Introduction
Given the title of this article, why am I showing the above front and back images of a Playmate Igloo cooler? The conclusion will explain.
Welcome, dear reader, to the 140th entry in the Family Topic Section! My wife, the “long-suffering” Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, has retired from full-time teaching after 25 years. This article honors her service as a teacher.
The Historical Context
To set the historical context, on Thursday, 9/30/1999, my wife and I returned from five years of Christian missionary service in Russia. While transitioning back to stateside life, my mother's unexpected and serious health condition in December blindsided us. Hospitalized initially in Rogersville on Tuesday, 12/28/1999, by God's grace, she recovered well enough to return home on Saturday, 4/15/2000, after two subsequent hospitalizations in Kingsport. Mom was hospitalized a total of 110 days.
Forestalled was our prayerful plan to transition into stateside, church-planting mission work somewhere in East Tennessee. We needed to live no more than roughly an hour's drive away from both sets of our aging parents, especially my mother. Thus, we took secular employment after my mother returned home from the hospital. For less than a year, my wife worked for JCPenney. Located in the Knox Center Mall, the store was within walking distance from our Knoxville apartment. We only had one vehicle, a 1988 Nissan Stanza, which I used to drive to and from my job in Powell.
On Thursday, 3/22/2001, we bought our truck, a 1994 Nissan XE. The next Monday, 3/26/2001, my wife started teaching at Parkway Academy in Sevierville, Tennessee! Her younger sister, next in age to her, was already teaching there. My wife started teaching special education students.
My Wife Retired after 25 Years of Teaching!
The years and the miles rolled by. Until the end of the 2021-2022 school year, my wife and her sister carpooled. (The conclusion explains how we figured out which year.) Each one drove two or three days a week. The one-way trip was approximately 32 miles and took at least 45 minutes, depending on traffic.
In time, my wife switched from teaching special education students to teaching science. Later, when a vice-principal position became open, my wife was offered and accepted the position. She started serving as both a teacher and a vice-principal.
During 25 years of teaching, my wife received the teacher of the year award several times. Despite occasional frustrations with students, their parents, and coworkers, she enjoyed teaching.
Hopefully, my wife helped several of her students learn how to “turn right and go straight” in life. As an example, the article from 6/15/2022, about our car-buying experience, mentions my wife's reacquaintance with a young man who had been one of her students. He was a salesman at the dealership and appeared to be “turning right and going straight” in life.
Last Friday, 5/29/2026, was the last day of the school year for the teachers and staff. The students were already on summer break. On a half-day, my wife called just after 11 AM to say she was on her way home. The day marked not only the last day of the school year but also my wife's final day as a full-time teacher. She has now joined me in the retirement phase of life.
Dear, I am proud of your service as a teacher to children in Sevier County. Surely, you helped an unknown number along the right path.
What Will She Do Now?
Normally, yesterday, Monday, 6/1/2026, would have been the first day of my wife's two-month summer break with a return to teaching in early August. The day, however, was her first day of retirement. As an aside, Monday was also the first day of meteorological summer and the 230th year of Tennessee statehood.
On Monday morning, my wife helped with the usual Monday dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming, which I have usually been doing alone. Early that afternoon, as usual, she left to visit with her sister, who lives nearby. Finally, to my shock, she had a 3:15 PM annual appointment with her gastrologist! Outside and away from the phone, I missed her 2:25 PM call. Once inside, I called her around 3 PM. She was already at the doctor's office! Her explanation was that she had suddenly remembered the appointment while visiting with her sister. At least she didn't fail to tell me about the appointment.
This morning, my 2006 Nissan Frontier took both of us to an ophthalmologist's office down Chapman Highway. In late March, on the day that would have been her father's 88th birthday, she discovered a sty inside her lower left eyelid. Visits to and prescriptions from her primary care provider and an optometrist did not completely vanquish the sty. After the preliminary examination and vision test, the ophthalmologist determined that her sty was gone! Both eyes were fine. The itch in her left eye could be from the eye drops she was using.
Perhaps I will coax the “long-suffering” Mrs. Appalachian Irishman into writing another article, reflecting on her 25 years of teaching in Sevier County. After all, she, as a coauthor for this website, has only written one article so far. It was 'MATER FUN with 'MATER LADY (published 8-29-2022; article #351; Mrs. Appalachian Irishman article #1). Dear, this is the 560th article on this website. I have written 559 of them. Will you write at least one more? I imagine that you have stories to share about teaching.
Otherwise, we will see what she decides to do. I may nudge her into taking a few day trips. Retirement is not vegetation (i.e., inert existence). The article from 5/15/2022 is about the start of my retirement. I have been keeping very active. Chores around the house, neglected during my working years, are being done. I hike as often as I can. Further, I enjoy writing articles on this website. Finally, I look for opportunities to minister as doors open to me.
Conclusion
So, why does this article include the front and back images of a Playmate Igloo cooler? Well, allow me to explain.
Since 1994, I have been writing brief notes about daily events in desktop calendars. I could not find, in recent calendars, where I jotted down when my wife's younger sister retired from teaching. I was trying to figure out how many years my wife had been driving to and from work alone. Thankfully, my wife recalled that she started driving alone in the August 2022-May 2023 school year. Her sister, thus, retired in May 2022.
How did she figure it out? She remembered that it was around the time that she hit the Igloo cooler! I took the two photographs above and started a draft article for my wife to finish about the incident.
You see, on Tuesday, 9/13/2022, at about 6:35 AM, my wife called. She was minutes away from the house on her way to work. In the morning darkness, on Ellistown Road, she ran over an Igloo cooler. At the time, I was up, making coffee and breakfast. Quickly, my 2006 Frontier took me to the location. In the darkness, I managed to dislodge the Igloo cooler out from under our car. Our 2012 Sentra was not damaged. It wasn't funny at the time. It is funny now. By the way, I gave my wife a “deadline” to finish the draft, which I started, no later than Saturday, 10/15/2022. She never bothered to finish it. The story, however, is now told in this article!
The title of the draft article, which my wife never finished, was simply going to be “Playmate Igloo Cooler, 0; 2012 Nissan Sentra, 1.” Now, dear reader, you know “the rest of the story!”
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