I remember children crying on the last day of school in third grade, including myself. Mrs. Eberhart was retiring and we wouldn’t see her in the halls the next year. Thirty years later, Mrs. Claire Eberhart left this world on January 26, 2022. She was 87. She may have left this world, but she left countless memories for countless children.
Mrs. Claire Eberhart was one of the few good teachers at Quarry Hill Elementary. She truly cared about her students, and she believed in us even when other faculty did not. Other teachers were there just to collect a paycheck while Mrs. E went above and beyond her job description. She was good enough that the local paper had a two-page article memorializing her, and I learned even more about my favorite teacher’s life. I would like to add to it by telling what I remember about her.
For starters, she had a reward system of a candy jar and prize box. Candy was for correct answers, and little trinkets were for completing special assignments, such as researching the origins of specific words, like hamburger. Moreover, every project we had involved a presentation, and the best reports received awards. For instance, we didn’t just go on a scavenger hunt, we showed our findings in front of the class. When we studied the solar system, the report covers were judged by Mrs. E, her husband, and Sam the Cat. Sam liked the cover decorated with colored packing peanuts, and Dr. Eberhart liked my report on Saturn. This is just for starters, though. Her brilliance didn’t stop here.
Mrs. Eberhart organized the class to sing songs at nursing homes. Our class was an ensemble of about 24 students, learning pieces lyric by lyric. I remember practicing singing, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Somewhere Out There,” and of course, “My Favorite Things.” Mrs. Eberhart loved The Sound of Music, which the whole grade watched one day in Mrs. Johnson’s room. In a way, Mrs. E was like Sister Maria and the class was the Von Trapp family.
We learned dozens of songs, and we performed in two nursing homes and in the school auditorium. We had props for “My Favorite Things,” and umbrellas for “Singing in the Rain.” If anyone knew how to play piano, they had a chance to perform, and about seven students performed a dance routine to the C+C Music Factory song, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).”
Mrs. Eberhart believed anyone could sing. Even if you “couldn’t carry a tune,” she believed she could help you hit the notes. I have a feeling she originally wanted to be a music teacher, but being positioned in third grade did not stop her from that possible dream.
She believed not only in our musical potential, but also in our aptitude for learning, despite that we were in the lowest class. I was lucky to score into her class. Instead of just following the curriculum, she had us memorize William Blake and Emily Dickinson and recite the poetry in front of the class. We had the usual spelling bees, but we also had a US capitals bee. The top four or five students received ribbons.
Mrs. E taught us about black history, which gripped my attention. We learned about black slavery, Jim Crow, and read a book on Jackie Robinson. We also learned about vision impairment through the biography of Louis Braille, who invented the communication named after him. To liven up the lesson, Mrs. Eberhart invited a blind woman to give a presentation on Braille, and she brought a large book full of braille with her. Guest speakers were not a one-time thing. Another presenter was in costume giving a Civil War lesson. He brought a table full of artifacts from the time period.
Another pastime our teacher shared with us was baking. One day we made fudge, and another day we made pumpkin bread. I’m pretty sure it was pumpkin if memory serves me right. We all had a treat at the end.
The Yardley News covered these events organized by our teacher, and we had opportunities to be included in the newspaper. Whether it was singing in the nursing homes, making fudge, or having a guest speaker, Mrs. E always made sure each student had a chance to be photographed for the paper.
The Hobby Fair was one of those times our class was in the paper. Each student showed their hobby on their desk, and the whole third grade passed through the room, listening to us talk about our hobbies. My hobby was having a pet rabbit. Mrs. Eberhart said, “This is the first time I had something alive in the Hobby Fair.” Mrs. E brought all her antique banks from home.
We would see those banks once again when the class visited her house for lunch on the weekend, later in the school year. I think it was a Sunday. It was a party where students, their parents, and Mrs. E’s family were all together; indoors and outdoors, playing and eating food. She had many cats throughout her life, but at this point in time, Sam was the mascot. He didn’t care much for children, but he listened to me. ……….He really did.
Mrs. E always talked about her family and her cats, and Sam the Cat was known for his tales. He would count the teacher’s coins, mewing, “One, three, three, five, three, three, one, three.” Whenever her late cat Winston was stuck high in a tree, Sam helped him down. Then there was Sam’s repeated attempts to follow Mrs. Eberhart to work. He would try to get in her briefcase, or hop in the car, but she would intervene every time.
Back to the party – Sam listened to me. I instructed him to wait until Mrs. E opened the backseat door, hop inside the car while she was getting her briefcase and other stuff, and to stay low and quiet when she returned. The very next day, Mrs. E needed a substitute because she was late coming to work. When she finally arrived, she had a story to tell! She was almost to school, possibly on the last turn, “and I looked in my rearview mirror, and I saw this fuzzy face.” Sam was in the backseat, and he had almost succeeded in following his owner to work! She had to drive all the way home and drive back to Quarry Hill.
Sam the Cat was a black feline with a milk mustache and white paws. He was born in March 1980, and he outlived my older brother for years. I don’t know when the cat crossed the rainbow bridge, but Sam and the rest of Claire’s cats have reunited with her now.
To live 87 years is a long life, and she added so much to people’s lives. As I read through the commemorating article, I learned that she helped people her whole life. I didn’t know she had a tradition of finding out struggling families’ Christmas wishes, and clandestinely leaving presents on the doorsteps on Christmas morning. She did that for 40 years, almost half her life.
Mrs. Claire Eberhart was an angel on Earth, and now she has regained her wings and halo. She will be missed. She was the best teacher in my childhood, and I was lucky to know her.
