As preschool teacher Elizabeth Marshall retires, many speak fondly of the genteel life with "Miss Elizabeth."
By MICHELE MILLER
Published June 4, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY - The daily tea parties held in Miss Elizabeth's preschool classroom were legendary. So were the tooth fairy pillows she made for her students, the milk jug igloos she built to celebrate letter "I" week and the makeshift tents created in haste to ease children's fears when thunderstorms rolled in.
Those were just some of the memories shared by teachers and former students of "Miss Elizabeth" Marshall as they celebrated her retirement with an "Ultimate Tea Party" held May 23 at the Genesis School west campus.
There was pink lemonade, raspberry iced tea and tables laden with mostly homemade treats. Pictures and photograph albums were laid out that spanned Mrs. Marshall's 26 years at the school. A plaque was given in her honor and a hand-stitched quilt was made bearing loving messages from well-wishers who had come to know her.
Wearing a flowered lime green dress, hat and matching shoes and looking like she was holding court, Mrs. Marshall sat in the guest-of-honor seat, set against a backdrop of white lattice decorated with flowers and rose-colored netting.
"Is this style and grace or what?" she asked, while others milled about in their own fancy attire.
Style and grace was certainly in order for the genteel lady who came to New Port Richey in 1977 from Charleston, S.C.
"She's a dainty lady - a real Southern lady," said preschool teacher Annabelle Walters. "We love her so."
Over the years, Mrs. Marshall, 71, held a variety of jobs. At age 14 she made Easter baskets and dressed windows at the local Woolworth's. She worked in retail and was an assistant manager at a golf club. "I've been on the (Social Security) rolls for 56 years," she said with a laugh.
Working with 3-year-olds at Genesis has helped to keep her young, Mrs. Marshall said. "I love it - especially story time. They're all just so ready to listen."
She also enjoyed the strong support of faculty at the small school.
"We've seen each other through all sorts of tragedies. There's such a feeling of family here," she said. "But I have congestive heart failure and my legs bother me. I just can't do the things I used to."
So, after 26 years of teaching at Genesis, Mrs. Marshall packed up her child-size china teapots - save for the ones she gave away to this year's class.
While there was a lot of dish washing involved for her, Mrs. Marshall said the tea parties held at snack times were "just another learning tool." The children learned how to count place settings, how to set a table, how to pour, and were well-rehearsed in those all-important lessons in table manners. When the cookies were broken, she'd tell her students "these are puzzle cookies," so no one would fret, said Mrs. Marshall. "And we always had Mozart" playing.
At Easter she decorated straw hats for the girls and brought bouquets and boutonnieres for the annual tea party at Only the Best in downtown New Port Richey.
"For years we never told them (students) there was a bathroom there (at the restaurant), so no one asked to go to the bathroom," she said. "They were so good. They never broke anything."
"She is the coolest woman I ever met," said former student Sarah Urbanski, who's now 22 and attends the University of Central Florida. "The tea parties were really a big deal."
"I remember the tea parties, but the reason I came to this school was because of the tents," said Urbanski's sister, 27-year-old Lynn Gill. "I remember it was raining the day my mother brought me. Miss Elizabeth had purple fabric hanging from the ceiling. She poked her head out and invited me in. She told me, "In the tent you're safe.' My mother knew then that this was the school for me."
"I think the most important thing she taught me was how you could be grand no matter what you had," Gill said. "We had some adventurous times in her classroom. It's a whole 'nother world in there."
