MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – For decades, Patricia Wahlberg has been standing over the desks of students' at Myrtle Grove Elementary School in Miami Gardens.
She's watched generations of students work. Did they work any harder or better than their mothers or fathers? In many cases, she could tell you.
"I am teaching students, and I have taught their parents," Wahlberg said.
"She is this school," principal John Pace said. "She is the cornerstone of this school."
It might be more like she's the foundation. Wahlberg's family has been there since the school opened in 1958.
She attended as a child with her brothers. Before the last of her family graduated, her mother started working there. The year her mother quit in 1979, Patricia Wahlberg returned to teach.
"Next year is the first year there is not a Mullens or Wahlberg at Myrtle Grove in its history," Pace said.
After 36 years in the school's hallways, Wahlberg is finally raising her hand for retirement. She can no longer suspend the pain of 20 years of battling lupus.
She's lived a lifetime of memories in these classrooms, one in particular.
Wahlberg learned some of the most significant moments in American history in classroom 3.
"I was here when (President John F.) Kennedy was shot, here when the Challenger blew up," she said. "(I was) here when 9/11 happened. People say, 'Where were you?' I was in room 3 at Myrtle Grove."
She shares the kids' excitement of the long school year ending, but said it's not easy to give up a lifetime of teaching the 3 Rs, even for a little R and R.
"I think it's truly a gift. You can love children, but not everybody can teach children," she said. "I just love my kids. They steal your heart, they really do."
School is out for the summer. For Wahlberg, school is out forever. On the first day of the next school year, she'll be sailing on her first cruise.
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