The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Teacher Citizen of the Year
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 10, 2008
Some people after much searching uncover their life's calling. Others stumble across it Still others never identify it.
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A few are born to it.
Betsy Marl is among those few.
Named this year's Saline Salutes Citizen of the Year, Marl knew she wanted to be a teacher since the third grade.
"Dorothy Stimpson was my third-grade teacher," Marl said. "From that moment on, I always wanted to be a teacher. She had such a passion for the job. She really went above and beyond."
Above and beyond is how many describe Marl's commitment to teaching.
"She stands outside the range of great teachers," said longtime friend and colleague Kim Van Hoek. "She is a once-in-a-lifetime teacher. She makes all the kids feel they are important. That's a gift."
Marl, 54, has taught first grade in Saline for 31 years. She is now teaching the children of students she taught. Countless siblings have passed through her classroom.
"I have kids that have just been waiting to get here," she said.
Marl earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Eastern Michigan University in 1975 and began substitute teaching in Saline the following year. Two years later, she began teaching first grade full time and has since taught at Houghton, Union, Pleasant Ridge and now Woodland Meadows Elementary School.
"I have found that I can teach anywhere," she said.
A lifelong Saline resident, born and raised in a house on Russell Street, Marls' mother worked for years at the old Leitheuser's Restaurant, and her father worked at Ford Motor Co. and the funeral home downtown for 40 years. Marl married her husband, Gary, in 1976 and had their son, Brian, in 1984. Brian now lives in her childhood home on Russell Street.
That kind of rootedness pervades Marl's life and she has incorporated it into her teaching.
Her reach and concern for students goes far beyond her first-grade classroom. Marl remains engaged in her students' lives as they progress through the grade levels.
"I absolutely love to watch and be involved in my students' lives past first grade," she said. "It's just so much fun to see the kids and how they've developed and grown."
Every year, she sends congratulation cards to her former students graduating from high school. And every year, she is invited to countless graduation parties.
Van Hoek is convinced that Marl has influenced an untold number of former students to become teachers.
"She really cares about the kids," Van Hoek said. "You can't fake that."
Marl says it comes naturally.
"I think I'm very nurturing and that I'm very much aware of how sensitive kids can be at this age," she said. "I always try to make the students realize they have strengths."
Over her more than three decades in the classroom, Marl says she has seen the curriculum change dramatically. The biggest change she has seen, however, is that kids are exposed to a lot more, are far more scheduled, and are subject to a greater emphasis on academics.
"I always tell parents that if the kids like school and like coming here, they'll do well."
Marl is a lifelong member of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Saline, involved with the activities committee, Sunday school and the nursery. She is the co-chairwoman of Ronald McDonald House Meals and captain of the church's Intentional Care Ministry, an outreach program ministering to families within the congregation.
"I always try to touch base with our members at the Evangelical Home and Brecon Village," she said. "It has proven to be a great success. We receive so much more than we put into it."
From her classroom to her church to her community, Marl is touching people's lives in a positive way.
"She really is a caring, generous person," Van Hoek said. "She really is. She's a good one."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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