomplishments," Callahan said. "The kids eat it up. They work to please her."
Snuffer said her association with people like Callahan has made her job more rewarding.
"The people I work with are so cooperative," Snuffer said. "We have a special faculty. We share materials and work together. Everybody is always there for you."
Snuffer is a person who can't help praising others. She has a charm, a complacency, an innocence that clearly comes from spending her life with children.
"I've been on second-grade level forever," she quipped.
What has kept Snuffer from burning out?
The eternal flame, of course.
"I just love children," Snuffer said. "It all goes back to that."
Her advice to new teachers is this:
"Be sure that you really love children and that you're really willing to work with them, no matter if they're slow or gifted. Every child is precious.
"When you feel you have helped a child with a big problem, it is so rewarding," she said. "Teaching itself has to be challenging. If you don't have a love for children, you shouldn't teach. It's just something you have to have in your heart."
Snuffer admits that teaching today is more challenging than ever before.
"The students are definitely different today from what they were 20 or 40 years ago," she said. "Discipline is harder than it used to be. Children speak out more now. Children today also are exposed to more material earlier - they're very smart. I'm teaching things in second grade now that I didn't have until later grades when I was a youngster."
Will she return to the classroom after her retirement - perhaps to do substitute teaching?
"I'll be back to visit," she said. "I don't plan to sub. . . . Of course, if the school needed me . . . I'll be glad to help out."
But Snuffer has dreams she wants to live out.
"I want to do a lot of traveling. I want to take a cruise to the Caribbean and see the places in our country that I haven't seen."
Snuffer is looking forward to her retirement and the time she will have to do the things she enjoys.
"I like photography, I like cooking, I plan to work in my flowers," she said. "I'm positive that when September comes, I'll think I need to get in my car and come to Christiansburg Primary School, so I'm planning a trip . . . maybe to Canada."
Tomorrow Wilma Snuffer will start enjoying her hobbies.
But today she will teach the children. It's the last day of school.
by CNB