MONROE - She took on a career for more than four decades with the youth in Monroe, and after so long, teaching simply became who Barb Grabow was. After her retirement, she admits feeling a little lost at first. But the self-proclaimed city girl says she has found plenty to be involved with in Monroe and takes time to travel often, see the world and enjoy life.
Grabow was born in Racine, living between there and Kenosha during her childhood. As a youngster, she says she often played in the street with neighbors and friends alongside her two younger brothers. Her grandfather owned a grocery store in Kenosha, and she often helped him feed the turkeys and chickens for the store. On weekends, she would ride in the back of his pickup truck to deliver groceries to neighbors.
Both sets of grandparents and her parents were Italian, but she and her brothers weren't encouraged to learn the language they all spoke fluently and often for fear of being treated differently.
Grabow was a bright student and as early as first grade, she was put into groups with children who struggled so she could help them. She says helping others learn was something that came naturally to her.
Helping youngsters at school was also the start of her love for ethnic groups. Many families were immigrants from Romania and Poland, and Grabow says she felt a connection to them.
In high school, Grabow was active, enjoying intramural sports, and kept up with tennis through adulthood. During the day, she was released to help out in the elementary school, a place where she felt at home. She also took part in chorus and school musicals, taking a role behind the scenes.
Grabow worked different jobs, at Goldblatt Brothers department store in Racine, as a waitress and at a dime store. She also volunteered as a hospital candy striper, taking the bus to get around.
After her graduation from Washington Park High School in 1961, Grabow knew she would become a teacher. It was a dream of her mother's originally, and she would often take Grabow on Sunday drives to University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, encouraging her to go to the school known for teaching.
"I think I was just a natural-born teacher," Grabow said.
Whitewater was close to home, and several of her high school friends went there. She enjoyed Whitewater, spending her summers working in the library there, taking part in a sorority, singing in the choir, working on community projects and participating in the plays.
After her graduation from Whitewater in 1965 with a degree in elementary education, Grabow and her then-husband moved to Monroe. As she looked for a teaching job, the superintendent at the time told her he didn't hire first-year first-grade teachers. He wanted her to get a job elsewhere, and told her he would call her.
She says she did just that - teaching for a year in Brodhead before she got a call asking her to teach in Monroe, a place she would spend the next 45 years.
"I was going to teach five years and then be a stay-at-home-mom," she said. "But I was able to sew and cook on weekends."
Her first job paid $5,000 a year, and Grabow loved the position as much as she expected. Through the years, she taught in the basement at East School, Northside, Old Lincoln School, a mobile unit at South School and then Abraham Lincoln when it reopened until she retired.
"It was such a part of me - being a teacher," she said. "I didn't make much, but it allowed me to raise my children and we got along fine. Teaching became my life."
She mostly taught first and second grades but subbed for a year in preschool. She was also part of helping start one of the preschools in town. While teaching, she also branched out while she had student teachers on board and taught gifted and talented for K-6 for six years.
"I really enjoyed that," she said of the gifted and talented program. "I really got to be creative."
She loved her students and says her style was to teach through literature, no matter the subject, and her students shined.
She also took on innovative teaching and guided education programs. She traveled all over the United States with other teachers, giving workshops and lessons in the 1970s.
For seven years, Grabow taught a private science class in the summer. She says she would take on 90 students with five teachers and five helpers for "Camp Invention." She would fundraise and ask for donations from businesses for scholarships for thousands of dollars, knowing most families wouldn't be able to afford the tuition-based program.
She had an aunt who loved Monroe and would help look after her two children in the summertime while Grabow earned her master's degree from UW-Platteville.
The years went by quickly, she said, and shock came when a girl walked into her classroom and looked familiar. When her mother walked in, Grabow realized she was teaching into the next generation.
"I thought I was losing my mind," she laughed. "She looked just like her mom. But then I went on to teach grandchildren."
In 2011, Grabow retired, and admits it wasn't easy. Despite teaching for 45 years, she says it never felt that long.
"I just loved it. I couldn't quit," she said. "Unfortunately, the times changed. My creativity felt stifled by mandates and I couldn't, in good faith, teach that way.
