February 12, 2003

School's out for veteran teacher

Ruth Knitz retires after 41-year teaching career

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

      Ruth Knitz said her good-byes at the end of the semester, but she cannot get her students out of her heart.
      Retiring from Long Lake Elementary School last month after a 41-year teaching career, Knitz carries hundreds of children in her heart and memory. After decades of working with lower elementary children, Knitz hung up her chalk and pencils to share a retirement with her husband, John.
      It was a bittersweet goodbye for the devoted educator.
      "Retirement was a hard decision to make but I know that I've touched the lives of many kids in my teaching career and that has really made it worthwhile to me," said Knitz, who over the years with her husband has been a regular at her former students' graduations and weddings. "I still have kids who call me and say, 'Remember I wanted to be a teacher, I'm teaching at this school now."
      Knitz began her career in Toledo, spending 12 years there before moving to Traverse City with her husband in 1973. In the Traverse City Area Public Schools district, she has taught first and second grades as well as first/second and second/third split classes at Bertha Vos, Cherry Knoll, Willow Hill and Long Lake Elementary schools. She spent the last seven years of her career at Long Lake Elementary School.
      "I've had so many changes teaching so many grades, that's why I've always loved it and never got bored," Knitz said. "I love teaching splits, though I will admit it is a lot of work but I'm a very organized person. I love challenging kids in those grades and integrating the curriculum that goes with that."
      Connie Wood has been both a colleague of Knitz's and a parent who had two sons in her classes during their early elementary years. Both professionally and personally, Wood admired Knitz's meticulous organization and constant stream of ideas and enthusiasm for her students.
      "I think she was an exceptional teacher and certainly loved kids and showed that," said Wood, a first-grade teacher at Long Lake Elementary School. "I feel a little emptiness inside because I've known her so long, always felt confident going and talking to her."
      As a parent, Wood also appreciated Knitz's skills in creating a harmonious and stimulating learning environment. She saw her young sons flourish in Knitz's classrooms years ago and her oldest declares Knitz his favorite teacher.
      "My oldest son was with a group of kids who never heard an unkind word about anybody in that room," said Wood, a mother of two high schoolers. "She helped foster that environment."
      Knitz said her family's relocation to Traverse City 30 years ago was prompted by her husband's love of outdoor activities and hunting. She kept vetoing a move to the Upper Peninsula and eventually they compromised on Traverse City. They visited a family member in town one weekend and wound up purchasing property.
      A few summers later their home was built and they prepared to move even though Knitz did not have a job. She had headed to Toledo to finish packing over Labor Day weekend when her husband called her, telling her she had an interview at Bertha Vos Elementary School. Knitz, a reluctant flyer, jumped on a plane that night for an interview the next day with then principal LaDore Ray. The two hit it off but Knitz headed back to Toledo still uncertain of her fate as the other candidate was a close friend of Ray's.
      The good news came just hours before she headed north permanently.
      "The telephone man was there and I'm standing there crying in Toledo as he was disconnecting the phone," recalled Knitz, who has a bachelor's and master's degree from Mary Manse College.
      Lower elementary grades have always been her favorite and Knitz delights in the children's excitement about learning at that age.
      "In the first grade they grow so much and come in so eager," she said.
      Knitz said she always wanted to be a teacher and as a girl taught her siblings in a classroom she set up in her bedroom. Later, she helped the nuns at her Catholic school in Toledo teach religious education classes during the summer.
      "I've always just loved the thought of teaching school," Knitz said. "I had my bedroom fixed all up as a classroom, with a chalk board and a bulletin board, and my three brothers and one sister had school."
      "I guess I've always had teaching in my blood."