Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Q: And you're still in touch with these three, are you?
A: Yes. Well, I mean pretty much in touch with two of them. One of them
I don't see very often.
Q: Did you enjoy the year of teaching?
A: Enjoyed it immensely. It was really a thrill to me to impart knowledge.
I just really get a glow when someone is wrestling with a concept that you are
seeking to impart. You can almost tell when they get it by their eyes. You
can just: see an enlightenment as though there was a halo or circle of light or
a beam around their eyes at the time they become knowledgeable of what the
concept is about. So I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it.
It was in the rural area. I lived with a widdwed lady and her eight year old
grandchild. She was a very fine old lady and a very aggressive old lady.
Sometimes in the morning, I would hear a shotgun go off and I didn't know what
was going on at first but then I found out that maybe she had gone down to the
field to shoot a fresh rabbit or a squirrel for breakfast.
Q: 1'11 be darned: (laughter)
A: At that time, I earned $75 a month as the principal, and my room and board
was $3 a week.
There were two churches in the area, an A.M.E. church and a Baptist church and
I went to both of them so I could make sure that I would have some relationship
with the kids in their church activities also.
Q: Did you teach church school?
A: No, I didn't teach cherch school, just attended. And there was an A.M.E.,
an African Methodist Episcopal, church there and they had what they call a
presiding elder who came in from time to time and I got to know him. He was
a very fine man and a very inspirational kind of man.
When I got ready to leave after the end of the first year, they were very well
delighted with the growth and development of the kids in my school because I
spent some time with them and they wanted me to stay. I told them I was going
back to college and they said, "Oh, no, stay." They wanted to raise my salary
to $100 a month. That was a lot of money but I said, "No, I'm going to go
back to school.'' So I did.
Q: Did you ever entertain the idea of becoming a teacher?
A: No, I really didn't. In my mother's famfly, there were six girls and I
guess all of them taught school and many of the female members of my family,
the cousins and all, most of them were teachers. I didn't want to be a
teacher. Although I enjoyed it, I want you to know that, but I just didn't
ever desire to be a teacher.