"I was miserable my first year out," she said. "It was like a part of me was gone."
Although she took on substitute teaching for a while, she decided to reach out to the community where she had lived for so long. She joined the Monroe Theatre Guild, the Green County Historical Society and the senior center. She says, in many ways, her community saved her.
Each morning, Grabow loves the routine of going to the senior center to see friends and a wonderful exercise teacher.
She stays behind the scenes with her MTG involvement, helping take tickets, usher, work the concession stand and even help make costumes.
"I can only act in front of first-graders," she laughed.
Grabow has always enjoyed sewing, after making her own and her children's clothing. She likes to help friends out who need clothes altered.
One of her biggest enjoyments has been through travel, visiting places all over the United States and the world. She's been to Vietnam, Cambodia, Iceland and China, among other countries. She also loves to travel to Italy, where her ancestors are from, and has visited there and Mexico more times than she can count.
She says it's been important for her to go somewhere each month since her retirement, often traveling with friends or family.
Each of her four grandsons has traveled with her frequently as well, and she has taken them on trips since they each turned 5. She also takes them to Whitewater to Grandchildren's University, where they stay for a weekend class, and she welcomes them to Monroe for a week to take the MTG camp.
"It's our special time together," she said.
She also loves to spend time with her children; her son lives in Maryland and her daughter lives in Racine.
Grabow visits New York at least once a year. She enjoys politics and attends state conventions for education and health to voice concerns with legislators. She keeps up with the teachers union and attends the teacher national and state conventions to keep active.
Through the years, she has earned several teaching awards, including the Kohl Award for Teacher of the Year, Kiwanis Teacher of the Year, Teacher World Award twice for teaching younger teachers, and the Environmental Scholarship Award.
Grabow still sees her students often around Monroe and loves to hear from them, although she can't remember all of their names. Teaching will always be a deep part of her.
"I still dream about teaching," she said. "I still plan lessons in my head."
And it's likely the teacher in her that makes her recall how important it is to treat people well and be helpful.
"I try to remember the golden rule," she said. "I try to treat others the way I like to be treated, and I love to help out. Always be positive."
Grabow was born in Racine, living between there and Kenosha during her childhood. As a youngster, she says she often played in the street with neighbors and friends alongside her two younger brothers. Her grandfather owned a grocery store in Kenosha, and she often helped him feed the turkeys and chickens for the store. On weekends, she would ride in the back of his pickup truck to deliver groceries to neighbors.
Both sets of grandparents and her parents were Italian, but she and her brothers weren't encouraged to learn the language they all spoke fluently and often for fear of being treated differently.
Grabow was a bright student and as early as first grade, she was put into groups with children who struggled so she could help them. She says helping others learn was something that came naturally to her.
Helping youngsters at school was also the start of her love for ethnic groups. Many families were immigrants from Romania and Poland, and Grabow says she felt a connection to them.
In high school, Grabow was active, enjoying intramural sports, and kept up with tennis through adulthood. During the day, she was released to help out in the elementary school, a place where she felt at home. She also took part in chorus and school musicals, taking a role behind the scenes.
Grabow worked different jobs, at Goldblatt Brothers department store in Racine, as a waitress and at a dime store. She also volunteered as a hospital candy striper, taking the bus to get around.
After her graduation from Washington Park High School in 1961, Grabow knew she would become a teacher. It was a dream of her mother's originally, and she would often take Grabow on Sunday drives to University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, encouraging her to go to the school known for teaching.
"I think I was just a natural-born teacher," Grabow said.
Whitewater was close to home, and several of her high school friends went there. She enjoyed Whitewater, spending her summers working in the library there, taking part in a sorority, singing in the choir, working on community projects and participating in the plays.
After her graduation from Whitewater in 1965 with a degree in elementary education, Grabow and her then-husband moved to Monroe. As she looked for a teaching job, the superintendent at the time told her he didn't hire first-year first-grade teachers. He wanted her to get a job elsewhere, and told her he would call her.
