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Sunday, May 18, 2008
Honoring a natural
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Her classroom looked like a veteran’s, not like a rookie’s.
Teachers at Level Creek Elementary School were impressed. But if they’d known Lindsay Hammon as a child, they would have known to expect it.
“From the time she was a little girl, her favorite play activity was teaching,” said Linda Hammon, her mom. “If her students weren’t real people, she’d use whatever she could find. Everyone who saw her in action thought she was the best. Teaching was a natural progression for her.”
Lindsay started baby-sitting at a young age. She taught preschool classes for several years at Snellville United Methodist Church. The 2002 South Gwinnett High grad studied early childhood education at the University of Georgia, graduating magna cum laude. Last year, she was hired to teach kindergarten at Suwanee’s Level Creek. Fit right in.
“Her enthusiasm was contagious,” teacher Sandy Bass said. “Her love for children was infectious.”
Lindsay spent the summer of 2006 preparing her classroom - buying supplies, decorating, organizing. In one corner, she placed a large red and black wooden stagecoach. “The Reading Express,” she called it.
“She had fabulous materials and a sense of organization that you would expect from someone who’d been teaching many, many years,” Hammon told me.
The first day of school was Aug. 14, 2006. That morning, Lindsay was in the bathroom. Her fiance’ heard what sounded like the thump of a body hitting the floor. At 22, her heart had stopped. The probable cause of death was ruled as idiopathic cardiac dysrhythmia.
“They tried to make a determination,” said Hammon, a paraprofessional at Grayson Elementary. “But that’s their best guess. She had been a healthy, vibrant girl. She had not been in pain or had any problems.
“We don’t have a complete explanation, except that it was her time.”
The Level Creek staff had planned to designate an area on the playground in their colleague’s memory. They’d wanted to install picnic tables, erect a bronze plaque and plant trees. The drought squashed those plans. Fortunately, a secondary entrance on campus already had crape myrtle trees. It was an ideal spot for tables, benches, learning, reflection.
“We pass it every day coming into school,” Principal Nancy Kiel said. “Lindsay was such a bright light and inspiration. Each day as we walk in, this will help us frame our day, get back to what is important.”
At 4 p.m. today, Level Creek will host a ceremony to unveil the Lindsay Nicole Hammon Memorial Outdoor Classroom. It has four handmade stone tables and three benches. The “teacher bench” is topped with stained glass and has a granite plaque with an inscription chosen by Lindsay’s mother.
“Children, teaching, laughter and love were in her heart,” it states. “Now and forever, we hold her in ours.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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