Grade One Teacher

Mrs. Alinday-the Grade One Teacher

When Lola Coring moved to Carmen, Cebu with Lolo Jose and their eldest child in 1943, her first teaching assignment was in Cantumog. Lolo managed to build a house just adjacent to the school and during break time Lola would go home to breastfeed. While Lola was teaching fulltime in Cantumog, Lolo was the one looking after the children while doing miscellaneous jobs to augment the family income. In 1954, two years after their youngest child was born, Lolo left for Agusan to work as overseer in the hacienda owned by the in-laws of his cousin, Lolo Pepe Alfonso, son of Lola Soling.

In 1955, Lola was transferred to the Carmen proper's elementary school and she was teaching Grade One pupils in Carmen Central School until she retired in 1983. She made lasting impact on her students and the mere mention of her name would bring back memories of their lively and scary schooldays with her. Lively because she could be very encouraging and motivating when she could see that the situation called for it, but at times scary because when pupils misbehaved, her pointer stick would do the disciplining and at times it could turn out really nasty.

In our small sitio, people remember her more as Mrs. Alinday, the teacher than anything else. She used to tag along her two granddaughters to her classes and when class pictures are taken before the close of each school year, her two granddaughters are made to sit on two small chairs in front. When the granddaughters started going to school themselves with other Grade One teachers, the mere mention of the fact that they were granddaughters of Mrs. Alinday would send the bullies running for safety.