mossie meadows

Last week a friend told me about his great aunt, who—besides having the fabulous name Mossie Meadows—was also memorable for her generous and spirited approach to life. Mossie taught school in a small coal-mining town in Kentucky while raising two sons after her husband died in one of the mines just a few years into their marriage.

Mossie taught the value of relationships in addition to reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Each day she drove a horse-drawn wagon from house to house, collecting the community’s children and transporting them to school. If she discovered a mother sick in bed or recovering from the birth of a baby she instructed every child to clamber down from the wagon and milk the cows, build the fire, and prepare the breakfast. Only after that household was ready for the day did Miss Meadows continue the route. “Official” school may have started later, but the kids learned valuable lessons those days.

This focus on others occasionally benefited Mossie herself. One day, following the time-honored tradition of going to work sick and infecting everyone else, Mossie became so ill and weak she could barely stand. She lay down on a wooden table in the school room and awoke hours later, uncomfortably warm and looking at dozens of little eyes all peering back at her. The worried children had circled the table, each spreading his coat across Mossie and then silently standing guard.

Mossie taught school for more than forty years. No one “important” knew her name but she influenced thousands of young lives, and now her influence extends to me. Instead of grumbling about a situation (as I’ve been known to do), Mossie did the best she could with a strong faith, a marketable skill, and a good attitude. Her entire life became her greatest teachable moment, reminding students like me never to underestimate the value of one humble life, well lived.