ST. MARTINS, Mo. -- After 47 years of service in the local Catholic schools, St. Martin School Principal Cathy Wolters is retiring.
And she wouldn't change a thing.
"A job in a Catholic school ... it's not just a job. It's a mission, a calling, a special place to be," she said. "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing."
The parish honored Wolters on Tuesday with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a carry-in dinner for her service.
Wolters spent the first two years of her career, 1967-1969, teaching fourth grade at St. Joseph School in Jefferson City. In the fall of 1969, she accepted a position at St. Martin School, again teaching fourth-graders.
In the fall of 1977, when the principal's slot came open, Martin - a seasoned teacher by that time - was asked to fill in when the Sisters of Notre Dame didn't have someone to send. She was one of the first lay principals to serve in the Jefferson City diocese.
Over the years, she experienced changes in both the teaching profession and the children.
As a young woman, Wolters was training to be an office worker when a friend encouraged her to take a job at the Higginsville State School for the Mentally Handicapped. Although she learned that special education wasn't her calling, teaching was.
"Fourth-grade is a wonderful year," she said. "They can follow directions and work independently. But they are young enough to think that you know something."
In the late 1960s, aspiring teachers only needed two years of college coursework - combined with a promise to continue their education - to get a job in the Catholic schools.
Wolters was tapped to be principal in part because she was already working on her master's degree.
"I really wasn't ready ... I still enjoyed teaching," she recalled.
But she grew to love being principal, too.
"I've enjoyed it," she said. "Every day is so different."
Because the private school operates with a relatively small staff, Wolters has to pitch in with other assignments. Depending on the time of day, it's not unusual for her to be manning the front office, helping serve lunches or teaching second grade.
"Sometimes, we have to be creative in our scheduling," Wolters said.
One of the primary changes she had experienced in her 47 years is that many more households have two working parents today. And a lot more activities - sports, in particular - are calling children's attention away from academics, she noted.
While society has changed, it hasn't changed as much in the Catholic schools.
"When families are paying for their children's education, they expect their children to behave, learn and do the assigned work ... because they have an investment in it," she said. "And they enroll their children here to carry on their faith. That's a very big part of our instruction."
Discipline problems are few. When a child is sent to the office, the remorse is palpable. In all the years she's served, she only remembers one child being asked to leave the school.
"They come in with their heads down. Some of them are crying before they get here," Wolters said.
About 200 students attend grades pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade at St. Martin School, down from 300 in 1981, she noted.
That's partly because families no longer have six and seven children, she said.
Wolters has also been principal through reconstruction projects, such as the one that expanded the school with new wings four years ago.
Handling the financial needs of a small private school has been one of the biggest challenges of the job, she said. St. Martin's School doesn't ask families to pay tuition. Instead, the school operates on church donations.
"When we really need something, the money comes," she said. "Sometimes, we have to rob Peter to pay Paul."
Now 67, Wolters plans to spend her retirement traveling with her husband, Don, who retired 14 years ago. She said the last few weeks - as she prepares some things for next year and leaves other decisions for the next principal - have felt like being in limbo.
She will be replaced by Eddie Mulholland, who currently teaches physical education and science at St. Francis Xavier School in Taos.