Ethel Howell introduced herself to the Kiwanis Club on June 11 as Ethel Marie Calhoun Evans Howell.  Her parents were Husher and Inez Calhoun.  Her mother was also a school teacher.  She has two sisters and one brother.  She was the mother of five children, but only two lived to be adults.  When she married Robert Howell, she gained six more children.

Ethel received her Bachelor of Science in education from Grambling in 1971.  Her brother graduated from Winnfield Senior High School and she and her sister graduated from Grambling, all three on the same day in 1971.  In 1978, she received her Master’s in reading.  She has 60 hours over a Masters, but did not want to pursue a doctorate degree.   Those 60 hours were to help her do her job better.  

In 1972, she got a job at Atlanta High School as the Title I reading teacher.  Later she became the 4th grade teacher.  She was at Atlanta for 15 years before moving to Winnfield Middle School.  Her son wanted to play football, but Atlanta did not have a football team.  She needed to teach in Winnfield so he could play football.  She taught reading, English, and social studies.  She was known as “the paddling teacher” who had her whole class in the hall to be paddled and they were begging to go first.  Why, you ask?  Because the longer she paddled, the harder she got.  

 In 1988-89, she went back to Atlanta as assistant principal.  She wanted to be supervisor of education so she could help teachers to help children.  But when given the choice to be a supervisor or a principal of Winnfield Kindergarten School, she chose principal.  She called it her best decision ever and her most favorite years.

Ethel shared two stories, one from the kindergarten where two girls and a boy were sent to the principal’s office.  It turned out the two girls were fighting over the boy.  One had been his girlfriend but he dumped her for the other.  The other story was a sad one about a boy in the fourth grade.  Ethel had left money in his desk so he could buy a pair of shoes.  He drowned that summer trying to save two other children in the river.

Kiwanians thanked their fellow member for an interesting program.  There was much more to say but not enough time.  (There is a story about Ethel Howell’s life in education on YouTube where her grandson interviewed her).