She says she did just that - teaching for a year in Brodhead before she got a call asking her to teach in Monroe, a place she would spend the next 45 years.
"I was going to teach five years and then be a stay-at-home-mom," she said. "But I was able to sew and cook on weekends."
Her first job paid $5,000 a year, and Grabow loved the position as much as she expected. Through the years, she taught in the basement at East School, Northside, Old Lincoln School, a mobile unit at South School and then Abraham Lincoln when it reopened until she retired.
"It was such a part of me - being a teacher," she said. "I didn't make much, but it allowed me to raise my children and we got along fine. Teaching became my life."
She mostly taught first and second grades but subbed for a year in preschool. She was also part of helping start one of the preschools in town. While teaching, she also branched out while she had student teachers on board and taught gifted and talented for K-6 for six years.
"I really enjoyed that," she said of the gifted and talented program. "I really got to be creative."
She loved her students and says her style was to teach through literature, no matter the subject, and her students shined.
She also took on innovative teaching and guided education programs. She traveled all over the United States with other teachers, giving workshops and lessons in the 1970s.
For seven years, Grabow taught a private science class in the summer. She says she would take on 90 students with five teachers and five helpers for "Camp Invention." She would fundraise and ask for donations from businesses for scholarships for thousands of dollars, knowing most families wouldn't be able to afford the tuition-based program.
She had an aunt who loved Monroe and would help look after her two children in the summertime while Grabow earned her master's degree from UW-Platteville.
The years went by quickly, she said, and shock came when a girl walked into her classroom and looked familiar. When her mother walked in, Grabow realized she was teaching into the next generation.
"I thought I was losing my mind," she laughed. "She looked just like her mom. But then I went on to teach grandchildren."
In 2011, Grabow retired, and admits it wasn't easy. Despite teaching for 45 years, she says it never felt that long.
"I just loved it. I couldn't quit," she said. "Unfortunately, the times changed. My creativity felt stifled by mandates and I couldn't, in good faith, teach that way.
"I was miserable my first year out," she said. "It was like a part of me was gone."
Although she took on substitute teaching for a while, she decided to reach out to the community where she had lived for so long. She joined the Monroe Theatre Guild, the Green County Historical Society and the senior center. She says, in many ways, her community saved her.
Each morning, Grabow loves the routine of going to the senior center to see friends and a wonderful exercise teacher.
She stays behind the scenes with her MTG involvement, helping take tickets, usher, work the concession stand and even help make costumes.
"I can only act in front of first-graders," she laughed.
Grabow has always enjoyed sewing, after making her own and her children's clothing. She likes to help friends out who need clothes altered.
One of her biggest enjoyments has been through travel, visiting places all over the United States and the world. She's been to Vietnam, Cambodia, Iceland and China, among other countries. She also loves to travel to Italy, where her ancestors are from, and has visited there and Mexico more times than she can count.
She says it's been important for her to go somewhere each month since her retirement, often traveling with friends or family.
Each of her four grandsons has traveled with her frequently as well, and she has taken them on trips since they each turned 5. She also takes them to Whitewater to Grandchildren's University, where they stay for a weekend class, and she welcomes them to Monroe for a week to take the MTG camp.
"It's our special time together," she said.
She also loves to spend time with her children; her son lives in Maryland and her daughter lives in Racine.
Grabow visits New York at least once a year. She enjoys politics and attends state conventions for education and health to voice concerns with legislators. She keeps up with the teachers union and attends the teacher national and state conventions to keep active.
Through the years, she has earned several teaching awards, including the Kohl Award for Teacher of the Year, Kiwanis Teacher of the Year, Teacher World Award twice for teaching younger teachers, and the Environmental Scholarship Award.
Grabow still sees her students often around Monroe and loves to hear from them, although she can't remember all of their names. Teaching will always be a deep part of her.
"I still dream about teaching," she said. "I still plan lessons in my head."
And it's likely the teacher in her that makes her recall how important it is to treat people well and be helpful.
"I try to remember the golden rule," she said. "I try to treat others the way I like to be treated, and I love to help out. Always be positive."