Hall retires after serving 38 years as K-12 educator

DECATUR — Longtime Decatur teacher and librarian JoAnne Hall celebrated her retirement with friends, family and colleagues at the Highlands Restaurant in Bella Vista on Wednesday.

Hall has served for 38 years as a teacher, 33 of which she spent at the Decatur School District.

She began her career in teaching, first in Nashville, Tenn., and then in El Paso, Texas, before settling in Decatur. Hall spent herfirst 12 years in Decatur teaching at the elementary level, before moving into the position of high school librarian, she said.

Over the years, Hall has seen a number of teachers come and go, but caring for the students has kept her in Decatur. Only two or three of the teachers that were in Decatur when Hall started are still at the school, she said.

Now, Hall said, she has come to feel like a grandma to many of her students because she saw their parents graduate from Decatur. She saidher second generation of students graduated several years ago, and now she is beginning to see some of their children in school.

Hall said her favorite memories over her career are working with students and helping her fellow teachers. She enjoyed helping her students do research and finding the books they like to read.

Teaching seems to run in Hall’s family. Her daughter will soon complete a degree in education and make the fourth generation in Hall’s family to teach. Both Hall’s mother and grandmother were teachers, and now her two young granddaughters say - with sparkling eyes - that they also plan to teach, making for the promise of a fifth generation.

“I am so proud that Decatur got quite a few students this year,” she said.

Hall has seen the district through a number of ups and downs but is glad to see the school going strong as she ends her career.

In her retirement, Hall said, she plans to take it easy and help her husband Jimmy with his business.

She also plans to spend more time with her pets - two dogs, a cat and a bird.

Even so she will miss the teachers and students she has grown to love.

“I really do care about the students,” she said.