Students and teacher reunite – as villa residents

Most of us have fond childhood memories of a favorite teacher, yet it’s rare to become friends and neighbors with them later in life. 

When that happens, it sets the stage for good conversation, reminiscing and laughter. Stories flowed easily when villa residents Carol Ann Draper and Janet Bretey reunited with Lois Wishmeyer recently to recall Lois’s classroom at Washington-Emerson Elementary School in Independence, Iowa, in 1950. 

Friends since kindergarten, Janet and Carol Ann were in Lois’s third-grade classroom together. “Lois was a wonderful teacher. We loved her so much and I remember more about her class than any other in elementary school,” says Carol Ann. 

At some point during that school year, Lois and her brother took a trip to Washington, D.C.  “When she came home, we were all excited. She didn’t just say, ‘I had this trip.’ She explained where she went and told us about the things she saw. You just can’t imagine how wonderful that was for us at that age,” says Carol Ann, who told this story at their table when Lois was honored at Eight Over Eighty in June, with Lois’s nephew – her brother’s son – in attendance. 

Janet also remembered with a laugh the time Lois gave her students strict instructions for recess. “It was a cold winter day and Lois decided to tell us not to put our tongue on the monkey bars. Big mistake. Carol and I couldn’t wait to get out there and we both did it! Unfortunately, I went home for lunch and we had chili!” 

Lois taught third grade for three years before she married and moved to California. After returning to Independence, she became a secretary at the junior high – just at the time her previous third-graders were attending.  Lois then came to Cedar Falls in 1962 when her husband became employed at UNI. 

Lois reconnected with Carol Ann first when they volunteered together at Sartori Hospital and again when Carol Ann and her husband moved into a villa 11 years ago. Today, Janet and Carol Ann only live a few villas apart and see Lois often.  

When asked how she remembers Janet and Carol Ann as students, Lois replied, “Janet and Carol Ann are just as much fun and full of life today as they were in third grade.