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Ashley News Observer- Features
THE BUS RIDE HOME: Donna Williams
(Editor's note: This is the first in a four-part series about retiring local school employees.)
Once the current academic year concludes, Donna Williams will retire from teaching music in the Hamburg School District and move back to her hometown of Paragould with her husband.
"The reason I'm retiring now is my husband has been ill, and he's reached his retirement age, so I'm going to retire, too," the 18-year teaching veteran said.
She said once she is finished with school, she plans to spend her time taking care of her home and helping her husband stay well. Also, she said that she wants to compose a little bit, since her favorite hobby is writing children's music.
Williams recently composed a song for her students to sing in celebration of the World Famous Armadillo Festival in Hamburg. She said that it is a short song about armadillos that includes a dance which her students really enjoyed.
"I keep telling the kids music comes out of life," Williams said. "When there's an event, someone will write a song about it, or if they're just in a silly mood, they'll write a song that's kind of silly. So I try to make the music we're doing relate to something that's going on."
Williams said that sometimes she gets ideas from her students.
"Even with little kindergarten kids, if we're doing something and they do it a little bit differently, then I think 'That's a better way,'" Williams said. "So we'll do it that way."
Williams has spent eight years as a music teacher in Hamburg; however, she started her career in Atlanta, where her husband was in seminary. Williams taught physical-education there before deciding that she wanted a change of pace.
"Finally, I decided I didn't want to teach physical education anymore, and I wanted to go into music, so that's what I did—I went back to ASU," Williams said.
Williams got her music certification from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and then taught music to third graders in Blytheville for five years before finally making her way to Hamburg.
She said that she has loved her time in Hamburg. She said that knowing the faculty, staff and administration is a real pleasure.
"They have allowed me to do a lot of things in music, and they have supported music," Williams said. "Once I figured out how everything was put together, it was easy, and I was supported by the faculty.
"I’m very proud of the Hamburg schools’ foundation, and the reason I’m proud of them is they have supported every time I’ve asked them to bring somebody in," she added. "They have supported it and helped finance it or financed the whole thing."
Williams said that it is hard to retire from a job you really like.
"My favorite part of teaching is seeing kids getting interested in things and watching them grow," she said.
© Copyright 2005 Ashley County Publishing, Inc.
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