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By Melissa Gaskill
In the Spotlight
Serving more than half a century, Kirbyville CISD's Pat Johnson stays the course
Every morning at 7:15, Pat Johnson, a special education counselor, takes his position on the driveway outside Kirbyville Elementary School, ready to open car doors and greet arriving students. It’s a morning routine he’s followed faithfully since 1957, when he took his first teaching job in this very community. Some of the Kirbyville CISD students he greets these days are the children — or even the grandchildren — of his former students.
In fact, Johnson taught Kirbyville Elementary Principal Beverly Hall when she was in the sixth grade, and he was her principal when she was in seventh and eighth grades.
“He is completely devoted to children and working with children,” Hall says. “I tell people he is one of the youngest people I have working in this building — young at heart, but at the same time, he is our wise old owl.”
Early beginnings
As a young man, Johnson joined the military to take advantage of the GI Bill, finish college and figure out what he wanted to do with his life. One Sunday, while reading Parade magazine, he saw an article about the need for history teachers. He had always loved history, so he decided on the spot to pursue a career in education.
While interviewing for his first teaching job, Johnson told the then-superintendent of Kirbyville CISD that he wanted to teach high school history. The superintendent reportedly looked 22-year-old Johnson up and down and said, “Son, I’ve got boys in high school older than you. How about elementary school?”
Johnson, who has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and a master’s degree in elementary education, spent the next 11 years in Kirbyville CISD, first as a sixth grade teacher and then as the elementary school principal. After that, he went on to Deer Park ISD, where he taught fourth grade for six years and spent another 20 years as a school counselor.
In 1993, Johnson announced his retirement, but it didn’t stick. He took a job as an elementary school counselor in Louisiana, where he stayed for seven years before returning to Kirbyville with the best of intentions to retire for good.
Yet, when Kirbyville CISD then-Superintendent Joseph Burns asked Johnson to serve as interim principal at Kirbyville Junior High, the wannabe retiree couldn’t stay away. He served in that capacity for almost a year before moving on to his current role as the special education counselor at Kirbyville Elementary.
“I like being a counselor, because I can be about the whole school,” says Johnson, whose responsibilities include kindergarten through third grade, as well as an adaptive behavior class. “I serve not just one classroom, but meet the needs of many.”
Johnson’s box of “professional tools” includes a selection of board games.
“Once you start playing checkers with a child, they talk,” he says. “I mostly listen. I’m still just playing checkers, but I can offer a few kind words.”
He remembers a particularly rewarding game of Connect Four when his young opponent looked at him and said with a smile, “You’re going to be my friend for life.”
Moments like that are what keep this 72-year-old educator going — that, and the activity level his work requires.
“I think the Lord put us here to be busy,” Johnson says. “That is what keeps me going: to have projects both on the job and at home.”
This summer, he and wife of more than 50 years, Maree, a retired teacher, will head north for their second trip across Alaska in their motor home. Johnson says he plans to be back in time to take his post on the Kirbyville Elementary driveway for the first day of school.
Kirbyville Elementary secretary Vondol Bailey, who attended junior high in Kirbyville CISD under then-Principal Johnson’s leadership, says her longtime friend is highly organized and reliable.
“I hope when I’m his age I’ll be that organized, “ she jests, adding that Johnson recently streamlined his operations even more by learning email.
“I’ve witnessed many changes over the years, but human nature stays the same,” Johnson says. “Children are still warm and receptive to one-on-one attention. Even though they have all this technology surrounding them, they still need a one-on-one warm body to visit with.”
That’s why, for much of his career, Johnson has made mentoring and personal visits to the homes of his students a priority.
“It’s important to get parents to not only understand and support the education system, but to become a true working partner in it,” he says. “A school’s climate has to be such that the parents and students feel like they’re part of a family and we’re all working together.”
Proud moments
Johnson considers his role in helping Kirbyville CISD fully integrate its schools in the 1960s as one of his most significant accomplishments. He was principal of the junior high at the time.
“There was a lot of tension in the air about it,” says Johnson, who recalls attending workshops with his fellow teachers and administrators on how to bring the different populations together. “[The community-building tactics] were mainly through sports, but there were other ways too. That’s really when I started doing my home visits. I did a lot of visiting and talking with families.
“I think both communities understood that I had respect for them,” he says. “It was a matter of doing the footwork, getting to know the families and the names of every student.”
His biggest hurdle today is trying to be in several places at once.
“Trying to reach out to all the children and their families at a school this big — 800 students — is a challenge,” he says. “But once we include parents as part of the team, we are ahead of the game. I can’t really solve the problem without reaching out and bringing the parents in.”
Over the years, Johnson has learned that educators have to take care of themselves to be of value in their jobs.
“You can’t really help other people until you’re kind to yourself,” he says. “Use your Saturday and Sunday as a small vacation so you can start fresh. Slow down and smell the roses.”
True to his word, Johnson keeps a garden, and he and Maree have a campsite at Toledo Bend, where they enjoy weekends sitting on the pier and watching the boats and the wildlife. Johnson stays active in his church and the local theater, and he and Maree enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren. The Johnsons have three children: Patricia Records, who works in human resources for NASA; Laurine Farmer, a third grade teacher; and David Johnson, who serves on the parole board for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Johnson admits: “As long as I’m still kicking, I’ll be dealing in some way with children. That’s my number-one priority.”
That’s just fine with Principal Hall.
“The kids love him,” she says. “This is his calling in life.”
MELISSA GASKILL is an Austin writer who regularly contributes to Family Fun, Texas Highways and Texas Parks & Wildlife.
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