Alma Starr would wash the faces and hands of her students if necessary. She bought supplies for those without. She greeted students with calls of "sweetie" and "cutie."
She built up self-esteem, regardless of where you lived, your family ties or your academic acumen. She had a goal: to nurture minds.
"We didn't have anyone picking on anybody because she made sure everybody was clean and had on clean clothes," said Valeria Dean-Richardson, an Atlantan who was in her pre-kindergarten class at E.R. Carter Elementary. "After lunch, everybody got a good wiping off of the mouth. She was a teacher who had a heart."
Alma Albrittian Bell Starr started teaching during the early years of the federal Head Start program. Educating pre-kindergartners became the anchor of a 42-year career with Atlanta Public Schools.
Last Wednesday, the Atlanta educator died from complications of an infection at Piedmont Hospital. She was 82. A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Thornton Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Starr's family hailed from Greensboro, Ga., but this youngest child of three was born in Chicago during a trip to visit relatives. She earned a bachelor's degree from Morris Brown College and, while employed by Atlanta schools, received her master's degree from what was then Atlanta University.
When Head Start was launched in the mid-1960s, Mrs. Starr and other educators went door to door to ensure blacks enrolled in the pioneering program.
"I remember my mother talking about how she tried to drum up students," said Mrs. Dean-Richardson, whose two adult children also had Mrs. Starr in pre-k. "If you had been in her classes, all the other [upper-level] teachers wanted you in their classrooms. They knew you knew something."
In class, Mrs. Starr often played classical music, a practice that drew praise from state education officials. Her son, Frank L. Bell Jr. of Atlanta, said his mother partly inspired former Gov. Zell Miller to secure private funding in 1998 to give classical music CDs to every baby born in Georgia.
"My mother instilled in her students a love for learning at an early age," he said. "She knew self-image had a lot to do with helping them to learn."
Mrs. Starr attended Ebenezer Baptist Church and befriended the families of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., and his iconic son. She occasionally drove the latter King to the airport for trips related to civil rights issues, her son said.
"Often, he would stop by the house and just consult with her," said Mr. Bell, who has original copies of thank-you notes the civil rights leader penned to his mother. "I witnessed this and was 15 at the time of his assassination."
In retirement, the teacher continued her caring ways. She would buy bottled water and snacks for Zone 1 Atlanta police officers to stock in their squad cars, Detective Keith Foster said.
"She had a big heart," he said.
There are no additional survivors.
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