More Than a Classroom:
How Education Led Me to Build a Village

Teaching has been at the heart of my life for over fifty years. From my early days as a special education teacher in Pennsylvania to my time as a professor at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, my passion has always been rooted in identifying student needs and finding ways to meet them.

Growing up in a military family, I experienced firsthand the challenges of an inconsistent education. In the 1950s, schools near the Norfolk Naval Base were overcrowded, and I attended school for only three hours a day. When my family moved to Pennsylvania, I found myself academically behind and struggling to adjust. To make matters worse, my teacher forced me to write with my non-dominant hand, making me feel even more out of place. I hated school. I felt stupid. But my mother refused to let me fall through the cracks—she tutored me daily, pushing me to catch up and believe in myself. Looking back, I now see how that experience shaped my path into special education. I understood what it felt like to need a teacher who truly saw you, who believed in your potential even when you doubted yourself.

That sense of purpose carried me through seven years of teaching special education in public schools, then through my doctoral studies at the University of South Carolina, and finally into a long and fulfilling career at Winthrop University. There, I didn’t just teach future educators—I built programs that connected students, teachers, and communities meaningfully.

One of those initiatives, Phone Friend, provided an after-school talk line for elementary students across York County. For seventeen years, my special education majors answered calls from children—many of them latchkey kids—who just needed someone to listen. Another program, WINGS (Winthrop’s Involvement in Nurturing and Graduating Students), paired middle school boys with Winthrop student mentors, creating bonds long after the program ended. Some of those young men still meet up today, reminiscing about the friendships and guidance that shaped them. And then there was the traveling puppet show, where our college students introduced young children to characters with disabilities, teaching lessons about inclusion in ways only storytelling can.

I retired after thirty years at Winthrop—but I wasn’t done. I served twelve years on the university’s Board of Trustees and later worked alongside my husband, Jim Rex, during his time as South Carolina’s State Superintendent of Education. Then, I found myself drawn to Fairfield County, where I co-founded the Fairfield County School District Education Foundation with one goal: addressing the recruitment and retention of teachers in our rural district.

That’s when I took the biggest leap of my career—not in a classroom or university, but in housing development.

With a land gift from the school district and critical financial support, we spent eight years building the first residential community for teachers in South Carolina. What started as an idea has grown into something real: 16 homes for teachers, plus one for University of South Carolina education majors completing their senior year internship in a rural school. And by summer 2025, we’ll have 9 more homes, thanks to generous contributions from United Way of the Midlands, the Central Carolina Community Foundation, and TruVista Corporation.

I never expected to become a housing developer. But life has a way of taking you exactly where you’re meant to be.

At every stage of my career, I have been surrounded by passionate, dedicated people who believe in the power of caring, connecting, and creating something new where it’s needed most. Whether it was helping a struggling child find their confidence, mentoring future educators, or now, providing teachers with a place to call home, the work has always been about the same thing—building something that lasts.

Creating new solutions to persistent problems is incredibly fulfilling – and with any luck, I’m far from finished.