Fifty years on!
Fifty years on!
Teacher reunites with her first students
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
It’s been 50 years since Lucy Bell arrived in New Town and a lot has changed. But for Bell, her memories are as vivid as the days she taught here.
Bell, who is now retired and living in Colorado Springs, Colo., wanted to return to New Town where she began her teaching career in 1961 and reunite with as many students as she taught.
She was 19 years old and the Fessenden native just completed her teaching degree at Minot State University before accepting a job to teach first grade in New Town. She said she eagerly began and although there were challenges for someone that young, things worked out well and the two years she spent here, shaped her entire career.
“I have taught for 35 years, but nothing was like those first two years,” Bell said. “It was my first time away from home and to be exposed to another culture....”
In fact, Bell said another teacher, Ida Keeney, took her under her wing and helped her a lot.
“Ida helped the young teachers a lot,” Bell said. “I was new and didn’t have a clue. She really turned me into a teacher.”
