Essie Bowles

There have been many mentors who have molded my life:  broadcasters, ministers, teachers, family, neighbors, friends.  One teacher in particular gave me a repeated lesson in practical match.  This one was the junior high math teacher at what was known “back in the day” as Memphis State Training School, a lab school on the college campus for teaching college students to be teachers.  One in particular, my junior high math teacher, did this:

Essie Bowles "tried" to teach me math. She finally managed to teach me some when I cut her grass one summer. I usually charged $1 per yard. She said she'd pay me 65 cents per hour instead. So I did...and each time she'd time me, have me then sit at her kitchen table, show me how many minutes I worked, and have me figure out how much she owed. And it was always more than $1.