Dedication to education

Retired Torrington teacher keeps her hand in

Andrew D. Brosig
Posted 3/9/18

Kaye Lively has a heart for education, something she comes by naturally.

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Dedication to education

Retired Torrington teacher keeps her hand in

Posted

TORRINGTON – Kaye Lively has a heart for education, something she comes by naturally.

Her father, A.G. Peterson, served as superintendent of several Nebraska schools and her mother, Ann, taught in rural schools in the late 1920s and into the 1930s. When it came time for Kaye to attend college, there was really only one direction she wanted to go.

“I come from an education family,” she said. “We were always encouraged to get the most education we could.”

Kaye was one of four daughters growing up. She joked her father, A.G., always said his home was actually run by the “Petticoat Government – his four daughters and his wife.”

Both her parents had attended Chadron State College in Nebraska, so it was also natural Kaye and her sisters would, as well, she said. Her course of study? What else but elementary education with a minor in library science and social studies.

After college, Kaye got her first job, teaching sixth-grade social studies at Torrington Junior High. But, despite the rigors of teaching, she wasn’t done learning herself.

“During the summers, we loaded everything in my husband’s car and headed back to Chadron,” she said. “He worked while I studied for my Master’s (Degree) in Education.

“I was inspired by my mother,” Kaye said. “The way she saved what she called her ‘chicken money,’ she called it. She’d go to school for a couple of years, then had to come home to care for the family. But she always went back.”

Kaye temporarily “retired” from teaching in 1968 when her first son, Kelly, was born. But, within a just a couple of years, she was called back to teaching, this time taking over running the school library at Torrington High School.

She started teaching fourth grade in the old Lincoln School, taking another short break when her daughter, Karri, was born in 1972. But was soon back in the classroom, this time teaching fifth-grade at the Pioneer School, located across the street from the Goshen County Courthouse.

“That was an interesting place to work,” Kaye said. “We had large, steam boilers in the basement for heating and my classroom was clear up on the third floor. The radiators would hiss and steam and just make a lot of noise in the winter.”

Kaye stayed with fifth grade at Pioneer until the then-new Trail Elementary opened and staff and students made the move there. She remained at Trail until she retired from the district in 1999.

“I was blessed, working with very dedicated teacher friends and teaching many wonderful students in all of these five buildings,” Kaye said. 

One of the highlights now is running into former students, she said. 

“They always say, ‘I bet you don’t know who I am.’” Kaye said. “Some of them I know immediately – they have the same smile or some other body language. A few, I have to ask their name.”

Regardless, she said, they always greet her with “Hello, Mrs. Lively,” she said.

“My response to them is, ‘We are now friends. Please call me Kaye,’” Kaye said. “They’ll always say, ‘You’ll always be Mrs. Lively to me.’ I still treasure each and every hug from my former students.”

Retired from teaching, but by no means done with life, Kaye decided to pursue another interest she’d had – retail. With a partner, Dianne Osback, she adopted the mantle of business owner, taking over operation of the Country at Heart store in Torrington. It was a new, and fun, experience, working with the public, she said. 

But she couldn’t stay out of the classroom. Today, Kaye works with the Adult Learning Center at Eastern Wyoming College, helping students prepare for high school equivalency testing, English as a second language training, or adults who simply want to further their education, assisting and sometimes guiding them on a career path. She finds working with adult students as rewarding as she did working with young children.

“Each student we meet has their own experiences,” Kaye said. “It’s so rewarding to see them get their equivalency, see them move on in life, to help an adult learn.”

And, occasionally, she can be found working as a substitute in Goshen County Schools.

“It’s a career passion,” Kaye said. “I call it my career passion.”

After careers in education and retail, she discovered later in life she also had developed a passion for travel. Kaye credits her work teaching social studies with helping awaken that interest now, noting a dream had always been to cruise the Mediterranean, a dream that came true in 2010.

But her abiding passion now revolves around working with the Beta Sigma Phi sorority and the Ladies Night Out for Breast Cancer events in Goshen County, a disease that touched her family
intimately. 

“I lost a sister to breast cancer,” Kaye said. “Many of our performers have also lost someone to breast cancer. We’re all committed to make this a service to our community.”

Throughout the years, from her days as a student to her work teaching and beyond, Kaye Lively has embraced life with gusto. She’s even adopted the phrase Carpe Diem, the Latin for “Seize the Day,” as something of a personal mantra.

“My son had a teacher who put that on every paper he handed out to students,” Kaye said. “I was always inspired by that – to seize the day, to make the best of every day.”