By: Angel Steiner
Three pillars of Antwerp Local School staff will hang their hats when the school year ends for the 2023-24 school year. The Antwerp School Board approved the retirement of Emily Tempel, Lynette Vail and Jon Short.
Emily Tempel started teaching in 1985 with her first job as a Reading Intervention Teacher in Napoleon, Ohio – which is her hometown. In 1986, she accepted a 4th grade teaching position at Antwerp Local Schools and has taught there ever since. She has stayed focused in her career as an elementary educator, teaching elementary students from grades 4 for 27 years and 3rd grade for 11 years. Tempel enjoyed teaching Math the best. She had been the Math teacher for several years for the 3rd and 4th grades. Social Studies is a close second when it comes to favorites for Mrs. Tempel. Third and fourth grades are great for interesting conversations with the students.
Sometimes challenges presented themselves to Tempel and she had a very wise perspective to share about some hard times in her teaching career. “I really can’t think of a teaching memory that would be considered a ‘worst’. All occupations have challenges and my teaching career did too but there weren’t any times that were bad. Covid years presented educational changes that were unwanted, but we had the attitude to make the difficult circumstances work. So to the best of our ability, we came up with new ways to teach students that were in the classroom and those who were not in the classroom.”
At the opposite end of that spectrum are those memories that just made you smile. Tempel enjoyed watching her students’ progress and grow over her 39 years in the classroom. The staff and parents that surrounded her and supported her teaching really made for a positive work environment for her. “Antwerp is a wonderful community with great kids and being able to be part of their school lives has been a privilege,” Tempel commented.
Even though retirement is a highly coveted mile marker for those who have been a part of the workforce for decades, there will be things that Emily will miss about her classroom. Getting to teach and be a part of students’ lives, knowing them personally from seeing them five days a week. She stated, “Kids are interesting little people and it’s been a lot of fun getting to witness firsthand the people they develop into,” and Tempel concluded, “I’ve been lucky to be associated with the Antwerp staff!”
Tempel is looking forward to having less schedules in her retirement days, and more freedom in her day to day agenda so she will be free to spend it with family and friends. “My current plan is to not have definite plans!”
Emily Tempel never intended to spend her teaching career at Antwerp Local School but a Kurt Tempel was teaching just down the hall from her classroom and they became friends and married a few years later.
Kurt began subbing in December 1986. Kurt was a long term sub for a maternity leave. Kurt taught several different grade levels and subject areas at Antwerp Local Schools until his retirement in 2023.
Emily and Kurt have a combine teaching career of 75 years. They also share three children and they had the privilege to teach each one of them. Their family has grown with the addition of two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law and a grandchild. The Tempel’s look forward to the freedom retirement will allow for them to more easily spend time together.
Lynette Vail began teaching in 1983 after graduating from Bowling Green State University. She started off subbing in area schools until she was offered her first official teaching position with Defiance County Schools teaching at Ayersville, Tinora Central Local and and Hicksville. Then in 1985 she interviewed for a teaching position at Antwerp School for sixth grade. And at Antwerp is where she stayed for the next 39 years. She taught 3rd grade for the first 15 years and then transitioned to 3rd grade when the opportunity arose, and this is where she stayed. Vail loves to teach reading, she enjoys seeing the students get excited about reading and watching their reading levels increase at the school year progresses. She especially enjoyed the units that centered around the classics like Charlotte’s Web, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Shiloh, and more recently Helen Keller.
Vail has many good memories about her time at Antwerp Local School, but one tragic memories was the year that the space shuttle Challenger exploded, “I remember that the principal knocked on my door and told me that the space shuttle Challenger had exploded in space and everyone had died including Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to go in to space.” She also mentioned the horrific memory when the librarian told her that a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. Days like these tend to leave their mark.
But on the flip side, the good memories were too many to count, but Vail did recollect a more recent memory that she had a lot of fun with – Camp Read A Lot. The classroom was set up with scores, flashlights, and books. Students could read in their tents by a “fire” coming from the smart board. “I loved it when they asked, ‘Can we do this again tomorrow? This was fun!’” Another favorite memory is watching baby chicks hatch in the classroom. They do this project through the 4-H OSU Extension Office Students would make observations over the 21 day incubation period and Vail stated that it gave her so much joy to see the excitement the students had for this project.
Mrs. Vail is looking forward to a more relaxing daily schedules after she retires. Her family enjoys Hamilton Lake so she hopes to get there more often now, and she will have more time available for the hobbies she enjoys — scrapbooking, painting, reading, gardening, and cooking. She is going to miss th people at Antwerp School as well as working with the students on the special projects they did together. Teaching in the same school system for over three decades, Vail developed lifelong friendships with staff and students and their families. She feels blessed to work with an incredible staff of caring teachers, and she will miss them.
Lynette lives with her husband Pete and cat, Isabella in Antwerp. Their children have ventured out of Antwerp after college – Chelsea (with husband Marc) lives in Chicago; Taylor (husband Daric) also live in Chicago; and Alex lives in Allen Park, MI.
Jon Short began his teaching career in 1986 at Antwerp Local School. He has spent his career at Antwerp Local Schools investing in the Antwerp community by teaching children necessary math skills. He will be remembered as a middle school math teacher, but he also did a few years of Algebra I & II. Besides the classroom, Short coached golf, baseball, track and basketball in both boys and girls divisions. He spent three decades teaching young people athletic skills and mentoring them into adulthood through organized sports.
Short has so many good memories of being at Antwerp School it was hard to pinpoint just one to recollect. One that came to mind first was when the faculty dressed up as women and the students made them up. Being a part of the students’ daily lives means a lot to Mr. Short.
Short’s decision to retire after 38 years of teaching was a difficult one to make really, but he stated he is looking forward to spending more time with his growing family and do some traveling. He has grandchildren he is excited to spend more time with when he’s not in the classroom during the school year. When thinking about not being in the classroom next school year, he says he’s going to miss seeing the kids everyday and seeing their growth from 6th to 8th grade, so much maturity takes place during this time. He wants to take this time to thank the Antwerp school — “it was a great place to work – Its faculty are just the best. And Antwerp is a wonderful place live and raise a family.”
Jon and his wife Judi, have three children and three grandchildren of which this retirement will be a blessing for all.
Editor’s Note: Closing this article was bittersweet. It was more than the ending of a feature newspaper article, it was the ending of an era for the Antwerp community. My children grew up with their children. Bonds formed in a small town community like Antwerp are ones that last for a lifetime. Core memories of the years with these phenomenal educators and neighbors and community members will forever be held close to this heart. God bless you all … and enjoy your retirement. You all have earned it.
