I remember the summer before my fourth grade year at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School. I was really nervous. My teacher was going to be Marsha Powell who I heard was very strict and I was always a pleaser and was afraid of getting in trouble. I couldn’t have been more wrong about the woman who would end up being the most important teacher of my scholastic career.
Mrs. Powell, who had a deep love for her alma mater Auburn University, used to share the scores of every game the following Monday of school. She especially loves to make fun of the fact when Auburn would beat Georgia though let me say that was rare. Mrs. Powell was such a great teacher but I don’t remember as much how she taught but rather how she treated me. She was always so nice to me and would help me when I was asking questions. She also let me see a different side to her so let me explain.
The prior year my mom went on our school trip to Orlando as a chaperone because I needed someone to do my chest therapy. That next year while a student in Mrs. Powell’s class, we had another trip and Mrs. Powell was one of the teachers that was going. She had my mother teach her how to do the therapy so my mother didn’t have to go on a trip and I still remember Mrs. Powell doing my treatments and I never thought anyone but my parents would ever do them. It was somewhat of a relief. It was a brief glimpse of what it would look like to have some sense of normalcy.
And while we still laughed about the Auburn-Georgia rivalry, it wasn’t until a few decades later when I began my speaking career that Mrs. Powell asked me to speak at Mt. Vernon to the graduating class. It was an absolute honor and to have a little fun with it, I brought my Georgia hat and made her put it on since Georgia had beaten Auburn the previous year. She was a good sport about it. She ended up retiring in 2014 but not before making such a big difference in the school as the Mount Vernon School as it is known today has become one of the better private institutions in Atlanta.
I found out many months ago that she was battling metastatic breast cancer. I reached out to her and we emailed back-and-forth a few times but soon I never heard back and I knew that probably wasn’t a good thing.
I reached out to friends or their parents who knew her or attended church with her and they revealed to me that things were not good. Eventually I heard that she was in palliative care and last week Marsha Powell, the greatest teacher I ever had, passed away. She was only 69 years old.
The last few years we’ve talked about what a gift teachers are especially after everything they’ve had to deal with regarding the pandemic. I’ve known how great teachers are for a few reasons. My mom was a teacher and while I was never in her class, I got to see it first hand as her son. I miss her terribly. I will miss Marsha Powell terribly as well. She was an incredible teacher inside the classroom but especially out. I have kept in touch with many of my peers who at one point had Mrs. Powell as their teacher. She was truly unforgettable. My condolences to the family.
Mrs. Powell, thank you for revealing what normalcy looks like for someone like me and for loving your students like your own flesh and blood. Your legacy lives on through us.
Live your dreams and love your life.
Andy Lipman
#cfwarriorproject