Saturday, May 17, 2025
In the past, I have written a column or two telling you about my friend Jayne Austin. She is soon to be 94 years old, and we have been amazing friends for almost 20 years. Jayne was born in Durant, Oklahoma but lived with her husband Marcus in Gainesville for the bulk of their married life. Marcus was a band instructor and later a school administrator, while Jayne taught music at the elementary school level. About two years ago, I moved Jayne to a care facility near my house so she could be closer, and I could see her almost every day. It was hard for her to move from her longtime home, but with no living children, husband, or family located anywhere nearby, she realized it made a lot of sense for us to be in the same town, so I could see she was being taken care of properly and bring her the things she needs.
She has adjusted amazingly well to the move and has made several good friends at the facility where she is staying. She plays a lot of bingo and Yahtzee, and I enjoy stopping by after work and seeing how her day went and how she is faring. We have a special friendship, which I think can be a little confusing for some people. They don’t understand how we can be so close when we are not from the same family. When asked the nature of our relationship, Jayne will commonly respond, “We are not related by blood, but we are related by love, and that is even better.” I think that probably says it all.
One day this week when I visited Jayne, I got a real surprise. I walked into her room, and she looked up, and before I could say anything, she spouted, “You will never guess what happened today.” Immediately, my mind went to 1,000 places and, frankly, most of them were negative places. My confusion grew, because Jayne seemed to be excited in a positive way.
She continued, “One of the aides came to tell me today that a person who is now living on the second floor thinks I taught her in school.” Evidently, the person in question is very shy, but somehow, she had heard the name Jayne Austin being talked about in the facility and she wondered if it could be the same Ms. Austin who taught her in school so many years ago. Jayne did not recognize the lady’s last name because, of course, it was her married name, but arrangements were made, and the lady made the trek from the second floor to Jayne’s room on the first floor. Come to find out, more than 70 years ago, the woman had indeed been in one of Jayne’s classes! Even though the aide said the now 82-year-old woman was exceedingly shy, she sat and talked to Jayne for more than two hours. They talked about some of the other children in the class and what had ever become of them as they grew up, while filling in the details of each other’s lives. They laughed and listened, and for a few brief moments they were young again. They were a teacher and a student, and the respect and love were mutual.
I am not sure when I have seen Jayne happier than she was that afternoon, and from the reports I got from the aides at the facility, the same was true of the long-ago student.
Who would have imagined the two would be reunited, so many years later, in a care facility 100 miles from where their paths had originally crossed? My lesson was you never know the impact you have on another person’s life and how crossing paths might make an impression that lasts forever. Thank goodness for teachers, and God bless the students who respect and never forget them.
Thought for the day: “Teachers affect eternity: no one can tell when their influence stops.” — Henry Brooks Adams
Until next time…I will keep ridin’ the storm out!
