PAULETTE GETZ BOGAN

I went to a one-room school for the first six years of my education.  I was the only student in first and second grade, and one of only three students in fifth and sixth grades.  When we were in the upper grades, we helped the younger students with their lessons.  Playing at home with my sister and friends, I always wanted to play school, and, of course, be the teacher!   

I didn’t really think much about my future.  No one in my family had ever gone to college.  After graduation, I expected to get a job, no particular field in mind.  But a few sentences from Mr. Hunsicker one day in 8th grade changed all that.  I went up to his desk to turn in a test, and he asked me what I was going to do after high school.  I said “get a job.”  He said, “Oh, I think you would make a good teacher.”  I did love school and loved to “play teacher!”  That seed that Mr. Hunsicker’s question planted in my brain, stayed there.  From then on, whenever we were asked our future plans on those forms we had to fill out for guidance, I wrote that I was going to be a teacher.  My family thought it was “a waste of time to educate a female,” so they did not support my attending college.  I applied for college anyway and was accepted at West Chester State College where I wanted to become a French teacher.  Starting in junior year, Miss Laubach developed in me the love of all things French (which has endured to this day)!    


Miss Laubach, Paulette and Diana Wuchter

Immediately after graduation I went to work in a garment factory and I earned enough for my first semester college tuition.  By working in the factories summers and holidays, and working various on-campus jobs, I paid my way through college.  (My parents paid for my junior year studying in France because I couldn’t afford that.)  In my 30+ year career, I was a French and Spanish teacher, a department head, and eventually a high school principal.  Most of my career was spent in private Catholic schools – Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Holy Ghost Prep in Bensalem, Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT.  (I took 12 years off from teaching to marry Joe, an electrician, and to raise our three daughters.)

When my husband and I bought property on Lake Champlain in Vermont, I decided I wanted to move there permanently instead of just use it as a summer place.   I was principal of a public high school in Bristol, VT for seven years before retiring.  I often wonder what my life would have been like if Mr. Hunsicker had never asked me that question!

I am now into “phase 2” of my life.  After retiring, I opened Button Bay B&B in our house on the lake.  We are now in our fifth season and I have been enjoying it very much.  We’ve had super guests and I still have time to hike, bike, walk, garden, kayak, snowshoe, ski, and travel, and most importantly, enjoy our three grandsons!  I can set my own schedule!

In my career and personal life, I developed my guiding principle – always leave a person, place or thing better than it was when you found it.  I have always tried to live up to that. 

We have a sign in our rec room, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and it certainly has been for me.

 

Paulette Getz Bogan and Husband Joe